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The Eastern Suburbs Forest Park, which is about the size of eight Olympic Forest Parks, has recently started construction. It is the largest forest park in the plains area of Beijing, featuring five distinctive landscape zones: the North China Arboretum, the Impressions Forest, the Wetland Forest, the Dynamic Forest, and the Creative Forest. “The biggest highlight of our district’s this year’s afforestation project in the plains area is the Eastern Suburbs Forest Park!” said a relevant official from the Tongzhou District Gardening and Greening Bureau. Once completed, the park will be open to the public free of charge.Three major forest parks form a leisure corridor
The Eastern Suburbs Forest Park is located at the junction of Tongzhou, Shunyi, and Chaoyang districts. Its southern edge borders Tongzhou New Town, while its northern side connects with the Capital International Airport, the Airport Industry Base, and the Shunyi Modern Manufacturing Base. The planned area covers 89,000 mu, with the first phase of 13,900 mu to be completed within this year and the entire park to be finished by 2020. Upon completion, it will closely link the ecological landscape belt between the North Canal and Chaobai River, the ecological protection belt along the Sixth Ring Road and the Jingping Expressway, as well as the green buffer zones of the first and second isolation belts, becoming the largest urban forest area in eastern Beijing.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Suburbs Forest Park will connect with the northern Chaobai River Forest Park, the Shunyi New Town Riverside Forest Park, and the southern Grand Canal Forest Park, forming a north-south ecological leisure and recreation corridor in the eastern plains region, providing residents with more green leisure spaces.
Abandoned fish ponds to be transformed into wetlands
The planned area of the park includes two rivers—the Wenyu River and the Xiaozhong River—as well as some villages, farmland, woodland, abandoned fish ponds, and lotus fields. The park design ingeniously utilizes these existing features; for example, a waterfront greenway will be built along the Wenyu River, allowing visitors to get close to the river. The abandoned fish ponds will be transformed into one of the park’s signature landscapes— the Wetland Forest.
In addition, a forest-type greenway will be constructed in the park, enclosed by multi-layered tall canopy trees, approximately 3 meters wide, with a ground surface paved in permeable, breathable colored asphalt that prevents water accumulation. It is suitable for both running and cycling, even on rainy days.
Once the 116-kilometer-long greenway is completed, it will form a health-focused cycling route that runs through key areas of the entire park, with rest stations set up along the way. According to the plan, 35 kilometers of the greenway will be completed within the park this year, including 21 kilometers in Tongzhou, 7 kilometers in Chaoyang, and 7 kilometers in Shunyi.