Four years on, construction of the Xiong'an New Area, China's "city of the future," is going full speed ahead.

Currently, more than 160,000 workers are working on more than 120 major construction projects in Xiong'an.

China announced plans to establish the Xiong'an New Area in Hebei Province on April 1, 2017. It's a strategically important project for the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

The Beijing-Xiong'an intercity railway opened to traffic on Dec. 27, 2020. It cuts the travel time between the Chinese capital and Xiong'an from one and a half hours to 50 minutes.

By the end of 2020, a large number of trees had been planted in Xiong'an, covering an area of over 27,000 hectares. 70 percent of the Xiong'an New Area will be covered by water or trees, according to its development plan.

Xiong'an offers an enabling business environment and over 3,800 enterprises have registered in the area so far.

By 2035, Xiong'an will be developed into a high-level modern city that is green, intelligent and livable. It will have relatively strong competitiveness and harmonious human-environment interaction.