Twice a day and five days a week, I want to sing a song in my heart: I will surely cry for you, Beijing CBD-ya! Those who have lived long enough in China know the exclamatory "ya" is absolutely needed to emphasize emotions. In this case, it is all because of the hopelessly clogged-up traffic in the streets that run across this Central Business District. It defies one's imagination to think how any new streets can be added to a space where concrete towers are wedged so densely. It would perhaps be as costly as in Hong Kong's Central District, and at a risk of budget that overruns. And the budget for having more other services and conveniences there is enormous, not to mention meeting the standard for emergency evacuation and anti-terrorist drills. With that amount of finance, municipal planners may just as well build a new business district - anyplace where access by major streets is better. On the vast North China plain, there is plenty of space for a new city with good streets and not-so-tall buildings, surrounded by apple and pear orchards, which people there traditionally grow, and ideally with some rivers and mountains in the background, lined by weeping willows and dotted by one or two white pagodas. This, so far as I can see, may be a more doable idea than constructing more costly roads to connect the Guomao Bridge (on the East Third Ring Road) with anywhere else, whether in the city or outside it. Recently, I have heard about a plan for building Beijing's second airport (the present one is too crowded) in Hebei Province, somewhere between Beijing and Tianjin. So if Beijing's alternative airport can be located outside the city, why can't its alternative business district? Its travel conveniences may be a big selling point to new tenants. If it can offer them a remarkable working and living environment, which I am sure China can deliver with its building prowess, many international companies would move there happily. And from the business point of view, nowadays any group of new buildings is just a development project with a name to identify its intended functions. It is not like a neighbourhood where you grow up and feel sad about leaving. In fact, for the past six years, I have worked in either one of the CBD's office buildings or have had to pass them every day on the way to my office. But I hardly feel anything about it, except the annoyance with the endless questions and uncertainties it has brought to me: How can I be on time for a business meeting at 9 am? In 2000, it took me 15 minutes from my home to Guomao, or China International Trade Centre. Now I would be lucky to get there within one hour. How can I get a taxi at 6 pm under the Guomao Bridge when it starts to rain? Some of the city's cab drivers have told me they try not to go to the CBD in rush hours to avoid its "sticky congee-like" jam. How can I, at 8 pm, buy some flowers for my wife on my way from my office to where we are going to have dinner? One year ago, there was a 24-hour florist in Guomao's back alley. Now it has gone, to make way for another office building project. How can I get some fresh air during the dry winter when the flu and lots of coughs start spreading among the staff - without taking an elevator trip down 35 storeys? How can I accompany my client, who is an international celebrity, to meet officials in Jinrong Jie, another financial street on the other side of town, when Chang'an Avenue is under traffic control for some government activities? Take the subway? But, please, don't take me as just a complainer. I am drumming for more development. (China Daily 09/26/2005 page4)
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