To meet the demands of a growing economy, Beijing has had to specialize areas to fulfill different economic functions. In the interest of attracting and utilizing external capital, development zone planning was increasingly important in Beijing during this period (Gaubatz). These areas served as new hotbeds for economic activities as they were conceived with the intention of specializing in certain commercial activities. The zones also share preferential economic and legal environments and the potential for future infrastructure development. Three of these zones were built in 1990. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay The Shangdi Development Zone in the northwest is a new city-style manufacturing center outside the center while the Fengtai Park Development Zone in the south-west is a center for high-tech manufacturing and it also serves as a rail depot between development zones (Gaubatz). A concrete example would be the Zhongguancun Science Park in the Haidian Development Zone. The Science Park was designed as a development zone for research and development in high-tech fields such as computer technologies in the 1980s. Hosting no fewer than thirty-eight institutions of higher education in the district, the highly skilled and relatively cheaper labor of these universities has sprouted university-related computer shops and research institutes (Gaubatz). Zhongguancun's development rate was far from slowing down since its conception. In 1985, the Beijing government established the Zhongguancun Electric Street, providing an economic incentive for retail ventures (Gaubatz). As a result, in 1988, Zhongguancun was declared a special zone for high-technology-oriented industries, with tax exemptions and other treatments, such as import-export licenses for joint ventures between Chinese and foreigners (Gaubatz). While the special development zones were indicative of a clear intention to attract foreign investment, Beijing's developments to cater to an international population are perhaps the clearest indicator of the economic openness it sought to embody. Curiously, in this period, the foreign business community is relatively small, with an estimated 10,000-30,000 people, although the impact of Beijing's landscape is substantial (Gaubatz). This seems to underline the commitment to openness. The bifurcation of the central city is evident, with an eastern half dedicated to international activities, from embassies to accommodation and services for the foreign business community, and a western half more dedicated to domestic functions (Hu, 1993). Before 1979, there were no facilities for foreign entrepreneurs, other than hotels built in the 1950s for Soviet consultants. The three main types of foreign-oriented settlements were office towers, commercial-residential complexes, apartments, and single-family homes, generally located east of Beijing (Gaubatz, 91). The World Trade Center in Dongzhimen, which has been filling tenants since 1989, is a prime example of a multipurpose center, with a shopping mall, two office towers, two hotels, two condominiums and even a health club. Gradually, it is worth noting that Beijing's division began to weaken, as developments occur in the western part of Beijing. Greater economic freedom has significantly altered the perception of Beijing as a consuming city, rather than simply a producer. The three major commercial areas of the pre-1949 era - Wangfujing, Qianmen and Xidan - underwent restoration and revitalization as the mainshopping districts during the period (Gan). Among them, Wangfujing serves an international clientele, while Qianmen caters to both domestic tourists and locals. Xidan offers local residents trendy shopping options, as well as entertainment (Gaubatz). Similarly, there has been a change in the nature of the shops found around Beijing, with greater specialization of shops and a greater international profile. In the early stages of the reforms of the 1970s, free markets began to appear with simple stalls for the sale of products and durable goods by private entrepreneurs. However, these private entrepreneurs began to move from free market stalls to substantial specialty stalls built throughout the city. These private entrepreneurs include an interesting array of Sino-foreign joint ventures, indicative of the more open outlook China boasted in this period. Some examples include the Friendship Store, east of Second Ring Road, opened in 1973, and the Great Wall Hotel in the northeast of the Third Ring Road (Gaubatz). Specifically, in the Friendship Store, Yaohan is a Japanese-style department store with a grocery store in the basement, showing a willingness to engage with states and cultures that were previously viewed with suspicion. By late 1989, foreign fast food chains, such as Pizza Hut, had been allowed to establish themselves along its street, a sign of capitalism that would previously have been treated harshly in China. Beijing's rapid transformation in response to the driving economic forces is remarkably indicative of the historical context in terms of changing vision, the desire to pragmatically revive the Chinese economy. Social Dynamics The shift of development towards cities has naturally brought more people to cities as Beijing. In Beijing, between 1978 and 1990, there was an impressive population growth of 24.6% (Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics). With this strong population growth, there has been a severe housing shortage, with little housing built since the 1960s (Kirkby) as part of an effort to discourage urban population growth in Beijing. Since 1979, Beijing has experienced a strong construction boom, with more than fifteen million m2 of housing built between 1979 and 1982 (Duan). To meet the growing demand for housing, dilapidated neighborhoods are targeted for redevelopment. 75% of these neighborhoods, which lack basic infrastructure, are located in the four central districts (CAO). Replacing poor quality housing with low-rise projects has been the main approach taken. For example, in Xiaohoucang, dilapidated courtyard houses were the norm in 1949. However, in 1979, redevelopment allowed for the construction of 347 new apartments, each with its own kitchen and toilet, an improvement over no amenities basic (Gaubatz). The project in fact featured different designs in terms of windows, balconies and overhangs of different sizes and even small private gardens for the ground floor units (Gaubatz). In addition to meeting the needs of the population in the growing city, these changes in terms of variations and private spaces reflected the ideological change encapsulated by the reforms, especially from the context of Maoist Beijing, where apartments were highly standardized and jobs geometrically repetitive. housing units. The transition from socialism also allowed for greater district specialization in terms of greater separation of residential areas from commercial and manufacturing districts. The decreasing importance of proximity between homes and workplaces leads to gradual.