East Zhengzhou rises

Zhao Xinmin, the deputy managing director of the ZND administrative committee, said that some local officials didn't believe that Zhengdong could bypass the common development model of "agriculture first, industries second and then services industries", and leapfrog directly to services.

But since the original idea of signing up a lot of manufacturing investors had hardly worked, and Chinese banks began a new round of expansion after their market-oriented restructuring, officials were happy to welcome them as ZND's first tenants.

In 2007, Agricultural Bank of China became the first bank to base its provincial branch in ZND. Prior to that, ABC already had an office there.

Zhao Tianmin, general manager of corporate banking for ABC's Henan branch, recalled that when the bank began to work with ZND in 2003, it helped the latter arrange compensation for local farmers for land purchases.

And after being familiar with ZND's prospects, they also allowed ZND to use undeveloped land as collateral for loans to finance construction projects.

Now, as the main part of ZND's construction is finished, the arrival of large corporations has generated new clients for ABC's operations there.

Following ABC, many major Chinese banks began to move to ZND, and after that, securities companies and foreign banks. "HSBC is already here," Zhao said. "Standard Chartered may move in soon."

And managing high-end service industries requires advanced skills. So, the ZND administrative committee has been recruiting college graduates from overseas.

Fang Bin, a 25-year-old with a master's degree from the United Kingdom's University of Stirling, was recruited last year along with 10 other people with similar credentials. Fang majored in investment analysis. "I felt that I may contribute more in here," he said.

Other companies, especially the publicly listed ones and the ones seeking to be listed, like to be where the money is.

Baixiang Food Group, a Chinese maker of instant noodles and soft drinks, is one of the companies waiting to go public from here.

Feng Zhenwei, administrative director of Baixiang, said that in 2006, when the company started drawing up plans to relocate its headquarters from a small city in Henan, there were many other proposals.

"Some said Beijing. Others wanted Shanghai," Feng said.

But, in the end, the company moved to ZND. Feng said ZND's location allows the company to manage its sales in both northern and southern parts of the country. "It's a better place than either Beijing or Shanghai," Feng added.

Indeed, as Henan's distance with the rest of China has been shortened, ZND may have to take on more service functions for the whole country.