World Expo 2010 Shanghai China >> Participation >> Corporate Pavilions

Tianjin to showcase ‘new countryside’

scene of the signing ceremony

scene of the signing ceremony

Tianjin will replicate on a small scale its eco-friendly Huaming Farmers' Town in the World Expo’s Urban Best Practices Area. Tianjin will showcase its innovative building of a “new countryside.”

The Tianjin Municipality signed a participation contract with Shanghai Expo organizers on Friday. The Expo theme is “Better City, Better Life,” and the Farmer’s Town is a prime example.

Huaming Town groups farmers into a centralized and well-managed neighborhood without changing the fields they are contracted to cultivate. Farmers move into modern, solar-powered complexes with lots of open space and trees as well as amenities, leaving behind their shabby homes in old villages.

Farmers in Huaming Town formerly were disadvantaged as economic development of the entire region lagged far behind other areas. In late 2005 the Tianjin government started constructing the livable model town to creatively address urbanization, boost rural development and utilize lands more efficiently.

Huaming Town, near Tianjin's newly developed Binhai New Area, was chosen by 20 experts of the international selection committee of the Urban Best Practices Area.

More than 55 cases will be exhibited, including six from China.