Nine years after China announced the establishment of Xiong’an New Area, this purpose-built city in Hebei province has emerged as a magnet for young professionals, luring talent away from overcrowded megacities with its enviable work-life balance, affordable housing and well-developed public services.
On a mild March morning, 25-year-old Liu Suying wakes to sunlight spilling through the window of her 70-square-meter rented apartment in Xiongdong District, her pet cat curling against her hand to rouse her. After whipping up a quick breakfast of fried eggs and fresh coffee in her compact kitchen, she climbs into her car for the short commute to her role as a production planning engineer at a local commercial satellite firm. Just seven minutes after leaving home, she arrives at her desk, ready to start the workday.
A 2024 graduate of Beijing Jiaotong University, Liu is far from alone in choosing to build her career and life in Xiong’an. Her current living arrangement would be out of reach for many young people working in nearby Beijing: she pays just 10,000 yuan ($1,450) annually for a spacious two-bedroom apartment, and receives an additional 1,000 yuan monthly living subsidy from the Xiong’an local government. When Liu told a friend working at a leading tech firm in Beijing about her housing, the friend – who pays 3,000 yuan a month just to share an apartment with others for a single small room – immediately expressed jealousy.
That such a comfortable, convenient lifestyle is available in Xiong’an marks a dramatic transformation from the area’s origins. When China first unveiled plans for the new area in April 2017, the 100-square-kilometer planned development zone was little more than sprawling farmland and scattered rural villages. Built with a core mission to ease overcrowding in Beijing by relocating non-capital functions outside the city, Xiong’an was designed from the ground up to prioritize quality of life for residents, not just economic growth.
That deliberate planning has paid substantial dividends. According to local government data, Xiong’an’s permanent resident population hit approximately 1.4 million by the end of 2025, growing by 200,000 over the previous five years as more workers and families moved in. To date, more than 400 branches of China’s central state-owned enterprises have set up operations in the new area, bringing thousands of skilled employees with them and cementing Xiong’an’s reputation as an up-and-coming hub for innovation and career opportunity that doesn’t force residents to sacrifice personal well-being.