Migration pattern of the Beijing city center.

Earlier this week the transportation department of the Beijing city government announced that Chang'an Avenue would begin undergoing major repairs starting next year. The road is supposed to be finished by 2008, with construction going on at night to present as small a disruption as possible.

Chang'an Avenue runs from Xidan past Zhongnanhai and Tian'anmen, and becomes Inner Jianguomen Street at Dongdan. Continuing straight east past CBD and travelling for another 13 kilometers will bring you to the rumored future site of the Beijing City government: Lucheng in Tongzhou, conveniently located on the east sixth ring road.

This week's edition of The Economic Observer reports that the city's urban planning office has promised not to move the government for at least five years. Realistically, any move would require at least one or two decades to complete; it's probably a good thing that no action was taken on suggestions by the Academies and Tsinghua University in October 2004 that the move be launched before 2008. Arguments in favor of the move claimed that the government could generate 20,000 RMB per square meter for its old digs, and that it could acquire new buildings in the suburbs for one-tenth of that, netting the city something like one trillion yuan. Traffic, preservation, and other pressing issued could be addressed or even eliminated. Fueling the hopes of places like Tongzhou is the fact that the city's plan for 2004-2020 calls for a halt to the futher development of government infrastructure in old Beijing and advocates the development of several large administrative centers in newer areas of the city.

Even if the city moves, however, it may not end up in Tongzhou. Though the district has set aside land for city departments and central government organizations, and though Tongzhou has been cited in a number of city planning documents, everyone admits that the specifics have yet to be decided. And it could be years before everything gets hammered out. TEO notes that back in 1958, the Beijing city government zoned an area near Wukesong to be used for a basketball stadium. It was finally put to use as part of the city's Olympic bid, 40 years later.