Xiong’an, the city of future, the city for the builders

On the street of Xiong’an, there are vehicles from all over the country: Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong… You can even see the truck from Fujian, one of the southernmost provinces in China, almost 1,776 kilometers from Xiong’an, taking drivers at least 19 hours to here. In the past three years, this area has attracted the attention worldwide. For the 130,000 builders living in Xiong’an, this is not only the city of Chinese future, but also the city for their futures.

YANG Wenjun, a new quality inspector in China Construction Eighth Engineering Division (CSCEC), has been in Xiong’an for three months. He has just got his master degree in Fuzhou University. Before coming, he thought the construction of Xiong’an is partly complete. “Far beyond my imagination, actually I am one of the earliest constructors who will lay the foundation for the New Area.”

Like most of the workers, YANG choose to live in the temporary dormitories called “the Home of Builders”. These are the living areas for builders which contain dormitories and canteens. The dormitories are three-storey portable houses with 72 rooms in each building. Four to five people can share one room with air conditioners, private bathrooms and WIFI. “My roommate says that the condition here is better than others.” YANG says, smiling and scratching his head, “For me, it’s like being back to school.”

The appearance of “the Home of Builders”, there are vending machines in each building. Each room can contain six people, but for workers’ comforts, the company will only arrange four to five people. (Photo provided by China Xiong'an Group)

For builders in Xiong’an, the days living in portable houses will end soon. Rongdong Area, the area being build now, is the settling area for relocators and builders. As planned, people living in this area can own kindergartens within three-minute walk, medical facilities within five-minute walk, daily living facilities within 15-minute walk. BIAN Jianguo, the director of the Publicity Center of Xiongan New Area, shows the imagination of Rongdong Area: “Every morning, you will be awakened by the songs of birds, instead of the sounds of alarm clocks.”

To pursue the planned happiness, the builders need to be immersed in the construction. Everyday, the workers in “the Home of Builders” take the arranged buses to the construction sites. There, they use Face ID as the access to test the temperature and enter the gate. “It will be automatically recorded into the data bases and we can track both the working attendance and COVID-19 suspected cases.” CHI Zhigang says, he is the operation manager of CSCEC. He is 54 years old now, Xiong’an project will be one of the last projects before he retires.

High intensity work is accompanied by high income. Before signing the contracts, the labor service company will pay insurances for workers. As for the salary, workers in Xiong’an will be paid 200 to 300 yuan per day, about 30 to 45 dollars. Now the number has risen to 500 to 600 yuan per day, about 75 to 90 dollars. And for technicians like YANG, the company will also pay them subsidy for returning to their hometown. Last month, YANG came back to Zhejiang Province, visiting his parents and meeting his girlfriend, without paying any traveling fee.

But for some workers, balancing work and life is quite difficult, especially for newly-married young people. CHI mentions that some young people are facing marital problems caused by separation. Knowing those problems, the leaders of the company arranged them short leaves, trying as much as they can to provide the staff with the stable family supports.

With the process of construction, Xiong’an has changed a lot. The hotels near the construction sites are always full, the visiting groups come one and another, the accents of local people become various. According to the official data, there are more than 130,000 builders contribute to the construction of Xiong’an now. For builders like YANG, Xiong’an is not only the city of the future, but also the city for them.