Hands-on role

Established in April 2017, the Xiong'an New Area — dubbed "China's city of the future" — is designed to relieve Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the capital and drive the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

As Xiong'an approaches its ninth anniversary, the evolution of its skyline, functional integration and industrial development stand as clear evidence of its sustained vitality and forward momentum. Progress has been guided from the outset by President Xi Jinping, who has taken a hands-on role in steering and advancing the initiative through every phase — from site selection and planning to construction and high-quality development.

On Feb 23, 2017, Xi made his first inspection tour to the site to assess the conditions and its suitability to take over Beijing's noncapital functions.

Located in the hinterland of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei's Baoding, Xiong'an mainly spans the three counties of Xiongxian, Anxin and Rongcheng about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing. It enjoys a favorable geographical position, well-developed transport links, and good natural resources in terms of land, water, and environment — and offers ample space for growth. These attributes, Xi explained, made it the prime choice for relieving Beijing of its non-essential functions.

During the visit, he emphasized that the planning and building of Xiong'an was "a major historic and strategic choice", and called for advancing its development with "a global vision, international standards, Chinese characteristics and future-oriented goals".

He outlined the vision for Xiong'an to become an eco-friendly and livable urban area, an area for leading innovation-driven development, a demonstration area for coordinated development and a pilot zone for open development, among other aspects.

Shortly after Xi's visit to the site, China officially announced the establishment of the Xiong'an New Area on April 1, 2017, another new area of national importance, following the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in Guangdong province and the Shanghai Pudong New Area.