Hebei Xiongan New District established Zhixiongan New Area
Tonight's news broadcast headlines surprised almost everyone. Hebei Xiongan established a national-level new area to promote the integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.
National-level new areas are not big news at all, because in the past 20 years, China has established 18 national-level new areas, and one will be established every year. Although it can also be broadcast on the news, it is not a big news that shakes the whole country. This time the central government established Xiongan New Area, directly skipping more than a dozen national-level new areas, claiming to be on par with Shanghai Pudong New Area and Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (not among the national-level new areas). At the same time, it is also described as "a thousand-year plan and a national event." It can be seen that Xiongan New Area is extraordinary, far from being comparable to Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, Tianjin Binhai New Area, and Hunan Xiangjiang New Area.
In addition, it is worth noting that so far, 18 state-level high-tech zones have been built in the suburbs of existing municipalities, provincial capitals or cities under separate planning, without exception (Zhoushan New Area should be regarded as the suburbs of Ningbo). Now Xiongan New Area has jumped out of Beijing and Tianjin, and even jumped out of Langfang, which is adjacent to Beijing and Tianjin, and is 100 kilometers deep into the North China Plain. It does not border the original administrative area of Beijing and Tianjin. The development idea is bound to be different from the original national high-tech zone.
So, what kind of functions will the Xiongan New Area assume? At present, the overall planning plan of the new area has not been made public, but we can use the exclusion method to consider it.
First of all, compared with Pudong and Shenzhen, Xiongan New Area lacks water transportation and abundant fresh water supply. Pudong is on the verge of the Yangtze River and Huangpu River; Shenzhen is located at the mouth of the Pearl River, so it can use shipping to reduce industrial costs, use rivers to meet industrial water use, and connect to the world market through seaports. Xiongan New Area does not have the above conditions, and it is impossible to drain Baiyangdian to factories. In addition, the starting area is only 100 square kilometers, making it almost impossible to develop industry on a large scale.
In 2016, the added value of Shanghai's financial industry was 476.25 billion yuan, more than Beijing's 426.68 billion yuan. Not to mention that finance requires industrial agglomeration effects, and Beijing's financial industry relies to a considerable extent on the administrative functions of Beijing's capital, rather than relying on the surrounding industrial belts like Shanghai and Shenzhen. It is difficult to imagine financial enterprises transferring to Xiongan New Area.
Third, since the Xinhua News Agency press release clearly states that the "non-capital functions" will be decomposed, Beijing's administrative organs and military command agencies will not be relocated, and do not expect the Ministry of Agriculture or the State Administration of Taxation to move to Xiongan.
In this way, only education, scientific research, and commercial (non-financial) industries can be relocated. At this time, let's take a look at the first few articles of Xinhua News Agency:
The first is to build a green smart new city and build a world-class, green, modern and smart city.
The second is to create a beautiful ecological environment and build an ecological city that weaves blue and green, is fresh and bright, and integrates water and cities.
The third is to develop high-end high-tech industries, actively absorb and gather innovative factors and resources, and cultivate new kinetic energy.
……
In order to maintain the environment and develop high-tech industries, the final conclusion is the first "green smart" new city. Not surprisingly, educational and scientific research institutions will be given priority to relocate, large hospitals and non-financial central enterprises will follow suit, and then the remaining land will be invested in the R & D centers of major enterprises, the creative centers of major cultural institutions, and the information centers of major media, so as to cultivate a super new district that produces non-physical products.
At this point, we look back and see which institutions will be given priority to relocate. If it is not surprising, I guess universities will be the first targets to be relieved. At present, there are 8 "985 universities" in Beijing and 26 "211 universities", while the corresponding numbers for key universities in Shanghai are 4 and 10. Of the 8 "985 universities" in Beijing, three have the title of "Central" or "China", and four have the title of "Beijing". Only Tsinghua University does not need to be renamed because it moved from the capital. Considering the benchmarking role of Tsinghua University, I guess Tsinghua University may become the first model unit to move to Xiongan New Area. There are two precedents in China Medical University (Shenyang) and China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), and schools such as Renmin University of China and Minzu University of China are also likely to follow.
In addition, 42 of the 120 research institutes, institutes, and stations directly under the Chinese Academy of Sciences are concentrated in Beijing; the Institute of Mechanics, the Nanoscience Center, and the Institute of Theoretical Physics are located in Beijing purely for historical reasons. Today, when information exchange is smooth and scientific research is not affected by communication problems, these basic research units can be moved out of Beijing, giving researchers without extra income a stable and quiet place to live. Even the headquarters of the Chinese Academy of Sciences does not need to stay in the capital.
Universities and research institutions have moved, and the next thing can be left to the market - the new area has abundant land supply, infrastructure will be no less than other municipalities, and institutions such as film, media, and R & D centers will also come.
Finally, although Hebei is close to Beijing and Tianjin, it is a rare province in the country without 211 universities (Hebei University of Technology remains in Tianjin), and it has long been the province with the lowest per capita education expenditure in the country. Now that a large number of educational and scientific research institutions and high-tech industries have moved in, it must be able to boost the cultural level of the backward areas around Beijing.
In short, judging from the current policy arrangement, Xiongan New Area will not rely on industrial and commercial development like the existing National New Area. Instead, it will focus on education, scientific research and affiliated R & D and creative industries. Xiongan New Area may be China's first large production city without physical products.
