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