(bjtoday.ynet.com)
Updated: 2008-02-22 15:45

If you live in an international city, it should have a CBD. New York's CBD is Manhattan, Tokyo has Shinjuku and Paris has La Grande Arche. In Beijing, the CBD is about 4 square kilometers. The district is getting bigger and its functions are not restricted to business; it provides entertainment, art and culture, shopping and food.

How much do you know about the CBD?

A CBD is a city, region or country's economic center. It has a high density population, developed transportation, top-class service and costly real estate. It is home to multinational companies and financial organizations, and is a symbo of a city's modernization.

How it began?

Early in 1993, the State Council selected the region that would become the CBD-the area from Tonghui River in the south to Chaoyang Lu in the north, and from Xidawang Lu in the east to Dongdaqiao Lu in the west. In 1998, the Municipal Commission of Urban Planning confirmed the area, and it has continued to expand with development.

At that time, there were only two tall buildings, Guomao, the China World Trade Center, and the Citic Building, also called the "Chocolate Building" because of its color. Working in foreign companies was a dream for most of the people born in the 1970s to early 1980s. The China World Trade Center was a symbol of the top companies and career achievements in the early 1990s, though few locals knew what it was.

Many new buildings have shot up in Beijing's CBD: the city's most luxurious shopping center, its highest building and buildings of Global Fortune 500s including Motorola and Hewlett-Packard. Many people fulfilled their dream of working in a foreign company or in Guomao.

For many, Guomao remains the key symbol of the CBD even amidst all the new buildings.

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