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BEIJING, Dec. 7-- Monotowns are becoming increasingly common in China's urbanization drive, raising concerns of a new real estate bubble. Monotowns feature specialized industries. Since October, more than 50 listed companies have issued statements about monotown investment projects, covering film, medicine, fashion, energy and robotics sectors. State-owned conglomerate CITIC Group announced a cooperation agreement on Nov. 25 with the local government of Yichuan in central China's Henan Province to build a town featuring the game of go and the pastoral scenery. It is estimated that such towns in China, which are seen as a good means to boost urbanization and lure away people from overcrowded big cities, are attracting private investment worth trillions of yuan every year. In southern Guangdong Province alone, a total of 60 "marine towns" will be created by 2020, according to a local government plan announced last month. In Zhejiang Province in east China, 37 such towns have been announced, including one in Deqing county that focuses on the geographic information industry. The town in Deqing had a total industrial output of 3.5 billion yuan (about 530 million U.S. dollars) over the past three years, according to a local official. Across the country, 127 state-level monotowns were unveiled in October last year by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD). In the second batch of such towns announced in July this year, the number more than doubled to 276, including Yanqi town in Huairou district of Beijing. | 
