A view on high: A woman crane operator watches growth of a city
Print Edition
Wang Shasha begins her day in the wee hours of the morning, as she climbs up a 50-meter-tall tower crane and starts operating the big machine to move building materials at a construction site in Xiong鈥檃n New Area, north China鈥檚 Hebei Province.
For the 30-year-old crane operator, the most fulfilling moment of her challenging daily job is when she looks out from the crane cab and sees hundreds of high-rise buildings stand tall in the construction site forming a beautiful skyline against the backdrop of the rising sun.
Having worked in Xiong鈥檃n for well over a year, Wang said she always feels proud that she is helping to turn the blueprint of the new area, dubbed China鈥檚 鈥渃ity of future,鈥 into a tangible reality.
On April 1, 2017, China announced plans to establish Xiong鈥檃n New Area, about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing.
The aim is to build the 1,770-square-kilometer area into a green city featuring innovation and a national model of high-quality development.
The construction of Xiong鈥檃n has been forging ahead at full throttle over the past four years.
More than 160,000 people are working on more than 120 major projects such as infrastructure construction and ecological restoration.
In Xiong鈥檃n鈥檚 Rongdong area, a major residential space where Wang works, over 85 percent of the nearly 1,000 buildings planned had been roofed by the end of March and will be ready for handover by June. The area is designed to accommodate about 170,000 people.
An intercity railway linking Xiong鈥檃n and Beijing started operation in December last year, slashing the commuting time between the two cities from one and a half hours to about 50 minutes. Meanwhile, the construction of three express lines linking Xiong鈥檃n, Beijing and neighboring Tianjin is scheduled to open to traffic in May.
Infrastructure construction is also proceeding smoothly at Xiong鈥檃n鈥檚 startup area, which will be part of the Xiong鈥檃n city proper. Designed to take over Beijing鈥檚 functions nonessential to its role as the national capital, the startup area will serve as a new home for Beijing鈥檚 colleges, hospitals, business headquarters, and financial and public institutions.
Tech giants move in
Since its inception, Xiong鈥檃n has been designed to become an intelligent city featuring high-tech and innovation as well as a magnet for global talented people.
As of February, more than 3,700 enterprises had registered in Xiong鈥檃n, of which more than 2,000 firms are in fields of scientific research, software development, information technology and technological services, according to official data.
Leading Chinese tech firms such as Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu are also on the list, as the tech giants are tapping into the area鈥檚 great potential in developing frontier technologies including autonomous driving, cloud computing, blockchain and big data.
Eye Cool, a company specializing in artificial intelligence, moved its headquarters from Beijing to Xiong鈥檃n in 2018, in view of the area鈥檚 ideal environment for tech startups.
鈥淴iong鈥檃n has been billed as the 鈥榗ity of innovation鈥 since its establishment, and we couldn鈥檛 wait to grab the opportunities it brought,鈥 said Wang Shuqi, the company鈥檚 marketing director. 鈥淲e鈥檙e honored to have grown alongside Xiong鈥檃n鈥檚 development.鈥
Wang said her company鈥檚 AI-based facial recognition technology has been used in industrial parks, railway stations, service centers and schools in Xiong鈥檃n for security purposes and prevention and control of COVID-19.
鈥淲ith artificial intelligence to be widely adopted in every aspect of life in Xiong鈥檃n, I believe our company will have a brighter future here,鈥 she added.
Wu Hequan, an academic with the Chinese Academy of Engineering and an expert advisor to the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the development of Xiong鈥檃n鈥檚 high-tech and high-end industries will help optimize the region鈥檚 industrial structure.
Such industries are expected to account for 70 to 80 percent of Xiong鈥檃n鈥檚 economy, Wu noted.
鈥淕reen鈥 is another buzzword in Xiong鈥檃n鈥檚 grand development plan. It aspires to become a green city with harmonious human-environment interaction.
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