(On November 3, in Tiantongyuan North District 2, Changping District, Beijing, a takeaway boy handed over the daily necessities ordered by residents to epidemic prevention personnel for delivery. Picture/China-Singapore Picture)
Recently, " Sleeping City " Tiantongyuan It has become a place of concern to Beijingers.
Many "Beijing drifters" can say that they love and hate Tiantongyuan. The relatively cheap rent makes this place the beginning of their dreams; but the congested traffic and environment also make many "Beijing drifters" regard "leaving Tiantongyuan" as a sign of success.
The reason this time is that there were 4 new locally confirmed cases in Tiantongyuan North District , which was classified as a medium-risk area. Since Tiantongyuan has a large number of residents and most of them work in the urban area, this news has worried many Beijingers. There was even news on the Internet that "the entire Tiantongyuan is only accessible and cannot be entered".
According to Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported on November 2 that from 0:00 to 11:00 that day, there were 4 new locally confirmed cases in the Tiantongyuan North District, Tiantongyuan North Street, Changping District. According to the "Beijing New Crown Pneumonia Epidemic Risk Classification Standards", Tiantongyuan North District 2 will be designated as a medium-risk area from now on.
The Changping District Epidemic Prevention and Control Report stated that the new cases had 364 close contacts and 14 sub-close contacts, and all control measures have been implemented.
As early as the evening of November 1, the four words "only in but not out" had already made Tiantongyuan North District 2 a hot word on social platforms. China News Weekly learned that in fact, only the Tiantongyuan North District 2 and surrounding merchants were included in the medium-risk areas for closure. They are one of the 16 sub-communities of Tiantongyuan, not the "largest community in Asia". The entire Tiantongyuan.
"It would be terrible once an epidemic occurs."
"Tiantongyuan must be well controlled. The flow of people is too large. Line 5 runs through the north and south. Once an epidemic occurs, it will be terrible!" Someone worried on the social network platform.
This is not unfounded.
Because someone has estimated that one out of every 21 people in Beijing may live in Tiantongyuan, and their workplaces are all over the main urban area of Beijing.
As one of the most densely populated areas in Beijing, how many people live in Tiantongyuan, located in Changping District, a suburb of Beijing? 500,000, 700,000, or 1 million? There are different opinions so far.
(Tiantongyuan is one of the most densely populated areas in Beijing. Picture/Tu Chong Creative)
The seventh census data shows that of the 42.27 million permanent residents in Changping, the Huitian area (i.e. Huilongguan, Tiantongyuan) is about 85% Ten thousand people, including Tiantongyuan’s permanent population of nearly 300,000. However, folk reports claim that the number of residents in Tiantongyuan has exceeded 500,000; some even say that the actual number of residents in Tiantongyuan may have exceeded 1 million. Zhang Xuefeng, an internet celebrity teacher who "escaped" from Beijing, even said in a video: "If you want to know Beijing, you must go to Tiantongyuan, where four million people live."
Beijing’s permanent population in 2020 is 21.893 million. If calculated as 500,000, there may be 1 in every 42 people in Beijing living in Tiantongyuan; if calculated as 1 million, there may be 1 in every 21 people in Beijing. Living in Tiantongyuan. This is naturally a huge challenge for epidemic prevention and control.
Take Tiantongyuan North Street, where confirmed cases have occurred, as an example. This street has 9 communities under its jurisdiction, and 6 very large communities with about 5,000 permanent residents. Tiantong Beiyuan No. 1 community alone has 5,806 permanent residents. households, with a permanent population of 15,389.
The huge population base puts community epidemic prevention under the pressure of insufficient manpower."There is a shortage of manpower, and now everyone is too busy!" A staff member of the Tiantongyuan North Subdistrict Office told China News Weekly that the current main work of the community is to investigate statistical close contacts and sub-close contacts, and organize residents to conduct nucleic acid tests to provide residents with Distribute epidemic prevention materials, daily necessities, etc.
At the same time, community staff and volunteers also organized a "medicine delivery team" to ensure the medication needs of residents in the community. Because of the large number of people living in the community, more manpower for epidemic prevention needs to be invested.
At present, the businesses in Tiantongyuan North District 2 and surrounding areas have taken prevention and control measures such as personnel only being allowed in and out, students on campus being closed for management, and businesses and other service venues suspending operations.
According to the Changping District epidemic prevention and control situation report, as of 10 a.m. on November 2, 364 new cases have been determined to be close contacts and 14 people have been sub-close contacts, and all control measures have been implemented. It is reported that the nucleic acid testing and sampling work for all employees in Tianbei Street, which has a population of 142,700, has been completed on November 2. Zhang Jing, a resident of Tiantongyuan Community, told China News Weekly that all employees in Tiantongyuan North District 2 have completed the second round of testing on November 3. Nucleic acid amplification testing.
Zhang Jing lives in Tiantongyuan District 4, 1,000 meters away from Tiantongyuan North District 2. She said that currently there is only one door left for entry and exit in the community where she lives, and the others are closed, "but no collective nucleic acid test has been notified." In terms of daily life, the rice and noodles in the nearby supermarket are temporarily a little tight, but the vegetables and fruits are not much different from before.
The reason why Tiantongyuan is densely populated is directly related to the relatively low housing prices and relatively cheap rents in the community, as well as its good location and convenient transportation to the city.
Tiantongyuan has developed transportation facilities and networks. Dozens of bus lines pass through or go directly to the community. There are more than 40 bus stations; and subway lines 5 and 13 have platforms. During rush hours every day, the overcrowded serpentine queues outside subway stations illustrate the large population here. The high mobility of personnel naturally brings pressure and challenges to epidemic prevention and control.
"Every morning the dark crowd fades away like the tide, and comes back like the tide at night." A widely circulated article on Zhihu reads.
