This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Andrew Stokols, a Ph.D. researcher at MIT who has been studying the “techno-natural utopia” that the Chinese government is now building a hundred kilometers southwest of Beijing: Xiong’an. Andrew breaks down why he sees it as an urban manifestation of the fundamental ideas embodied in Xi Jinping’s ideological vision for China.

02:02 - Xiong’an New Area as a bold vision for China

07:36 - Planned stages for the development of Xiong’an. Milestones in 2035 and 2050.

12:03 - Cities as expressions of political ideas

15:32 - Different facets of the Xiong’an as the legacy of Xi Jinping

20:03 - The elements of ecological civilization intended to be built into the new city

27:41 - Technologies employed with the intention of making Xiong’an a smart city

31:56 - The idea of incentivizing the digital yuan into the city of Xiong’an

34:55 - Xiong’an as an expression of Chineseness

40:05 - How is Xiong’an discussed in the English-language press outside of China?

47:59 - Approaches to technology and nature in Western and Chinese discourses. The

concept of techno-naturalism.

A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com

Recommendations:

Andrew: The Institutional Foundation of Economic Development by Shiping Tang

Kaiser: Five Families by Selwyn Raab

Mentioned:

Andrew’s article on Xiong’an: Chinas techno-natural utopia: A deep dive into Xiong’an

Shanghai Future: Modernity Remade by Anna Greenspan

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Xiong'an: Techno-natural utopia or authoritarian folly?

Sinica Podcast