Inside China’s 93 Billion Dollar Smart City: The Unfinished Future of Xiongan

Entire villages disappeared from the map to make room for it. The state has poured more than 93 billion dollars into its foundations, transit corridors, data systems, and high-rise districts. It stands as one of the most ambitious urban plans ever attempted in modern China. Yet today, much of this vast city still feels quiet, almost frozen. Xiongan is China’s attempt to build a new urban heartland from scratch, designed to ease the weight on Beijing and display the country’s confidence in large-scale planning. You sense its ambition the moment you step inside the city limits and realize how carefully every block has been shaped for a future that has not fully arrived.

A Vision Born From Pressure Inside Beijing

Beijing holds more than 20 million people. It carries China’s political identity and cultural heritage, but the strain on daily life grows each year. Congested ring roads slow commuters for hours. Housing costs stretch household incomes. Air pollution has forced repeated government campaigns. Key universities, ministries, and state-owned companies occupy dense historic districts where space is scarce and preservation rules limit new construction.

Chinese planners knew the capital could not absorb unlimited growth. Instead of expanding outward, they decided to shift part of Beijing’s institutional weight into a new city built with long-term goals in mind.

Sixty miles south of Beijing, in an area once marked by wetlands, farmland, and rural villages, the government designated Xiongan New Area in 2017. At that time, the land held little more than scattered communities and shallow lakes. Within a few years, it evolved into one of China’s largest construction zones, filled with cranes, concrete plants, and thousands of workers.

Xiongan was never intended to be just another satellite city. It was planned as a living model of environmental recovery, digital energy systems, autonomous transit routes, ecological corridors, and strict spatial management. President Xi Jinping described it as a symbol of long-term national confidence and a blueprint for what modern Chinese urban life should look like. That framing elevated Xiongan from a regional development into a project tied directly to the country’s political core.

Also Read: World’s Most Ambitious Megastructures That Were Never Built

The Extraordinary Scale and Speed of Construction

China is known for rapid building, and Xiongan pushed that reputation further. Thousands of structures rose within a decade. Entire administrative districts appeared on flat land that had held crops only months earlier. Residential towers, government compounds, corporate campuses, research parks, cultural venues, and green corridors now cover the 2,000-square-kilometer planning zone.

One building captures the project’s ambition more clearly than any other: Xiongan Railway Station. Spanning an area roughly equal to 88 football fields, the station ranks among the largest high-speed rail hubs in China. Trains that reach 350 kilometers per hour link Xiongan and Beijing in around 20 minutes. Its capacity reaches about 100,000 passengers daily, supported by layered platforms, automated logistics, and fiber-connected systems.

Yet when you walk through many of the surrounding avenues, the contrast becomes striking. Broad, tree-lined roads carry only a few cars. Many new residential towers show scattered lights at night. Public plazas feel polished but unusually quiet. Parks stretch for blocks with almost no foot traffic. Xiongan’s physical form exists, but its population still lags far behind.

Some observers describe it as a “city without people,” but the situation reflects deeper structural decisions, not abandonment.

The Political Meaning Behind the Urban Grid

Xiongan carries heavy political weight. National leadership frames it as a generational decision shaped directly by Xi Jinping. Public slogans across the city highlight themes of confidence, stability, and unity. Government ministries and state-owned firms have already received instructions to move certain departments into Xiongan to anchor the city’s early development.

From an institutional perspective, Xiongan acts as a demonstration of central planning at full strength. The layout follows strict zoning aligned with environmental restoration, technological integration, and social management. The project tries to show that China can design a city that avoids the disorder, speculation, and overcrowding that have shaped other major urban centers.

This makes Xiongan more than a construction task. It becomes a political narrative. Its progress reflects directly on national leadership, turning the city into a long-term legacy investment.

When Floodwaters Tested the Vision

The city’s image faced its toughest test in 2023, when heavy rainfall hit Hebei Province. The government diverted floodwater into designated storage zones surrounding Xiongan to shield the new city’s core. Entire towns were inundated. Thousands of homes collapsed or filled with mud. Farmers lost crops, livestock, and machinery. Families watched water cover streets that had been dry for decades.

