Shenzhou

A port city well to the northeast of the Landfall metropolitan network of Odaiba Island and Old Dome/Koto City/Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid (now The Wreck). It was founded 150 years after Landfall, during NeoTokyo's fairly short-lived era of planetary exploration after terraforming was substantially complete and before the zaibatsu consolidated control.

Politics

Though long-established now, between its founding entrepreneurial spirit and the lack of a global Net, Greater Shenzhou has been moderately successful at staying out of the grip of the Landfall corporate powers, though all have some level of influence there. Businesses tend to be small, regional, and often family-controlled across generations. They readily welcome individual immigrants, but not corporate intrusion.

Unlike the Landfall cities, Shenzhou actually has a municipal government, complete with police force. The actual powers in town like to have a cutout to take the heat and do the dirty work.

Industry

As overland routes are impossible, Shenzhou's connection to the rest of the world is through maritime commerce: it's specialized in small lots of extremely high quality goods, for both industrial and consumer markets in the Landfall cities.

Shenzhou's identity is defined, then, by the sea and by its multi-generational reputation for higher quality goods than those of the decadent zaibatsus down south.

Education

Shenzhou takes education seriously, particularly in the industrial and maritime trades. Shenzhou University, though, has a galactic reputation in the marine sciences, from biology to weather modification to naval architecture, and its researchers consult far afield, particularly with chilly but un-frozen Andorian colony worlds.

The Triad

The local Triad group is the Chiu Chao, one of the major branches. They specialize in transport, particularly seaborne cargo, and in addition to running Shenzhou, have a significant presence in the ports in Koto City, Haiphong, and The Drift.

Their locally-focused operations are run by the Xiao Ma, the Snow Cats. The leadership are full biological human-cat hybrids. Trainees are paired with a cat with cybernetically-enhanced senses for fieldwork. If the pair is successful, the cat brain is implanted in the human, and they are reconfigured as a hybrid.

Neighborhoods

There's a substantial local Andorian population. While there's quite a lot of intermingling, the neighborhood of Little Lor'tan is notable for its vibrancy, particularly its bars and sushi restaurants.

Entertainment

Unfortunately, the local Rollerball franchise, the Shenzhou Swordfish, haven't been competitive in years, and three years ago were demoted to a training-league team. This suits local fans just fine: they believe that the training league offers a purer form of the sport, uncorrupted by big money, media deals, and global-sized egos. Swordfish Stadium is almost always packed to capacity, and season tickets are highly treasured, often passed down within families.