THE campus of Phase II of Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School will be built at the original site of Xili Lake Resorts in Nanshan District, a source from Nanshan District Urban Renewal and Land Development Bureau said Wednesday.

The campus will be an important part of the core area of Xili Lake International Science and Education Town.

The Xili Lake Resorts declared business closure in December last year after operating for four decades.

Once a popular tourist attraction in 1980s and 1990s, the Xili Lake Resorts lost popularity in the 2000s with the rise of other tourist attractions like Happy Valley and OCT East.

Earlier in 2009, Shenzhen issued a notice to reclaim the land, which was later listed into the 2017 land development plan for the construction of Xili Lake International Science and Education Town.

At the end of 2019, the government signed compensation agreements with the resort operators and initiated relocation. The dismantling of the resort will offer 430,000 square meters of land for the campus development.

The Xili Lake International Science and Education Town will be a core area of leading universities, a base for national basic science research and applications, and a center for innovation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

As a strategic node of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao Science Innovation Corridor, the science town covers an area of 69.8 square kilometers.

The planning of the town will center around Xili Lake and along the Dasha River. The circular area around Xili Lake will be an area for science and education innovation with a high quality of life prioritizing ecological development.

The science town will be divided into five major areas, namely Shibilong, Yanqingxi, Baishiling, Liuxiandong and University Town. Each area will have its respective functions and coordinate its development with the others as a whole.

Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School is part of the Yanqingxi area.

(Han Ximin)