What happens to a Chinese backwater when it becomes the centre of Xi Jinping’s futuristic dream city?
Property prices triple in dusty Xiong county as luxury vehicles from Beijing and Tianjin park next to donkey burger stalls
For residents of the sleepy county of Xiong in smoggy Hebei province, Saturday’s announcement by China’s state news agency that it would become the centre of a new special economic zone, handpicked by President Xi Jinping, was a bolt out of the blue.
The county, called Xiongxian in Chinese, rocketed overnight from a forgotten backwater spot on China’s economic map to the darling of mainland investors after Xinhua said the Xiongan New Area, covering three rural counties – Xiong, Rongcheng and Anxin – would be as important for China in the future as Shenzhen in the 1980s and Shanghai Pudong in the 1990s.
Local Mo Xiaohuan, driving an Audi A8, could barely hide her smile. She bought a three-bedroom flat in the town for 8,000 yuan (US$1,161) per square metre in November. Four months later, she was confident she would be able to sell for 25,000 yuan per square metre.
“You can’t find any [property] sellers,” she said. Potential buyers, on the other hand, were everywhere.
Luxury vehicles with Beijing or Tianjin number plates filled the dusty streets of Xiong county, causing traffic jams at main intersections and parking beside small noodle shops and donkey burger stalls.
At a restaurant selling a bowl of noodles for eight yuan, the boss said business had boomed after the government’s announcement. “Many of my new customers came from Beijing, trying to speculate in property here,” he said.
A potential investor from Beijing, who gave his surname as Hong, said he drove all the way to Xiong county, 120km south of the capital, to explore business opportunities. “After all, it is a zone created by our top leader,” he said.