Xiong'an New Area, north China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of tree nursery; workers, cranes
2. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) He Xinyuan, project manager, Tianjin Yongyang Landscaping Ltd.:
"Building a fine nursery garden can help store up plants for future municipal projects like parks in Xiong'an New Area."
3. Various of tags on trees
4. Workers, tree nursery
5. Various of workers taking saplings off truck,
6. Various of workers planting trees
7. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Li Zhijun, deputy general manager, Tianjin Yongyang Landscaping Ltd.:
"Our goal is not just about building this nursery garden. We are also preparing for a future nursery to be built jointly with the Xiong'an New Area, to carry out forestation and operate tree nurseries with a market mechanism. So this is the start of a long-term project."
8. Aerial shots of tree nursery

A new round of afforestation has begun in north China's Xiong'an New Area to make the up-and-coming neighbor about 100 kilometers south of Beijing a green millennium city.

Xiong'an New Area spans three counties of Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin in Hebei Province, covering 2,000 square kilometers in the long term. It is the third new area of national significance after the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the Shanghai Pudong New Area.

Over the past decade, China has accumulated successful experience in forestation work, be it in cities or deserts. Here in Xiong'an, such experience is being put to work.

The forestation efforts in this autumn involve the plantation of more than 200,000 trees of over 20 species such as Chinese scholar trees, Maidenhair trees, purpleblow maples and Chinese flowering crabs. Most of them are carefully chosen to adapt to the local environment.

He Xinyuan, a project manager with the forestation contractor Tianjin Yongyang Landscaping Ltd., explained the goal of the new round of tree planting, which is scheduled to be completed by next May.

"Building a fine nursery garden can help store up plants for future municipal projects like parks in Xiong'an New Area," he said.

"Our goal is not just about building this nursery garden. We are also preparing for a future nursery to be built jointly with the Xiong'an New Area, to carry out forestation and operate tree nurseries with a market mechanism. So this is the start of a long-term project," said Li Zhijun, the company's deputy general manager.

Since the beginning of autumn, more than 9,200 hectares of new forests have been created in Xiong’an. The millennium city expects to see an afforestation area of over 20,600 hectares by year-end covered with 13 million trees.