On Sunday, the Xiong'an New Area -- located about 100 kilometers southwest of the Chinese capital -- will mark its first year in operation.

It will essentially serve as a development hub for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic triangle, and will house a number of national research and development institutions. It comes on the heels of similar successful efforts, such as the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the Shanghai Pudong New Area. Since Xiong'an New Area's inauguration 12 months ago, it has made some impressive achievements, with a number of China's leading tech companies establishing branches there. For instance, e-commerce giant, Alibaba registered three subsidiaries to provide technological, financial and logistics services. And Internet sensation, Tencent set up a "financial technology lab" and a branch. Meanwhile, earlier this year, construction began on a rail line linking Beijing and the New Area, which will cut travel time between the two to just thirty minutes. And planners are also looking to improve the local ecological system, and attract leading universities and middle schools, as well as hospitals.