200 Trillion Won Poured into Barren Land... Inside China’s New City of Xiongan

[Anchor]

To alleviate severe overpopulation in its capital, Beijing, China has been developing a new city since 2017. The government has poured as much as 200 trillion won into this third state-designed special economic zone so far.

Beijing correspondent Choi Go-un visited the area to see what it looks like now.

[Reporter]

Beijing's morning commute cannot simply be described as packed like sardines.

[Beijing Subway Station Commuter: There are just too many people.]

To relieve overcrowding caused by population concentration and decentralize the functions of the capital, China has been developing the Xiongan New Area near Beijing for a decade under the initiative of President Xi Jinping.

We drove for two hours to visit the Xiongan New Area.

What used to be a barren expanse of land is now packed with tower cranes, and a massive number of new buildings have sprung up in the central district as well.

Transportation infrastructure has also taken substantial shape, including restaurants, government offices, eight-lane round-trip roads, and dedicated autonomous driving lanes.

A high-speed railway station, known locally as a gaotie, is currently under intensive construction.

Once construction is fully completed, it will become possible to travel all the way to Kunming via Shanxi.

The total area of the Xiongan New Area is 1,770 square kilometers, which is three times the size of Seoul.

So far, 1 trillion yuan—approximately 200 trillion won in Korean currency—has been invested to develop about 13% of the planned area.

The plan is to pour an additional 800 trillion won into building an advanced city featuring eco-friendly low-rise buildings above ground and all facilities controlled by Internet of Things data underground.

[Li Yuntao / Vice Chairman, Hebei Council for the Promotion of International Trade: In the 15th Five-Year Plan, we have set a goal to foster the Xiongan New Area into a high-quality modern city. Xiongan's six core industries include new materials and artificial intelligence.]

However, as of last year, the population of the Xiongan New Area stood at approximately 1.4 million, falling far short of the target of 2.5 million.

This is because family-unit relocations are scarce due to insufficient educational and cultural facilities, such as schools.

[Zhao Yao / Foreign Investment and Affairs Division, Xiongan New Area: If you have a Beijing residence permit, you can also reside in the Xiongan New Area. There are no issues attending school or accessing medical services.]

Although the central government is relocating major state-owned enterprise headquarters, key national universities, and hospitals through administrative orders, experts point out that stable settlement conditions must be sufficiently established to prevent the area from degenerating into a mere bedroom community commuting to and from Beijing.

(Video footage taken by Yang Ata | Video edited by Kim Jong-mi | Design by Kim Ye-ji)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.