Hebei's development taking off

Editor's note: China has seen tremendous changes nationwide, from economic growth to environmental protection, from social improvement to cultural progress. In this series, China Daily maps the changes and tells the stories of the people who lived through them.

Success of the Xiong'an New Area, various industries proof of province's continuous improvement

Transitioning from villager to city dweller has been the biggest change to Li Yanhong's life over the past decade.

The 47-year-old used to live in Hexi village in Hebei province, but when her home was rezoned to become part of the Xiong'an New Area five years ago, she and her family became residents of the new city.

Dubbed China's youngest city and a "city of the future", Xiong'an was established in April 2017 to serve as the new home for functions nonessential to Beijing's role as the nation's capital, and to advance the development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Since then, people who live in Xiong'an have become the envy of many Chinese.

But it wasn't until earlier this year that Li really felt she had become a city dweller.

With her husband and two sons, Li moved into a 120-square-meter apartment in a newly built residential community in the Rongdong area at the end of last year.

The new home was given as compensation by the local government for the use of her former village house. In addition to this, Li obtained three more new apartments of different sizes, which she rents out.

In addition, she was hired to work as a cleaner in a nearby community, giving her a stable income and a convenient commute.

"My life has become totally different, and I'm excited about my new identity," she said.

All these changes are the result of the development of Hebei, a province that nearly surrounds two major cities－Beijing and Tianjin.

Since Xiong'an was established, it has become one of the province's calling cards.

"We should make every effort to turn Xiong'an into a national model for high-quality development," Ni Yuefeng, secretary of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, said during an inspection visit to the area in June.