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Chinese cities activities for Shang Hai World Expo 2010 China Tianjin plans to showcase modern town

Tianjin will showcase how it turned a poor village into a modern town in the Urban Best Practices Area at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, one of Tianjin's top officials said yesterday.

Huaming Town is modern with a solar-powered residential complex for farmers. The town includes shopping streets, parks, schools, clinics and public transport, said Zhang Changhe, Party secretary of Huaming.

Tianjin's 400-square-meter pavilion at the Expo will replicate the town.

Farmers now live in apartments with an average of 80 square meters per family. Zhang said the farmers' old clay or brick homes were worth only 20,000 yuan (US$2,928) to 50,000 yuan even though they were bigger. Most now have apartments worth more than 550,000 yuan.

The Tianjin government used land from other areas of the village and sold it to businesses. The profits were used to build the complex and provide social welfare for residents, he said.

Chinese cities activities for Shang Hai World Expo 2010 China Tianjin plans to showcase modern town