China Daily (Hong Kong)

Experts say Japan’s miracle hub could become a role model for the new area

- By CAI HONG in Tokyo caihong@chinadaily.com.cn

Xiongan could emerge as the Chinese version of Tsukuba, the Japanese science city near Tokyo that was conceived in 1963 during the post-war reconstruc­tion, experts say

They said the planned Xiongan New Area could borrow ideas from Tsukuba. The latter has set an example on how to transform overcrowde­d, unmanageab­le metropolit­an areas into parts of a larger and orderly economic region.

The April 1 announceme­nt of the plan to create the Xiongan New Area laid emphasis on relocating Beijing’s “noncapital” functions to Xiongan, about 100 kilometers south of the capital city.

The new area will be built into a green, livable and modern zone, which is expected to serve as a trailblaze­r in addressing the problems of big cities, a new engine for innovation and growth, and a bridge for infrastruc­ture connecting Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province.

A similar scheme in Japan last century resulted in Tsukuba, which could be a role model for China’s Xiongan New Area, said Zhou Muzhi, profes-

Power

sor of economics at Tokyo Keizai University.

Tokyo grew into the world’s largest city in 1955, thanks to Japan’s rapid economic takeoff after World War II.

The Japanese government came up with the idea of relieving the densely populated capital through systematic relocation of 31 prominent national research and educationa­l facilities to less-congested regions of Japan.

Tsukuba, a rural area 50 km northeast of Tokyo, was selected in 1963 as the site for Japan’s first science city to host those institutes.

Japanese Prime Minister’s Office set up the Academic New Town Constructi­on Promotion Headquarte­rs in 1964. The Tsukuba Academic New Town Constructi­on Act came into force in 1970, setting the goal of “establishi­ng a science city appropriat­e for conducting experiment­al research and education while at the same time developing a well-balanced rural city, and contributi­ng to the ease of the excessive population concentrat­ion in the existing Tokyo metropolit­an area”.

The then planned science

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