The year 2019 was eventful for Tongzhou, a suburban district where Beijing's sub-administrative center is located. On January 11, 2019, a total of 35 departments and over 12,000 Beijing Municipal Government personnel moved to the subcenter. Over the past year, the construction of the center has accelerated.

The subcenter station, the intersection of three light rails and three railway lines, started construction in November 2019 and will be built into the largest underground comprehensive transportation hub in Asia. Cultural facilities including a theater, a library and a branch of the Capital Museum started construction; Universal Studios Beijing, the fifth Universal Studios-branded theme park in the world, will open in the spring of 2021; a new campus of Renmin University of China started construction in March 2019 and is expected to be put into operation in 2023.

The subcenter focuses on high-end industries including commercial services, cultural tourism and scientific and technological innovation.

Its development is driven by reform and opening up. Preferable policies should be utilized to create a favorable environment for development. The construction of supporting facilities should be accelerated, with every inch of land put to good use to improve the efficiency and social benefit of land use.

(This is an edited excerpt of an article originally published in Beijing Youth Daily on January 14)