A few days ago, I revisited some villages I used to know well, most of them in the Mentougou area. Traveling out from downtown Beijing, the first thing I noticed was the vast technology park in Yanqing. It is enormous, and this is something that did not exist in the past. It appears that the park’s primary industry is the manufacturing of wind power equipment. That may have made sense before, but it is clearly going to face challenges in the future. Power oversupply is becoming an increasingly evident trend, and whether wind power can succeed will depend on the development of the energy storage industry. This, in turn, is driving another wave of massive investment in energy storage. In other words, energy storage is expanding to support the development of wind power. Yet once the energy storage industry matures, it may confront a major problem of its own, namely electricity oversupply. That could render the enormous investments in wind power plus energy storage worthless, eventually turning them into a staggering volume of debt. The risks in this cycle are extremely high, yet no one seems to have offered a clear answer.
The western part of Beijing has changed dramatically. The most significant transformation has been infrastructure construction like roads, bridges, and especially expressways. Relative to actual demand, they have unquestionably been built to standards that exceed what is necessary. High-grade, high-quality expressways now extend deep into remote towns and villages, making for a thoroughly enjoyable drive, provided the purpose is simply getting from one place to another. Because sound barriers line both sides of the expressways, vehicles travel through what is practically a narrow corridor, with virtually nothing visible. As a result, provincial highways may eventually become suitable for toll collection, because more and more people will deliberately choose them, not simply to travel from point A to point B, but to enjoy the scenery. This is a way of traveling, and even a way of life, much like the National Scenic Byways and parkways found in the United States. Beijing entered the era of the "automobile society" long ago, and the city today is fundamentally different from what it once was. If today's society is understood through outdated perspectives, urban planning may end up heading in the wrong direction. Beijing has already begun developing the "Great Wall Scenic Route", but its progress has been limited, its scope is narrow, and its orientation has certain shortcomings. In fact, the city could take this much further by creating a "Beijing version of the Parkway". Combined with today's urban renewal efforts, it could embark on the large-scale construction of "National Scenic Byways" and present a new vision of "Beijing on the Road".
The significance of doing so for the city's economy would be substantial, involving multiple dimensions, including certification, investment, city branding, culture, development, poverty alleviation, and rural revitalization.
First of all, there is the tourism economy. The construction of National Scenic Byways should be understood as the creation of a kind of "linear park", one that opens up the views blocked by expressways and showcases rural landscapes entirely different from the urban environment alongside the roads. This offers both city residents and visitors unique experiences while creating a window through which to observe the city's distinctive culture. The cities in China today are, in many ways, remarkably similar to one another. The genuine differences that still exist are increasingly found in the countryside, which is gradually returning to a state of neglect. In this sense, building National Scenic Byways effectively reopens an important resource that has long been overlooked. It is important to note that National Scenic Byways are not projects built around tourist attractions. Rather, they are built around beautiful rural roads and provincial highways. This alone distinguishes them from the Great Wall Scenic Route currently under development. Even so, the Route can continue to move forward as a component of the broader National Scenic Byway system, but the primary emphasis should be placed on constructing the Byways themselves.
Then, there should also be the revitalization of the economies of towns and villages. This trip took me back along roads and through villages I had not visited in more than a decade. Whenever I came across familiar landscapes from the past, I felt an immediate sense of warmth. At the same time, what I saw was deeply thought-provoking. After years of improvements, the biggest change in the countryside is the roads. They are built to exceptionally high standards, remarkably smooth, and far superior to roads in the United States. They are perfectly suited to becoming parkways. Beyond that, however, the basic layout of the villages has changed very little. Apart from the way expressways have divided the spatial landscape, everything remains largely the same, with a single main road running through the village, preserving the traditional pattern of the rural economy. At the village entrance, a dozen or so elderly people, apparently around my own age, sat together chit-chatting. That is their daily routine, and they may well represent almost the entire remaining population of the village. Along the roadside, I occasionally saw people engaged in construction work, but they were, on average, already around sixty years old, able to work only briefly before needing to rest. The younger generation is out on the roads, hurrying along on electric scooters or riding motorcycles for pleasure. The houses lining the roads have been altered to some extent through additions, expansions, and renovations. Though they still retain a rural style, they are far better built than they were more than a decade ago. Economically, the villages rely almost entirely on the familiar combination of farmhouse guesthouses, rural homestays, and farmhouse restaurants.
