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Zhangjiakou made headlines after winning a joint bid with Beii Now, people want to know how an unkn n

Guojifan’er, Vast and fertile steppes host fauna and flora as well as tourists.

Alittle-known city in China has become well known, or is at least being mentioned globally, since its successful joint bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Zhangjiakou, 180 kilometers northwest of Beijing, will host the Games together with the capital.

Most of the snow events will be held in the city’s Chongli district, which boasts several ski resorts that meet international standards.

Before Zhangjiakou became an Olympic host, it was an old industrial base.

With a total population of 4.68 million, Zhangjiakou still has 450,000 people living in poverty, making it one of the poorest cities inHebei province.

“But Zhangjiakou is transforming itself from a backward city into a modern one, which is

Hou Liang, the Party chief of Zhangjiakou, says.

which means “globally trendy”, is the buzzword for the city’s government officials and local residents.

They aim to revive the city with advanced industries and fashionable resorts.

So, instead of focusing on old stalwarts like papermaking, cement production, metallurgy and mining, Zhangjiakou is now eyeing newenergy and tourism.

In 2015, Zhangjiakou was approved by the State Council as China’s first national-level renewable-energy demonstration area.

The National Wind and Solar Energy Storage Transmission Demonstration Project is a major new-energy project in the city.

Based on the rich wind resources and plenty of sunlight in Zhangbei and Shangyi counties, the project is expected to be the world’s largest clean-energy facility.

With an investment of 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion), the project has installed wind-power capacity of 450 megawatts and photovoltaic power of 100 megawatts.

It can store 20 megawatts of energy and also has the ability to transmit electric power.

In the next five years, its parent company — the State Grid Jibei Electric Power Co — will invest another 23 billion yuan ($3.5 billion) to develop 10 clean-energy projects for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, according to a company white paper.

By 2020, 55 percent of the city’s total power consumption will be covered by clean energy.

Tourism is another focus for Zhangjiakou, according to the Party chief, who says: “In Zhangjiakou, you can enjoy the grasslands and cool weather in summer, and skiing in winter.”

In 2015, the number of tourists who visited Zhangjiakou was 38.5 million, up 16 percent from the previous year.

In winter, people throng to the ski resorts in the Chongli district, while a small number visit other

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PHOTOS BY YUAN YUQIN / FOR CHINA DAILY