Inside Xiongan New Area, China's city of future and Xi Jinping’s dream

Around 97 kilometres from Beijing, China’s ‘city of the future’ is being built. A pet project of President Xi Jinping around two hours away from Beijing, Xiongan New Area in Hebei province is an insight into his vision for the future of China. Xiongan New Area comprises Hebei’s Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin counties as well as Baiyangdian, a major wetland in northern China, But what do we know about Xiongan New Area? Let’s take a closer look: Origins On 1 April, 2017, April Fool’s Day, the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council announced that Xiongan New Area would be established. The surprise announcement of the city combining the Chinese characters for “brave” and “peace” was made by Xi himself, as per Brookings.Edu. The announcement said the aim of the city was to “alleviate Beijing’s non-capital functions and promote the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei”. In September 2017, Xinhua News Agency reported that Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba, tech giants Tencent and Baidu would set up branches in the new economic zone. [caption id=“attachment_12034092” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Alibaba Group provisional office at Xiongan New Area. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] In April 2018, Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council approved the “Outline of the Development and Construction Plan for the Xiongan New Area in Hebei Province” compiled by the CPC Hebei Provincial Committee and the People’s Government of Hebei Province. What do we know about the city? Xiongan New Area will be able to hold around two to three million residents, as per the Chinese Academy of Engineering. In 2020, a massive high-speed rail station to connect it to Beijing opened followed by residential buildings, massive underground utility corridors, and the city brain data center, as per Foreign Policy. Housing for 170,000 people is nearly complete in its first section Rongdong with local media reporting the opening of new educational institutions. The city which spans 650 square miles has seen $57 billion in investment flow in till September 2022, according to the website. As per the website Euroreporter, the first couple of years since the announcement witnessed no construction barring some basic projects and temporary buildings. Over 1,000 experts, 200 teams, 2,500 professional technicians ‘worked tirelessly to formulate a master plan for the new city’ in that time, as per the report. Around 30,267 hectares of trees, including 23 million trees of economic value, fruit trees, and ornamental trees have already been planted. The local forest coverage rate has shot up to 32 per cent from 11 per cent with parks, tree belts, and forests located around 300 meters, 1,000 meters, and 3,000 meters from communities, as per the report. “According to our plans for the new area, all of the government-funded new construction projects and large public buildings in the area will meet the three-star standard (the highest in China) of green buildings, and a 15-minute radius community life circle will be built here,” Wang Zhigang, deputy head of the planning and construction bureau, told the website.

However, the city might be vulnerable to climate change.

As per Brookings.Edu, Xiongan is in a low-lying marshland. The nearby Baiyangdian lake could also cause major issues. [caption id=“attachment_12034122” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The Baiyangdian lake. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] The piece noted in 1963 how rain caused the biggest floods in modern Chinese history, leaving 340,000 dead in the region. The 1980s also saw a drought that nearly caused the lake to dry up. The Chinese Academy of Sciences has warned that the area is already suffering from severe groundwater depletion, as per Scroll. Scientists have warned major issues could crop up between 2026 and 2046, when prolonged drought seasons are expected in northern China. Though a mega water project was greenlit in 2015, questions about its susceptibility linger. Connective infrastructure As per SCMP, in September 2022 the China Railway Group declared that construction of a key section of the Beijing-Xiongan-Shangqiu High-Speed Railway would begin. In January 2023, an expressway between Beijing and Xiongan New Area opened for traffic, as per Euroreporter. The expressway’s main section runs from Beijing’s sixth ring road and spans 81 kilometres. It is estimated to reduce traveling time between the cities to around 50 minutes, as per the website. Xi’s pet project Xi’s personal involvement with the dream city cannot be understated. Foreign Policy noted that Xi has referred to Xiongan New Area as his “personal initiative” and a qiannian daji, or “thousand-year plan of national significance.” The city, which will have a huge high-speed rail station and “city brain” data center, has been touted as evidence of the superiority of Beijing’s growth model, as per the website. Brookings.Edu explained in a piece that Xi wants his brand to be attached to a new urban miracle. “Good news from Xiong’an might directly enhance Xi’s personal prestige as a “farsighted planner.” Therefore, Xiong’an may serve as a very public gauge of the efficacy of the Xi administration’s policies,” the piece noted. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.