The New Beijing: CBD II, Planes, Trains and a New Xidan

The Beijing Tourism Administration recently launched a promotional campaign to lure more Hong Kong visitors to the capital. Not surprisingly, the campaign centers on the concept of the post-Olympic city being a “New Beijing” and focuses on three areas: New Beijing Landmarks, a New Beijing Culture and a New Beijing Lifestyle. The first refers to the draw of architectural wonders such as the T3 terminal, Olympic venues like the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube, the National Grand Theatre and the new CCTV headquarters. A New Beijing culture refers to the development of the 798 Dashanzi Art District, Nanluogu Xiang and Houhai as areas that the Beijing government is hoping to foster as representative of a new hip, arty and cool Beijing. The concept also encompasses new shopping areas such as the new Qianmen Dajie and a New Sanlitun. A New Beijing Life stresses the quality and variety of dining, nightlife and shopping options in the capital.

Headlines in both the local and international media over the past few days have offered a few clues as to how this new Beijing is expanding. Below we take a look at some of the recent announcements about the changing face of the city:

A New CBD
In a few years the area around Guomao may not be the city’s only CBD. Plans are now under way to develop a new Beijing CBD West (Jingxi CBD) to the west of the city. The 19sqkm area will be outside of the West Fifth Ring Road and spread over the Mentougou, Shijingshan and Fengtai Districts. CBD West will differ from its eastern counterpart by being a home to international energy companies and a high-end service zone. The whole project is scheduled to be completed by the year 2020. As part of the plan to develop this new CBD, Chang’an Dajie and Subway Line 1 will be extended into Mentougou County by 2012.

A New Xidan
A pedestrian bridge connecting the Beijing Book Building in Xidan and six of the malls and department stores to its west, is being built to alleviate the current pedestrian congestion in the area. The new footbridge is expected to be completed by October 2009. The bridge is part of the second phase of a project to reinvent the Xidan area that will also see the addition of elevators to the currently existing footbridges and the construction of a permanent blood-donation booth in the northwest corner of the Xidan Culture Square. The square will also feature a fountain and more greenery.

New Subway Lines
David Feng over at Beijingology recently revealed this impressive map of what the Beijing Subway system will look like in 2015. For a better copy of the map and details on all the new lines, visit Beijingology.

New Suburban Train Lines
Visiting the Great Wall at Badaling became a lot easier in August with the opening of the new S2 Beijing suburban railway line. The S2 is the first of six suburban railway lines that will be completed by 2020. When completed, the new lines will cover over 360 kilometers and offer Beijingers more convenient access to Mentougou, Miyun, Pinggu, Shunyi and Fangshan. The S2 service starts at the Beijing North Station (by Xizhimen) and stops at Qinghuayuan, Qinghe, Shahe, Changping and Badaling before reaching its terminus at Yanqing Station, the total trip takes about 80 minutes. The first train leaves both Beijing North Station and Yanqing Station at 6.08am and the last train leaves Beijing North Station at 9.27pm and Yanqing Station at 9.23pm. There are a total of 16 services running the 82 km stretch every day. First class tickets are RMB 23, second class tickets sell for RMB 19.

New Beijing East Station in New Tongzhou City
Everyone knows Beijing Railway Station. If you’ve traveled anywhere west of Beijing you're probably also familiar with the huge Beijing West Station. The new express train to Tianjin has helped to raise the profile of the recently-opened (but not really completed) Beijing South Station and if you read the above paragraph you’d know that the first new suburban train service starts off at Beijing North Station. Beijing’s planners have just decided that a new Beijing East Station will be built at the junction of yet-to-be–completed S6 suburban railway line (that will connect Yizhuang with Shunyi) and the Beijing-Qinhuangdao railway line. The two lines meet in what has been dubbed Tongzhou New City. There is speculation that the new city, centered on the business zone surrounding the recently spiffed up port on the Grand Canal, will be home to a skyscraper taller than the almost-completed 330m tall World Trade Center Phase III. According to the plan, Beijing East Station will be the starting point of the new Beijing-Chengde railway line.

New Airport
Beijing’s planners recently announced that they’ve finally settled on two possible locations for the city’s second airport, and both of them aren’t actually in Beijing. The new airport, which is scheduled to be built within 3 to 5 years and to be put in use before 2015, will either be located in Tianjin or Hebei province. The final decision on the precise location will be made by the end of this year. Officials from Capital Airport stressed that they’ll take issues regarding regional economic development, airspace availability, geographic conditions as well as the distance from the city center in to consideration before making a final decision.

100 Forest Parks by 2020
According to an announcement from Beijing’s Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry, Beijing will have 100 Forest Parks by 2020.

Links and Sources
Sina: “新北京”旅游香港受热捧 (New Beijing)
Beijing Times: 图书大厦设天桥连接七大场所构建西单空中走廊
The Beijing News: S2线车票价优惠待批准
Beijing.gov.cn: 市区至延庆S2线动车组8月6日将正式开通
Haijing.gov.cn: 首条D字头京郊线将开通 80分钟到达八达岭
Beijing Times BBS: 新北京东站选址初步确定 设置在通州新城
Beijingology: Beijing Subway Network 2015 (image)
Sina: Fifth Ring Road Image
Soufun: Image of plan for new Beijing
Global Construction Watch: Towers of Beijing’s Central Business District (CBD) Image
The Beijinger Blog: Beijing Digest