The second Belt and Road Forum – also known as BARF – swoops down on Beijing this Thursday through Saturday, Apr 25-27. In order to ensure that the landmark event runs smoothly, which includes the shuttling around important people we’ll never see, various roads around the city will have restricted access during the summit.

Initially launched in 2013, the Belt and Road Forum is China’s government-orchestrated platform for international cooperation under the framework of the country’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The second of its kind, the conference this year will host some 5,000 participants from over 150 countries and 90 international organizations, including heads of state and diplomats from 37 countries, as well as the secretary-general of the United Nations and the managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

Given the amount of top brass in the city, expect congestion and on-and-off access in the affected areas and means of transport mentioned below.

Restricted/affected Beijing traffic areas during Belt and Road Forum 2019

China National Convention Center
Apr 23-26: Between Beichen West Road and Datun Road, Tianchen West Road, Datun North Road, Hujing East Road, National Stadium North Road, Jingguan Avenue, and Huizhong Road.

The Great Hall of the People
Apr 26, 4pm onwards: The west side of Tiananmen Square, and the south and west side of the Great Hall.
Apr 23-29, on and off: Chang’an Street and its affiliated roads.

Airport Expressway
Apr 23-25, on and off: The city-bound portion of the Airport Expressway and East Second Ring Road.
Apr 27-29, on and off: The Beijing Capital International Airport-bound portion of the Airport Expressway and East Second Ring Road.

Yanqi Lake
Apr 22-27, on and off: From the western entrance of Yanqi Lake Road to the western entrance of Yanqi Lake North Road.

Public transport
Besides the traffic restrictions, 15 subway lines will also adjust their timetable, adding a total of 356 rides per day on Apr 25 and 26, as well as a total of 156 additional trains across seven lines, including Line 1, on Apr 27. Additionally, four additional late trains will be added to Line 4 bound for Beijing South Station on April 26 and 30.

The Airport Express will up its total rides to 32 per day (decreasing the wait between trains to eight minutes). There also will be extra 2,600 bus rides per day during the three-day conference.

Beijing Capital International Airport
Though it’s unclear as to whether or not it is directly related to the Belt and Road Forum, Beijing Capital International Airport has released a notice via its official Weibo account suggesting that passengers arrive at the airport at least two to three hours before take off in order to factor in time for the increased security measures.

For a list of the affected areas in Chinese, click here.

Does all this make you want to escape immediately? Escape to These Hotels on Beijing’s Perimeter

Photos: Reuters, China Plus

Anxious Beijingers both local and foreign spent most of Saturday awaiting news of the lost Malaysia Airlines red-eye flight that was due to land at T3 this morning at 6:30am but never arrived.

The plane lost contact with ground radar about two hours after take-off from Kuala Lumpur, and as of 5:30pm Beijing time had not been located, according to news reports. Last contact was made somewhere over the sea south of Vietnam two hours after the plane’s 12:30am takeoff, and that area is being targeted by search teams from China, Malaysia and Vietnam.

A total of 239 passengers are crew are on board MH 370, including 154 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, 6 Australians, 4 French, 3 Americans, 7 Indonesians, 5 Indians, 2 Ukranians, 2 New Zealanders, 2 Canadians, and one passenger each from Russia, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria. The large number of both Chinese and international passengers has sent shockwaves across the city and caused social media in Chinese and English to be filled with both news and rumor.

China Central Television (CCTV) posted what it said was a passenger list to its Weibo account (the list has seen been removed). The authenticity of the list could not be independently verified and was not published on Malaysia Airlines’ website.

Concerned relatives and friends in Beijing have been routed from the airport to the Metropark Lido Hotel to await news. More details for concerned relatives are available on the Malaysia Airlines site here. Meanwhile, the airline’s “go team," described as a team of caregivers and volunteers to assist the family members of the passengers, was en route to Beijing as of 4:30pm.

At 2:30pm, Malaysia Airlines issued the following updated statement:

We regret to announce that Subang Traffic Control lost contact with flight MH370 at 2:40 am today.

We are currently working with international authorities on the search and rescue mission and as at 1400 hours, 08 March 2014, we have no information on the location of the aircraft.  

MH370 is a Boeing 777-200 aircraft on a code share with China Southern Airlines. It departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41 am today for Beijing. The aircraft was scheduled to land at Beijing International Airport at 6.30am local Beijing time. The flight had a total number of 227 passengers and 12 crew members. The passengers were from 14 different countries, most of whom are from China.

Our team is currently calling family members of passengers to keep them updated on the situation and our focus now is to work with the emergency responders and the authorities. We are sending a MH team to support the families of passengers at Beijing. The airline will continue to publish regular updates on the situation.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all passengers, our crew and their family members.

"We are extremely worried," said China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The news is very disturbing. We hope everyone on the plane is safe."

Families and colleagues of flight MH 370 passengers were being accommodated at hotels near the airport. UK newspaper The Guardian is maintaining a live blog with updates the flight’s status. Locally, China Daily is live updating news on the flight here.

The Beijinger (beijingkids) will update on the flight’s status as details become available.

This post first appeared on thebeijinger on March 8, 2014.