One point especially worth mentioning is the desolation of the countryside, an objective reality shaped by demographic change. The western part of Beijing was once celebrated for its natural scenes. Today, one could say the beauty of nature there is even more impressive. That is an achievement of development and the cumulative result of years of policy efforts. The problem now is that, apart from that, everything else is steadily disappearing. The people, the industries, the farmland, the orchards, and the traditional form of village life are vanishing. Rusting and abandoned farm machinery and farmhouses are everywhere. In some places, the scene is strikingly reminiscent of rural America. Revitalizing Beijing's rural economy is therefore an essential part of building National Scenic Byways. Such byways can reconnect remote towns and villages, restore the landscape value of increasingly deserted rural areas, and bring large numbers of consumers there on four wheels, breathing new life into industries and local economies. It is a form of urban renewal that requires relatively little investment, produces results quickly, and has the potential to bring about profound change.
Furthermore, there is the need to rebuild the city's cultural system. As urbanization continues to increase, cities experience a certain degree of cultural alienation. By this I mean that many of the people living in a city did not originally come from that city. On the surface, a city simply needs people, any people. But people are the carriers of culture. Different people bring different cultures. As the population changes, Beijing's total population may continue to grow, yet the city's authentic native culture is gradually slipping into a struggle for survival.
On a picturesque mountain road in western Beijing, I once spotted a posthouse. Outside of it parked over a hundred luxury motorcycles of various makes, as if this was a grand motorcycle exhibition. Among the crowd are many attractive young men and women taking in the scenery, dining, having barbecues, enjoying the mountain breeze, and sharing affectionate moments with carefree joy. This essentially marks the beginning of a new form of "Parkway" tourism. Further along, the roadside guesthouses and farmhouse restaurants, though relatively modest, offer a quiet and natural setting where, accompanied by speeches in the Beijing dialect, genuine home-style Beijing dishes can be savored.
These new ways of experiencing the countryside are all being pioneered and operated by city dwellers. The original rural economy has already lost its vitality. Today's villages scarcely have any people left. Now that urbanization has reached its current stage, the idea of "the countryside serving the city" has effectively become an established reality. Yet as long as city residents are willing to come to the countryside because of the National Scenic Byways and participate in building rural communities together, they will become part of Beijing's rural landscape and contribute to the city's local culture. This marks the beginning of the reconstruction of Beijing's cultural identity. In the countryside, people will be able to see, rediscover, and taste an authentic Beijing that stands apart from the homogenized character of modern cities.
In fact, constructing National Scenic Byways is not particularly complicated, and it is certainly far simpler than the major infrastructure projects of the past. In terms of implementation, because of the earlier surge in infrastructure construction, the physical conditions necessary for scenic roads are already largely in place. The key tasks now are planning and certification, targeted investment, and promotion, so that roads, villages and towns, culture, rural businesses, parking facilities, and related elements can be integrated into a comprehensive system. This is a gradual process of planning, designation, policy support, and organic development. Once it is successfully implemented, it is bound to enhance Beijing's reputation.
Final analysis conclusion:
As a city moving toward a postmodern society, Beijing's future will ultimately depend on the development of its service sector, with the cultural and tourism industry serving as one of its key pillars. In conjunction with today's urban renewal efforts, the large-scale construction of National Scenic Byways would carry significant economic value for the city by promoting the tourism economy, revitalizing town and village economies, and rebuilding its cultural system. Building Byways is not a complicated undertaking. The primary tasks involve planning and certification, targeted investment, and promotion, thereby forming an integrated system.
