JAKARTA – China continues to accelerate the development of Xiong’an, a new area in Hebei Province that is being prepared as a future city. According to a Xinhua report quoted on Thursday, April 2, in the nine years since it was announced on April 1, 2017, the area has attracted more than 400 state-owned enterprises and more than 200 companies in the aerospace, artificial intelligence, and digital technology sectors.
Xiong’an was built to shift functions of Beijing that are no longer important for the role of the capital, as well as to encourage the development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. In February this year, the status of the Xiong’an high-tech industrial development zone was also upgraded to a national level zone.
The impetus is starting to be seen on the ground. In the Xiong’an AI industrial park, start-ups grow in close proximity and are pushed into real projects. Stable AI, a startup founded by Tsinghua University researchers in October 2024, received an initial funding of 20 million yuan or about 2.9 million US dollars in less than three months.
The company developed LimiX, a big data model that focuses on structured data such as tables, time series, and graphs. The model has already been used by local energy companies to calculate annual gas needs by utilizing sales, heating, and weather data. As a result, the accuracy of predictions rose to 93 percent, from the previous 76 percent by human forecasters.
In a year and a half, the number of Stable AI employees has risen from less than 10 people to more than 60 people. The model has also begun to be tested in more than 40 industry scenarios, including smart city projects and flood control systems.
A similar development occurred at Huaqing Zhiyan, as reported by Xin Hua, an AI agency company that also operates in Xiong’an. The company is involved in the China Satellite Network project, ranging from satellite-based land imaging, crop monitoring, to agricultural insurance assessments. Its contract value jumped from 3 million-4 million yuan when it was established in July 2024 to 26 million yuan by the end of 2025. More than a third of it comes from local projects in Xiong’an.
But Xiong’an is not only being shaped as a technology hub. China is also putting a big focus on green development. Xinhua reported that since 2019, the region has built 89 sewage treatment stations in 78 villages around Baiyangdian Lake to handle household liquid waste, garbage, and toilet waste.
In Mapu Village, the results are starting to be seen. The pond, which used to smell, was flooded, and was full of mosquitoes, has now turned into a clean water area in an ecological park. The water processed 400 to 500 tons per day is used to irrigate morel mushrooms, tomatoes, and strawberries.
The change in the environment also raised residents’ incomes. Previously, residents only relied on corn with an income of around 1,000 yuan per capita per year, now the village earns 230,000 yuan per year from renting forest areas. The morel mushroom project also earns 14,000 yuan per worker per growing season.
The increase in village income was then used to increase health insurance subsidies, build a football field, and open a free canteen for residents aged 75 and over.
Xiong’an is now positioned by China as a center of technological growth as well as a green development project. From artificial intelligence to village improvement, the area is being tested as a new city model that tries to combine industry, innovation, and quality of life.
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