Different rules in China, mate. ATC is GOD and if they clear you to do something then you are fireproof. During my first month in China in 1994 I was tasked to do some photographic work in Shenzhen. I was cleared right down to 50 metres. I spent 45 minutes of legalised hooliganism wracking it around the office buildings getting my shots. There is nothing like looking at the eyes of office workers on the 20th floor of a 60 floor office block watching a S76 coming straight at them with all the lights on.
Apart from COHC there are only a few helicopters operating out of Shenzhen. It wasn't a CHOC Dauphin, unlikely to have been the police helicopter which narrows it down the the Shenzhen TV unit.
For those with a map the area was Shenzhen city to Aoutou and back.