The Suburb Park, Xiong'an New Area, Oct. 27, 2022. [Photo by Liu Guangyu]

Xiong'an new area has introduced strict regulations on the styles and features of the area and its landmarks. It has made clear that there will be no outlandish building, skyscraper, or glass curtain wall in the area. "Urban diseases," such as "overhead spider webs" formed by unsightly power lines and telecommunications cables and "road zippers" caused by repeated replacement of buried pipes, are all expected to be solved in Xiong'an New Area by well-designed underground pipe gallery. In the long term, the new area will be able to sustain a population of 2–2.5 million and be equipped with high-quality resources in education and health.

Xiong'an New Area is also a city featuring extensive application of artificial intelligence (AI). The new area is expected to build China's first urban intelligent infrastructure platform consisting of urban computing center, platform of Internet of Things (IoT), network of video monitoring systems, and City Information Modeling (CIM) platform.

Urban computing center serves as the "brain" that performs the computing and storage functions for various smart administration systems of the area; IoT platform and network of video monitoring systems, which are to Xiong'an New Area as "nerves" are to human body, are responsible for the management of IoT devices and video monitoring devices; and CIM platform is the digital twin of the new area.

On April 1, 2017, China announced plans to establish the Xiong'an New Area in north China's Hebei Province, making it another new area of national significance following the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in south China's Guangdong Province and Pudong New Area in east China's Shanghai. Located about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing, Xiong'an New Area is believed to be a national pacesetter of high-quality development. 

Eco-friendly waterside new city

The Suburb Park in Xiong'an is an ideal place to enjoy the natural pleasures, especially on holidays. As part of the Millennium Forest, the park is an ecological shelter, a water resource and a resort, telling the new appeals of livable Xiong'an. Construction of the Xiong'an New Area began in 2017. Adhering to the development idea of ecology, green development and livability, Xiong'an has undertaken a series of afforestation projects, such as Daqinghe Zone, the 6,667-hectare seedling and landscaping forest, and the Millennium Forest.

Last summer and autumn, two highly environment-sensitive creatures, Aythya baeri (a critically endangered bird species) and Rhodeinae (a fish family known as an ecological indicator), were found in Baiyangdian Lake, an indication of the environmental improvement in this region.

The five-year history of Xiong'an New Area records the largest systematic ecological governance efforts in Baiyangdian. The lake's water quality has been improved from below Class V to Class III in the country's five-tier water quality system. More and more birds come and settle down here. As of the end of last year, 248 wild bird species had been identified, including the "panda waterfowl" Aythya baeri, "fairy" Ardea intermedia, and the "living fossil" Calamornis heudei.