Who is the Community Party of China (CPC)? What is the CPC's role in the new era?
The CPC has grown into one of the largest parties in the world in the process of leading the Chinese people to seek liberation and happiness, making China as strong and prosperous as it is today.
As the CPC ushers the nation into a new era of development, the past decade has witnessed great achievements in national strength and prosperity, and the people's confidence and recognition of this path rising to unprecedentedly high levels.
With more than 95 million members, the CPC will convene its 20th National Congress in the second half of the year, which is expected to guide the country's development and policymaking. Ahead of the meeting, the Global Times is publishing a series of stories to help the world understand the CPC in the new era, through the stories of CPC members working on the frontlines of various fields, as well as through observations by respected scholars.
In this story, some CPC members will narrate their understanding of the CPC's economic thoughts in this new era.
The railway station of Xiong'an New Area in North China's Hebei Province Photo:VCG
Five years after the announcement of the blueprint of the Xiong'an New Area in North China's Hebei Province, numerous changes have taken place that show to the world China's orderly but unswerving push to build its dream city in a new phase of development.
Roads, resettlement houses, assistant facilities and buildings are being built. More 5G technologies have been implemented such as 5G smart robots, smart buses, and parks.
As a designer who had been in the construction of Xiong'an since the planning stage, Wang Jinjin said watching a building going up in the city is like watching her own baby growing up .
"It grows fast and healthy in a speed no other city in the world can realize, and as a designer, I feel so satisfied," the designer from the Huadong Engineering Cooperation Limited told the Global Times.
As a Hebei native and a CPC member, Wang said she was excited when offered the opportunity to come to work in Xiong'an in 2018, months after the blueprint of the area was announced in April 2017.
Wang Jinjin Photo: Courtesy of Wang
"It was such a great news for my home province, not to mention how I can use my profession to help build a city from scratch," she said.
Described as "a strategy crucial for a millennium to come," Xiong'an New Area attracted wide attention from around the world as many praised China's boldness in launching such a massive project, building a new metropolis from the ground up.
Others wondered if China can make another miracle with its vision for future development, after two successful precedents, the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the Shanghai Pudong New Area.
Yang Qian Photo: Courtesy of Yang
Yang Qian, a manager for the Xiong'an Intelligent City Innovation Federation, believed that Xiong'an would grow into a city of happiness with high-quality development, an eco-friendly environment, and high level digitalization, which would ensure security, convenience, and harmonious co-existence.
Described as "the city of future," Xiong'an will also serve as an example for Chinese cities for their future development, according to Wang, as China has shifted its development focus from quantity to high quality, pursuing innovation, coordination, eco-efficiency, openness, and inclusiveness.
Dream city of happiness
Also born in Hebei and being a Party member, Yang said the province has a vast territory, abundant resources, and many tourist attractions, like the Chengde Mountain Resort and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic co-host city Zhangjiakou. So when the blueprint of Xiong'an was announced, she thought it was a great opportunity to create a new calling card for the province and promote the province to more people.
Starting from scratch, Xiong'an in fact has no precedents to learn from. We need to explore a brand new approach on our own, Yang said.
The establishment of the Xiong'an New Area is a major historic strategic choice made by the Chinese central government that has far-reaching historical influence in terms of helping phase out functions from Beijing that are not related to the capital, exploring a new model of optimized development in densely-populated and economically advanced areas, restructuring the urban layout in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and cultivating the new driving force for innovative development.
Compared with special economic zones in Pudong and Shenzhen, Xiong'an is designed to represent China's vision of its next stage of development in several areas. It is expected to become a modern high-level city that is green, low-carbon, intelligent, and livable by the end of 2035. By the middle of this century, it should become an important part of the world-level Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city cluster.
A construction site in Xiong'an Photo:VCG
Green and smart
Changes have gradually been taking place in the past five years.
Taking the Rongdong community Yang lives as an example. The 15-minute radius community life circles has basically been constructed with a gradually completing public service system. Schools, supermarkets, and parks are all within walking distance.
Xiong'an has long been known as an eco-friendly city. During the past five years, the area has planted 454,000 mu (about 30,267 hectares) of trees, including more than 23 million trees of economic value, fruit and ornamental trees, increasing the local forest coverage rate from 11 percent to 32 percent, the People's Daily reported in April.
With parks, tree belts, and forests located within 300 meters, 1,000 meters, and 3,000 meters respectively, from residential communities, Xiong'an is turning the idyllic urban scenery and life that urbanites yearn for into a reality, the People's Daily said.
Hebei used to be haunted by the problem of haze, but now it can enjoy blue skies and green forests and I feel delighted every morning when I open the window, Yang said.
Driverless vehicles are also being deployed and the Xiong'an Railway Station has also been put into use. In a word, the future for Xiong'an is as promising as we expected, Yang said.
Innovative projects in Xiong'an could also be borrowed and used in other Chinese cities such as the 15-minute radium community life circles and road networks, Wang said.
Some other cities have contacted us and have wanted to learn from our experiences in the planning of Xiong'an to upgrade some of their existing systems, according to Wang.
For the people
"Development is for the people and by the people; its outcomes should be shared by the people. We must never falter in our commitment to pursuing prosperity for all," Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said at the 38th group study session of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee in April, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
Under the leadership of CPC, the development of Xiong'an is in full swing toward high-quality development.
Efforts should be made to create "Xiong'an quality" and make it a national model for high-quality development, Xi once said.
When asked how the role of CPC member contributes to her work, Wang said that the spirit of the CPC has gone done to the bones.
"I just work wherever I am needed. Everything we do is for the development of the city regardless of personal gain and loss," Wang told the Global Times.
Today, countless CPC members are devoting themselves in various positions in Xiong'an, leading the construction of the city. People have seen signs of a promising future for the area.
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