The decision sparked anger among residents of affected regions. Social media posts questioned why their homes were sacrificed to protect a new city that still had a small resident population. Protests and petitions followed, drawing attention from international media including BBC, Reuters, and Al Jazeera.

Officials argued that the diversion followed long-standing flood control plans tied to the Hai River Basin. They emphasized that Xiongan sits at the center of a broader regional system meant to strengthen long-term safety. Even so, the incident left a mark on public perception and raised questions about trade-offs embedded in large-scale planning.

Why Xiongan Is Not Another Shenzhen

Xiongan is often compared with Shenzhen, which grew from a fishing village into a global powerhouse within a generation. That comparison oversimplifies history. Shenzhen thrived because it aligned with rising global manufacturing demand, foreign investment, and market reforms. Private companies, entrepreneurs, factories, and migrant workers built the city from the ground up.

Xiongan follows a very different path. Its growth is controlled, selective, and institution-driven. The government restricts real estate speculation through price controls. It limits the types of industries allowed to operate, focusing on aerospace, healthcare technology, green energy systems, advanced materials, and research-based sectors. Population growth is managed instead of spontaneous.

This means Xiongan’s momentum depends on long-term policy stability, not market forces. That approach protects the city from chaotic expansion, but it also slows organic economic activity. When talent, investors, and companies choose where to settle, they often look for existing ecosystems, not blank slates.

Who Actually Lives in Xiongan Today

Official announcements sometimes cite figures above one million residents. Experts note that these numbers include the older county-level population that existed before Xiongan’s establishment. The population living inside the newly built districts remains far smaller, estimated at 100,000 to 120,000.

Many of these residents come from the villages that once occupied the land. Some appreciate improved housing, public services, and cleaner surroundings. Others struggle with a sense of cultural loss and disconnection from their former farms and communities.

The industries meant to define Xiongan’s identity have not yet taken hold. Construction remains the dominant employer. Shops and small services cluster around early residential zones, but they rely on workers rather than a full urban economy.

Economic Conditions That Shape Xiongan’s Future

The project launched during a turning point in China’s economy. Growth is slowing. Youth unemployment remains a concern. The real estate sector faces ongoing turbulence. Global tensions affect supply chains and investment flows. These broader issues influence whether companies and skilled workers will commit to a new city still forming its identity.

Analysts differ in their expectations. Some believe these economic headwinds may slow Xiongan’s rise. Others argue that because the project ties directly to national leadership, funding and political support will continue regardless of economic cycles. That makes Xiongan more resilient than typical real estate developments, but it also pressures the city to fulfill its role even without market-driven momentum.

What Xiongan Might Become by 2050

Official plans stretch across decades. By 2050, Xiongan is expected to hold around five million residents, connected through high-speed rail, autonomous buses, underground logistics corridors, digital grids, and extensive green zones. Headquarters for major state-owned companies are scheduled to move in phases. Universities and research institutions will form a knowledge hub designed to rival established centers in Beijing and Tianjin. The city aims to run on clean energy, recycled water systems, and AI-supported public management.

Whether Xiongan reaches that vision depends on people. A city cannot thrive through buildings alone. It grows when families settle, companies hire, students study, and communities create identity. That process takes time, trust, and opportunity.

Also Read: US Challenges China’s Grip on Africa with $1.7B Railway Project

A Future Still Waiting to Begin

For now, Xiongan feels suspended between imagination and reality. Its roads, towers, and transit lines exist, but the pulse of daily life moves slowly. The city represents confidence, but also the risks of designing a future faster than society can adapt to it.

What you see in Xiongan is a nation testing the limits of planning and ambition. It may eventually stand as a global model of long-term urban strategy, or it may become a cautionary study in the challenges of building a megacity before its people arrive.

Either way, Xiongan reveals the scale of China’s dreams and the complexity beneath them.