This isn't the first time the rumor has surfaced, and talk of relocating the capital can be traced at least back to 1980.

 

The idea does appear to be gaining steam, however. In 2007 FT Chinese published an op-ed by Mei Xinyu that suggested it was time for the capital to be moved (you can read a translation of it here). The discussion picked up again in 2010 when a Shanghai-based scholar, Shen Hanyao, discussed possible alternatives, and just last year the South China Morning Post published an op-ed that suggested the capital should be moved to Hebei.