Beijing holds the key to regional integration

Tianjin went from being an international financial center at the start of the 20th century, to an industrial center from the 1930s to the '80s, to a city that today is "under Beijing's shadow", as many locals say.

As for Hebei, in 2012, 39 of its 114 counties were counted as below the poverty level. Of them, 25 surround Beijing and Tianjin within a radius of 150 kilometers.

By 2013, 8 million of the province's 73 million people still took home under $1 a day, and nearly 2 million of them lived near Beijing and Tianjin.

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As the country's capital, Beijing is home to China's most elite universities, hospitals and decision-makers.

With strong financial support from the central government, Beijing can provide a much higher level of public service compared with other Chinese cities.

"The integrated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei is of national importance," said Zhu Erjuan, a research partner with Wen Kui at the same university and the leading researcher of the government-sponsored project.

The central government must plan the regional development as whole, he said. Otherwise, it will be impossible to bridge the gap between the separate, and often competing, governing systems.

"The market should play a decisive role in allocating resources in regional integration," Zhu said. "The central government's coordination can serve to unify the local governors' actions."

The project has its foundation already in some fields.

There is a good infrastructure base in the three places after 30 years' fast development.

Beijing's location at the center of Hebei makes the province an immediate beneficiary of China's ambitious high-speed railway strategy, of which Beijing is a hub.

In the past few years, the length of high-speed railway track in Hebei has gone from zero to more than 5,000 kilometers. All cities and many main counties in the province will be connected by high-speed rail over the next two years.