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SCMP Reporters

The central government moved quickly to ban property sales in Xiong county, Hebei province, and two other nearby counties after it announced that the dusty rural backwater had been handpicked by President Xi Jinping to be transformed into a new special economic zone.

Speculators were quick to descend on the area to cash in on what they hoped would be a property boom, but, as these photographs from show, they found offices of real estate agents sealed up as the authorities sought to keep the local market calm.

The local authority has frozen all property transactions in the county.
While the government has made it clear that China’s new district doesn’t welcome property investors, many other details of the zone remain unknown.

The new district covers the counties of Xiong, Rongcheng and Anxin and is currently a poor, rural area.


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Urban planning

In pictures: property speculators kept at bay in Xi Jinping’s ‘dream city’

A seal is placed on the gates of a property as the government banned new property sales in counties earmarked as part of a new special economic zone in Xiongxian, Hebei province, China. Photo: Reuters

A sculpture of Monkey King, as known as Sun Wukong, is seen next to a closed sales office of a property, with seals on, as the government banned new property sales in counties earmarked as part of a new special economic zone in Anxin county, Hebei province, China April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Lee

A worker removes the logo of a closed real estate agency after the government banned property sales in counties earmarked as part of a new special economic zone in Xiongxian county, Hebei province, China April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Lee

A gate is picture over a street in Xiongxian county, one part of the new special economic zone Xiong'an New Area, Hebei province, China April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Lee

A general view shows newly constructed buildings in Anxin, in China's Hebei province, on April 5, 2017. China will create a new special economic zone outside Beijing similar to those established in Shenzhen and Shanghai, the government said, in a bid to boost flagging growth and reduce the strain on the capital. / AFP PHOTO / FRED DUFOUR

A man stands outside a closed real estate agency after the government banned property sales in counties earmarked as part of a new special economic zone in Anxin county, Hebei province, China April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Lee

epa05886971 An aerial view of the government quarters of Xiongxian County, Hebei province, China, 03 April 2017 (issued 04 April 2017). China announced on 01 April 2017 its plan to set up the Xiong'an New Area, consisting of parts of the counties of Anxin, Xiongxian, and Rongcheng, to accommodate the population and functionalities decentralized from Beijing. EPA/WANG ZIRUI CHINA OUT