View from Jing Shan looking North--Fall 2005

This is how the view looked most days I was in Beijing this last trip. The air pollution was so bad most days the visibility was only a mile or two. In fact, I went to Jing Shan three times to try to get good photos of the Beijing skyline before I got lucky on the last day of my trip and was able to get the following shot:





The skyline of central Beijing has not changed very much. Apparently there are restrictions on building height inside the first ring road. Just outside the ring road, however, the high-rise construction starts. It makes for an interesting, donut-shaped urban profile. The skyline outside the first ring road is almost completely new in every direction.

There is a series of concentric ring roads, with the Sixth Ring Road under construction now, and the Seventh is in the planning stage. Along the ring roads seem to be favorite sites for high-rise construction.

Subjectively speaking, I would say air quality in Beijing now is even worse than in the early 1980’s. Automobiles now contribute to a tremendous smog problem. On my last trip most days the visibility was maybe a couple miles at most. Finally the last day of the trip a front came through and blew the smog away, giving me a clear morning to catch this photo—on the way to the airport.

The government is making a big effort to try and get the air pollution problem under control before the 2008 Olympic Games. The Capital Iron and Steel Company, a huge state-run steel mill, is relocating much of its steel production out of Beijing, and planning to transition to a high-tech industry. It now has operations in Peru and Zimbabwe, and plans to cash in on its huge land holdings in Beijing for real-estate development.