The Xiongan New Area was among 5 new cities that are set to shake up the future, according to forbes.com on Thursday.

The central government aims to build Xiongan New Area as a low-carbon, intelligent, livable and globally influential city.

Hitting its one year development milestone, the city is catching media attention for its potential in green finance, education, and high-tech research and development.

Xiongan New Area (Photos: Xinhua)

London’s Green Finance Initiative (GFI) announced the foundation of a new UK-China Green Finance Center on March 26 during London Mayor Charles Bowman’s visit.

The new organization will focus on research, data, investment, education, capacity building and market education on green finance.

The first projects are expected to be announced soon, and one on cooperation location will be set up in Xiongan New Area, according to a report from the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on March 27.

On March 1, the launch of the Beijing-Xiongan educational aid project was held at the former Rongcheng Primary School. Three leading primary schools have set up branches in Xiongan New Area to provide more educational opportunities to local students, according to media reports.

In December 2017, China’s internet leading company Baidu initiated its AI-City Program to introduce AI technology in the urban planning and building of Xiongan New Area.

The firm has also been testing several of its self-driving vehicles on public roads in Xiongan.

In 2017, the Xiongan New Area management committee signed cooperation agreements with 19 high-tech companies, including Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba. More than 100 hi-tech companies have obtained a commercial registration in Xiongan according to Liu Baoling, deputy director of the management committee.

The commencement ceremony of Beijing-Xiongan rail transit is held at Xiongan New Area, Hebei Province, on February 28, 2018.  

With many high-tech companies expanding their subsidiaries in Xiongan, it is now looked upon as the next Zhongguancun, which represents China’s highest level of innovation with the best resources.

Other four featured cities by Forbes are: Forest City in Malaysia; Nurkent in Kazakhstan; Colombo Port City in Sri Lanka and Dumq in Oman.

Xiongan New Area, established in April 2017, is a new economic zone about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing in Hebei Province. It is the third new area of national significance after the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the Shanghai Pudong New Area.