SHIJIAZHUANG — During their winter vacation, students at an elementary school in Xiong'an New Area, about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing, were seen reading in the school library, writing calligraphy, singing in classrooms and playing games on campus.

They were enjoying the free winter vacation childcare service offered to students whose parents were too busy to look after them.

The Xiong'an campus of Beijing's prestigious Shijiahutong Elementary School opened last autumn, becoming the first primary school to open in Xiong'an as the highly anticipated "city of the future" is finally taking shape.

On April 1, 2017, China announced plans to establish the Xiong'an New Area in Hebei province to relieve Beijing of functions nonessential to its role as the nation's capital and advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

In less than seven years, Xiong'an has been transformed from a blueprint into a reality, and it is being built at a rapid pace.

"Our students are the children of the builders of Xiong'an, and the school is obligated to relieve the workers of their worries by taking care of their children during the winter vacation," said Wang Ying, vice-principal of the school's Xiong'an campus.

Last October, authorities in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei jointly signed an action plan to boost the coordinated development of education in the region. Under the cooperation mechanism, schools in the three areas are encouraged to engage in personnel exchanges and resource sharing in areas such as digital education.

Last semester, students on the Xiong'an campus of the Shijiahutong Elementary School interacted with teachers during livestreamed courses provided by the Beijing campus through an online platform.

Wang said teachers in Xiong'an participate in collective lesson preparation, offline training and seminars with their peers in Beijing, thus ensuring that students in both places enjoy the same quality of education.