Hebei cities poised to ease burden on Beijing, become its satellites

Two cities in Hebei province are preparing to be fashioned into Beijing's satellite cities, to ease the burden on the capital, although the central government has not confirmed the plan.

Hebei's provincial government and party committee issued city planning directives on Tuesday for Langfang and Baoding, both south of Beijing, to strengthen their administration and infrastructure to meet the standards of a satellite city, Xinhua reported yesterday.

The directives suggested Baoding, which has an area of 2.1 million hectares and a population of 10.17 million, should host some branches of Beijing's administrative departments, hospitals, and higher education and research institutes, to co-ordinate the development of the Jing-Jin-Ji region.

Jing-Jin-Ji is Chinese shorthand for Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.

Meanwhile, Langfang, a medium-sized city located between Beijing and Tianjin, will focus on the development of service and technology industries.

Baoding would be designated a "deputy" seat of power of Beijing, mainland financial magazine Caijing reported earlier this month.