BEIJING, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Foreign press and scholars have praised the economic miracles in Shenzhen, as the southern coastal city in China's Guangdong province marked its 30th anniversary as the country's first economic reform zone Monday.

Menreil Chimidtseye, a professor at the National University of Mongolia, said Shenzhen has achieved scientific development over the past three decades by shifting from attracting foreign investments to building a high-tech industry and enhancing innovative capability.

The speech delivered by Chinese President Hu Jintao at a celebratory rally demonstrated to the world that Shenzhen will continue to be at the "vanguard" of China's reform and opening-up, said Chimidtseye, who is also secretary general of the Mongolia-China Friendship Association.

Once a small fishing village next to Hong Kong, Shenzhen has developed into a booming metropolis, home to a number of high-tech firms and manufacturing factories.

Economic zones, which enjoy some special policies for development, have become an important experimental field in China's reform and opening-up process.

He Xiaohui, chairwoman of the Coordination Council of Chinese-American Associations in the Greater Washington Area, said Shenzhen has become a "Window of Hope" which not only facilitated China's integration into the world but also made foreign countries know more about China.