Yanqing District is a subdivision of the municipality of Beijing, which is about 70 kilometers from the city center. There are two mega-events that have had, or will have, a significant impact on the development of Yanqing: the Horticultural Exp of 2019; and the Winter Olympics, which will take place in 2022. For this reason, large-scale construction and infrastructure upgrades are being carried out in the Yanqing District, such as railway stations, highways, and new Olympic venues on the Xiaohaituo Mountain.

Chongli is a district of the city of Zhangjiakou in Hebei, which is about 200 kilometers away from Beijing. It was an underdeveloped mountainous area for a long time. However, since 2015, when Chongli was announced as a major hosting site of the Winter Olympics, this area has been experiencing rapid development. The Olympic facilities in Chongli include both the utilization of existing ski resorts (Genting and Thaiwoo) and new constructions near Taizicheng Railway Station. The location of Taizicheng is in fact a heritage site, excavated in 2017, which was the remains of an imperial palace in China’s Jin Dynasty. This archeological discovery adds cultural value to the area’s development.

In both Yanqing and Chongli, we are seeing dramatic changes related to land development, the promotion of new economies, as well as new lifestyles of local residents. Such transformations will deeply affect both areas’ future economic, social, and environmental development.