Bao'an District, Shenzhen

Bao'an 宝安区
District
Bao'an Dadao, a major thoroughfare of Bao'an
Bao'an District within Shenzhen
Country	China
Province	Guangdong
Prefecture	Shenzhen
Area
• Total	392.14 km2 (151.41 sq mi)
Population (2014)	2,736,500
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Website	http://www.baoan.gov.cn/

Bao'an District (Chinese: 宝安区; pinyin: Bǎo'ān Qū; Cantonese Jyutping: Bou2 On1 Keoi1) is one of the six districts comprising Shenzhen, a major city in Guangdong, People's Republic of China. It is one of the two districts formerly lying outside the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, the other being Longgang.

Formerly known as Bao'an (or San On) County, after being integrated into Shenzhen in 1979, Bao'an was reverted into county status in 1981. Finally Bao'an district was established in January 1, 1993. Two new districts (新区) were separated from Bao'an district, namely Guangming and Longhua new districts, in 2007 and 2011 respectively. In 2010, it was returned to be a part of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and rapid development occurred. Longhua was separated from Bao'an and became a district on 11 October 2016.

The district had a population of 2,736,500 in 2014. About 85% of Bao'an's population are migrants from other parts of China, most speaking Mandarin. Hence this made Mandarin the primary Chinese variety spoken in the district. Cantonese is also widely spoken, between locals and migrants from around Guangdong.

Bao'an has a notoriously bad safety record. Since the turn of the millennium, the district has seen a string of high-profile abductions, robberies, and other cases of violent crime. However, in the last 4 years, this has become less of an issue with an increased police presence and higher average income in the district. Foreigners rarely feel threatened when going about their daily (or nightly) lives in Bao'an District.