Hebei is the mysterious doughnut province surrounding Beijing — and it's quietly becoming one of the smartest ways into the world's biggest marketplace. In this bumper final episode, we discover why.
Here, China's future is already running. Xiong'an — a city of 1.2 million built on farmland in a decade — is run by an AI brain wired to a million sensors, with driverless taxis for a dollar a ride and incentives on the table for foreign entrepreneurs who want in. Beyond it, a gaggle of towns, each the world capital of something: 800 million bags a year from one city, enough wire mesh from another to carpet Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne — including the screen on your back door. Chances are, Hebei is already in your house.
Then the machinery that's driving its growth: a port with no ships and no water, shifting 35 million tonnes a year, steel still hot from the mill — and a free trade zone with routes already open to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The blunt message for Australian business: there's money to be made here — come and have a look. We sign off with a donkey burger and a rock and roll band at volume 11. Hebei isn't a mystery anymore. The question isn't whether you can do business there — it's why aren't you there already?
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