The separation of occupation and residence is serious and is regarded as a “fault” in Tiantongyuan. A previous report by Xinhua News Agency mentioned that the Huilongguan and Tiantongyuan areas sandwiched between the central city and Changping District are a "sleeping city": since the first batch of affordable housing was built here in 2000, due to Ignoring the forward-looking planning of job-housing balance, a large number of "residential" communities have gradually formed on the edge of the city.
Big data analysis by Changping Human Resources and Social Security Bureau and Amap shows that the employment radius of the vast majority of the employed population in Huitian area is more than 10 kilometers, and their work locations are all over the main urban area.
(On November 3, in Tiantongyuan North District 2, Changping District, Beijing, shelves were filled with daily necessities ordered by residents. Picture/China-Singapore Pictures)
Is it destined to be just a "sleeping city"?
Tiantongyuan, what exactly does it exist? Regarding this question, the answers on Zhihu vary from person to person. But "big" is the most intuitive feeling for people who live here or have been here.
is located in Tiantongyuan outside the North Fifth Ring Road, covering an area of about 8 square kilometers and a planned construction area of more than 6 million square meters. It is divided into Tiantongyuan main area, Tiantong East Garden, Tiantong Xiyuan, Tiantong Beiyuan and days Tongzhong Garden , each garden is divided into areas 1, 2, and 3 according to numbers. Tiantong Zhongyuan is divided into East District, West District, South District, and North District, with a total of 16 districts and 645 buildings.
Metro Line 5, which runs through the north and south of Beijing, has three stations in Tiantongyuan: Tiantongyuan South Station, Tiantongyuan Station, and Tiantongyuan North Station. Some netizens joked: "You can't get out of Tiantongyuan within three subway stations." Another netizen joked: "The furthest distance in the world is probably when you are at this end of Tiantongyuan and I am at the other end of Tiantongyuan."
Tiantongyuan is also one of the areas with the densest migrant population in Beijing due to its proximity to the subway, the abundance of rental housing, and relatively cheap rent. Therefore, Tiantongyuan is also regarded as the "place where dreams begin" for the "Beijing drifters" group - a large number of young people who choose to come to Beijing for development will initially choose to rent in Tiantongyuan. And "leaving Tiantongyuan" is also regarded by many people as a sign of success, not even one.
In a novella online novel - "Sunset Tiantongyuan" published in 2016, the author Wang Yunchao described the doubts about "where is Tiantongyuan":
Tiantongyuan is an affordable housing area unparalleled in Asia, and people in the world call it " "Sleeping City" has cheap rental prices and a one-stop living environment. A large number of young people with dreams live here after going to Beijing, making it one of the important bases for the hard-working people from "Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou".
There is also a saying on the Internet: Although Tiantongyuan community has a relatively large population, it is rare to see local people from Beijing. More than 95% of them are actually "Beijing drifters". Although this statement is not rigorous and exaggerated, it is difficult to confirm, but it is enough to explain people's perception and understanding of Tiantongyuan.
"Tiantongyuan, which goes slowly at night, is not much different from the night in a third-tier city. The flames from the skewer food stall here scared the Chihuahua who was being led. The strong wind at the entrance of the alley blew Aunts talking loudly, three or five old men playing chess gathered under the street lights, real estate agents squatting on the street smoking..." The article "Leave Tiantongyuan, Don't Come Back" on Zhihu allows people to see it The atmosphere of urban life in Tiantongyuan.
Tiantongyuan was once rated as “the least suitable place for human habitation” by netizens because of its “dirty mess” and “traffic jams”.
However, according to " Xinhua Daily Telegraph ", "With the release of Beijing's three-year action plan for 'Huitian governance' in 2018, a series of public service venues and infrastructure projects have begun to be implemented," collectively known as "Huitian governance" In the Tiantongyuan and Huilongguan areas of the "region", commercial supporting facilities are gradually improving, and the most basic medical, education and other infrastructure are also gradually being completed.
However, due to the "large residential group" plan of the year and the disadvantages of separation of work and housing, it is still impossible to cure stubborn problems such as long commuting time, crowded subways during peak hours, and road traffic jams.
Li Xun, former vice president of the China Urban Planning Institute, believes that one of the reasons for the formation of "sleeping cities" comes from planning. He said that a typical mistake Beijing has made in urban planning is to pursue "large residential groups" and fail to grasp the relationship between employment and residence.
Qiu Baoxing, chairman of the China Urban Planning Society and former deputy minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, once pointed out that there are few jobs in new urban areas such as Huilongguan in Beijing. Most people go to work in the main city in the morning and rush back to the new city in the evening, creating a huge pendulum. traffic flow.
Qiu Baoxing said that if Beijing’s Huilongguan and Tiantongyuan New Districts are located in the north of the city, while employment is concentrated in the CBD area in the southeast, commuting traffic must pass through the urban area... This will cause traffic congestion and other problems.
Dean of Peking University Capital Development Research InstituteLi Guoping also believes that in the past planning once emphasized the functional zoning of the city, and the excessive size of functional areas has caused major problems. For example, Huilongguan and Tiantongyuan have become purely residential areas without proper employment allocation, resulting in the current severe separation of employment and housing in this area.
So, is a community like Tiantongyuan destined to be just a "sleeping city" without industrial support and proper employment allocation?
Li Xun told China News Weekly that the current planning emphasizes the integration of industry and city, mixed compatibility, taking Wangjing as an example. In the past, residence was the main focus, and the construction of Wangjing Business District has achieved a certain extent of working and living nearby, which has changed The original "sleeping city" state was restored.
"This is also achievable in communities like Tiantongyuan." Li Xun said that urban land can be replaced, and through renovation and transformation, the functions can be mixed, so that residence and employment can be relatively balanced.
