by Xinhua Writer Zheng Bofei

BEIJING, July 17 (Xinhua) -- The scent of fresh ink lingered in the air as Ren Baoquan brushed a thin layer of it across a carved wooden block. Elsewhere in his workshop, digital-style paintings and trendy souvenir envelopes lined tables, reflecting wider efforts by a town in Beijing's outskirts to take traditional heritage into modern life.

Ren has spent decades keeping woodblock printing alive in Caiyu Town, where he grew up in Beijing's Daxing District. For him, the town's future must be built on its past.

Once better known for vineyards and rural scenery, Caiyu is now seeking a new identity. In 2025, the town launched a plan to develop a 3.22-square-kilometer digital fashion zone.

This transformation also offers a glimpse of a broader shift across the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in north China, where towns and villages are drawing on their own resources while seeking new roles in an increasingly integrated regional economy.

OLD CRAFTS, NEW DESIGN

Caiyu may seem an unlikely place for a digital fashion hub.

Historical records show that this area along the Fenghe River was home to Fanyushu during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), an authority responsible for supplying poultry and related products for imperial use. In more recent history, the town became known for grape growing.

Today, local authorities hope to combine this agricultural and scenic foundation with design, digital technology and new forms of consumption.

Chen Baowang, deputy mayor of Caiyu Town, said the aim is not to replicate the intensity of downtown business districts, but to create an environment where creative workers can settle down and focus on their work.

"We want to build a town with an atmosphere of slow life, quiet work and enjoyment," Chen said. "Such an environment is more suitable for young people with creativity and design capabilities."

Caiyu's cultural and tourism resources include grape-picking gardens, wineries, woodblock printing, black pottery and flower-shaped steamed buns.

Chi Xueyu, who runs a black pottery workshop with her family, serves as a guide to visitors as they steady the spinning clay, widen its body and narrow its opening until the outline of a vase emerges. For her, the digital fashion project is not intended to replace Caiyu's rural identity.

"People in Caiyu used to go to Langfang in Hebei Province for shopping or leisure," she said. "Now Caiyu has developed quickly, with commercial facilities, traditional culture and fashion."

The same combination of culture and technology has also attracted fashion companies.

Xia Hua, chairwoman of EVE Group, a Chinese fashion company and one of the first businesses to join the digital fashion project, said Caiyu's appeal lies in its focus on digital fashion and its combination of industrial space, natural scenery and cultural identity.

Xia said digital fashion is not simply "clothing plus technology," but an upgrade spanning design, research, display, communication and production.

LOCAL RENEWAL, REGIONAL MOMENTUM

Caiyu's transformation also reflects its location. Situated in southeastern Beijing, it has road links with neighboring Hebei and easy access to Tianjin Municipality. It is close to Beijing Daxing International Airport, while a planned intercity railway is expected to strengthen links with both international airports in Beijing.

This connection between local industry and wider regional supply chains echoes a larger pattern across Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei.

Beigou Village, in Huairou District of Beijing, located near Hebei and the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, has transformed itself from a chestnut-growing village into a rural tourism destination. An abandoned glazed-tile factory there was converted into a countryside hotel that retained its original kilns and industrial features, helping launch a cluster of homestays and rural hotels combining Chinese and Western design.

In Beijing's Shunyi District, meanwhile, Beilangzhong Village took a different route. As traditional livestock-related industries were relocated to other areas, the village developed flower cultivation, traditional Chinese medicine-themed tourism and leisure agriculture, turning industrial restructuring into an opportunity for rural renewal.

Beyond Beijing, regional cooperation has also helped connect agricultural investment, technology, tourism and markets. Numerous Beijing-based agricultural companies have expanded operations in Hebei, while rural areas in the Hebei city of Chengde have used ecological resources to develop tourism, health care and leisure industries.

For regions like Caiyu, regional integration is no longer only about faster roads or larger markets. It is also about finding complementary roles, transforming local resources into new industries, and ensuring that development reaches communities beyond major city centers.

By drawing strength from their own landscapes and histories, these areas are seeking new opportunities through deeper regional coordination.