Once completed, Zhongguancun Forest Park will be lush with greenery (rendering)
On the morning of the 19th, the largest forested green space in the Zhongguancun area — Zhongguancun Forest Park — officially broke ground at the former site of Tangjialing Village. The total area of the park will reach 5,100 mu, approximately the size of the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan), and the first phase will open to the public free of charge within the year upon completion.
Once completed, the park will become a “green lung of the city”
Tangjialing Village in Haidian District, once known for the term “ant tribe,” has been completely transformed. As part of a key municipal relocation and greening project, the former site of Tangjialing Village, which once housed 50,000 migrants, has now been turned into leveled land. Nearly a thousand personnel from Haidian District government agencies, enterprises, institutions, and high-tech company employees wielded shovels to plant nearly 2,000 saplings, covering a greening area of 30,000 square meters.
According to reports, Zhongguancun Forest Park borders Aerospace City to the north, the Software Park to the south, and the Beijing-Xinjiang Expressway to the east. It is a key afforestation project in Haidian District’s plain areas this year. The first phase covers a planned area of 2,940 mu and is expected to be completed within the year and opened to the public free of charge. The entire park construction will take three years. Once completed, it will complement the historic gardens of the original “Three Hills and Five Gardens” (Longevity Hill, Fragrant Hills, Jade Spring Hill; Jingyi Garden, Jingming Garden, Changchun Garden, Yuanmingyuan, and the Summer Palace) in western Beijing, becoming the “green lung of the city” in the northwest urban area.
According to Han Bingyue, senior engineer at the Landscape Architecture Institute of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design and the chief designer of Zhongguancun Forest Park, the entire forest park will surround the resettlement housing area of Tangjialing on the east, west, and south sides. Once the park is completed, the resettlement housing will appear as if nestled within the greenery. The park will feature a 6-kilometer health greenway, all paved with gravel, making it convenient for citizens to run and cycle.
Haidian launches 3,350-mu plain afforestation project this year
Yesterday, Dong Xuegong, a villager who was planting trees, said that when the demolition first began, the area looked like a ruin, but once it becomes a park, the surrounding environment will be much better.
A relevant official from the Haidian District Bureau of Landscape and Forestry stated that unlike traditional urban parks, Zhongguancun Forest Park aims to create a “near-natural forest,” emphasizing the construction of a natural forest ecosystem. Forested areas will account for over 70% of the entire park. Large-species, highly adaptable, and easy-to-grow native trees such as ginkgo, poplar, acacia, and juniper will be planted to create a large-scale, near-natural forest landscape, offering residents a rich variety of forest experiences. In addition, the park will also utilize ecological technologies such as water conservation, energy saving, and waste reuse.
This year, Haidian District will launch a 3,350-mu (approximately 2.234 million square meters) plain afforestation project, with the greened area equivalent to building 10 Haidian Parks within one year. Various preparatory projects are currently underway.
Currently, the Beijing-Xinjiang Expressway Haidian Section Green Corridor Project, another key plain afforestation project in Haidian District alongside Zhongguancun Forest Park, has also entered the preparation stage. The construction task for this project is about 410 mu, with the land primarily consisting of relocation and clearance areas on both sides of the Beijing-Xinjiang Expressway. The construction plan will adopt a model of large-scale clustered planting of colorful foliage trees, interspersed with flowering shrubs, turning the Beijing-Xinjiang Expressway into a scenic boulevard.
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Tangjialing Resettlement Housing to be Completed in June
This Year, the Last Batch of Farmers in Tangjialing Village Will Become Urban Residents
On the 19th, Qu Fu, Party branch secretary of Tangjialing Village, stated that the Tangjialing resettlement housing will be completed in June, and villagers can move in by September.
It is reported that the Tangjialing resettlement housing consists of 18 buildings with approximately 3,000 units. After a survey, there are about 600 surplus housing units, which will be uniformly leased out by the Haidian District Housing Security Office, with rents determined based on surrounding market prices. According to preliminary surveys, villagers hope for one-bedroom units to rent for around 2,000 yuan, two-bedroom units for 3,000 yuan, and three-bedroom units for 3,800 yuan.
In addition, this year, the last batch of farmers in Tangjialing Village will become urban residents. The village committee will also transform into an economic entity with 200,000 square meters of industrial land and 100,000 square meters of public rental housing.
Qu Fu stated that the municipal and district governments will subsidize 5,640 yuan per mu for using the former site of Tangjialing Village to build the forest park, which will bring the village collective over 10 million yuan in income per year.