HONG KONG, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Leung Chun-ying would have never, in his wildest dream, imagined Shenzhen's magic changes in 30 years when he became one of more than 20 Hong Kong-based enlighteners for Shenzhen's reform and opening-up drive in 1979.

Thirty years ago when China set up the Special Economic Zone, Shenzhen was nothing but several fishing villages. Now the city boasts the highest GDP per capita on China's mainland.

"As a professional in land and city planning, I think there has been no city in the human history which has been built into such a large-scale one in such a short period of time," Leung, a veteran land surveyor, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Leung is Convenor of the non-official members of Hong Kong's Executive Council and a member of the National Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top advisory body.

Leung attributed Shenzhen's success to the city's forerunners' ability to break through ideological barriers and their courage to ask, think, learn and act.

EARLY MEMORIES OF SHENZHEN

Leung's first trip to Shenzhen dated back to August 1977 when he had just come back to British-ruled Hong Kong after 3-year study in Britain. Then, Luohu was the sole boundary checkpoint between the two cities, offering 8-hour service for more than 40 travelers each day, he recalled.

Now, there are more than six -- four land and two marine -- boundary crossings. One of them, Huanggang, offers around-the- clock crossing service. Nearly 100 million commuters and other visitors used these checkpoints last year.

Now Hong Kong residents can pass the crossings in minutes with a "Homeland-return Permit". While over 30 year ago, Leung had to fill in a one-off document called "Homeland-return Letter of Introduction" before taking about half an hour, sometimes hours, to finish complicated entry procedure.