Tongzhou – Beijing Kids

Kidventures: Weekend Outing at Beijing City Library

Admin — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 03:30:57 +0000

What better way to celebrate International Women’s Day last weekend than by inspiring girls to believe they can change the world? On Mar 8, our Daisy troop – Beijing’s youngest members of the global Girl Scouts movement – set off on a storytelling adventure to honor the extraordinary achievements of women throughout history. Each scout chose a heroine from the worlds of art, science, sports, politics, and beyond to read a short story about her life and legacy. To share these stories in a setting as grand as these legendary ladies, we headed to Beijing City Library (北京城市图书馆 Běijīng Chéngshì Túshūguǎn). Move over, Bird’s Nest, and make way, Pants Building! Designed by Norwegian architects Snøhetta (of Oslo Opera House fame) in collaboration with local partner ECADI and inaugurated just over a year ago, this striking new landmark is a masterfully designed space that connects people, books, and nature.

The library is located in Tongzhou, so getting there takes some time. From the city center, it takes about an hour by metro or a 30-minute to drive – but the destination delivers. Turn it into a full-day outing: Wander around the library’s vast wonderland of books, watch a free movie in the children’s cinema, then let the kids run wild in the nearby Green Heart Forest Park (城市绿心森林公园). It’s shū (books) with a side of shù (trees)!

This place is a masterclass in integrating architecture with nature. The world’s largest indoor reading space is encased in a 16-meter-tall glass-walled atrium that bathes the interior in light and offers panoramic views of the surrounding forest park. The roof is supported by 144 soaring, tree-like columns that evoke the canopy of a ginkgo forest – a nod to Beijing’s botanical heritage. Carving through this vast space is the “Valley,” a meandering pathway that mirrors the course of the nearby Tonghui River and links the north and south entrances.

Visitors can ascend the Valley’s sculpted “hills,” which double as bookshelves and seating, feeling immersed in a continuation of the landscape outdoors. This visionary design earned the 2024 IFLA/Baker & Taylor Public Library of the Year Award, the highest honor in global library architecture.

Here’s what you can expect:

Take your passport along to open a Member Card for adults and children. It’s free and valid at all branches in the Beijing Library city-wide system.
You can check out books for 42 days. Late returns incur a RMB 0.1 fee per day, per book. You can return books at any library branch.
Spread over three floors, the facilities include reading rooms for ancient literature, periodicals, digital collections, media such as movies and music, exhibition spaces, lecture halls, conference rooms, and other areas that are helpfully signposted on maps throughout the library and in a brochure at the info desk at the entrance.
All floors are accessible with ramps and elevators.

The children’s section includes an extensive collection of foreign language books, primarily in English and for young children rather than adolescents. These books cannot be taken home, so be ready to grab a cozy seat and read on the spot.
Book a day in advance for movie screenings at the children’s cinema, which go fast on weekends. Check WeChat for showtimes and a selection of kids movies dubbed in Chinese.
Wifi service is provided in the library for members – your login and password are your member card number and date of birth.
There are three cafes that serve beverages and light meals. Manage expectations – the coffee is less what you’d get at Metal Hands and more like 7-Eleven.
BCL’s WeChat mini program lists their calendar of events. We popped into an exhibit called “Sounds of Beijing” and caught a musical performance in the auditorium.

Over the weekend, our Girl Scouts shared their heroine stories from the popular Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls in the children’s section, followed by a picnic lunch at a quiet tearoom on the second floor. It is worth noting that most areas are quiet zones, and library staff carry signs reminding visitors not to be loud. We wrapped up our visit by letting the girls unleash their energy by bike riding in the expansive outdoor space surrounding the library, which includes a performance hall and the Grand Canal Museum.

Find it:
260m southeast of the intersection of Shangmatou Lu and Huilin Lu, Tongzhou District
通州区上码头路与惠林路交叉口东南260米
Hours: Tue-Sun, 10am-8pm. Closed Mondays
How to get there: Tongzhou Beiguan station on Line 6 is the closest metro station. An on-site metro stop is currently under construction.
Admission: Free
Website: https://bjlib.clcn.net.cn/en
WeChat:

Images: Tara Fegelein

Beijing Tightens Dog Restrictions, Again

Admin — Fri, 27 Dec 2019 05:00:12 +0000

Central Beijing has never been a particularly dog-friendly city – what with the lack of green spaces, heavy traffic, and the occasional unprovoked beating to death of dogs – but it seems like life for man’s best friend is about to get more difficult even in the city’s suburbs.

Earlier this month, Chinese singer Pu Shu, a resident in Beijing’s sub-district of Tongzhou, shared a notice (since deleted) on his Weibo which details new dog regulations in his neighborhood. The notice from his local police station stated that no dogs taller than 35cm would be allowed to be kept in the apartments where he lived and that owners had just three days to relocate oversized dogs. The directive went on to say that the police would be teaming up with the Tongzhou Public Security Bureau (PSB) to confiscate any remaining dogs that did not adhere to the new rules and their owners forced to pay a fine. There is no mention of what would become of impounded dogs.

The notice posted by singer Pu Shu on his Weibo earlier this month

The news quickly spread online, and with it confusion and anger among animal welfare communities, as well as rumors of mass cullings. Most of the confusion stemmed from the reclassification of Tongzhou as a “central controlled zone,” which makes it subject to the same rules as Beijing’s downtown districts of Haidian, Shijingshan, Xicheng, Dongcheng, Fengtai, and Chaoyang. Meanwhile, many of the dog owners affected saw the notice as an ultimatum, signaling that their dogs would be put down if they did not relocate their pets. For example, alongside the notice, Pu Shu pled for more time to find a new home for his dog.

Before long, the police clarified the notice, stating:

That residential areas in Tongzhou have in fact been considered centrally controlled zone since 2006 on account of their growing population. Therefore, large dogs and aggressive breeds should not have been allowed to live in these compounds for the past 13 years.
Second, the police confirmed that according to the regulation, they have the right to confiscate any dog that violates the law and punish the owner, adding that the three-day notice was merely a grace period to give owners enough time to find new lodgings for their dogs.

The police also told a reporter that the posting of the notice coincides with complaints from residents about people with oversized or aggressive dogs, people walking their dogs without a leash or not cleaning up after their dogs, or that owners were walking their dogs in the hallway and garage of the apartments. Finally, the police said they gave warnings to several residents with oversized dogs in early November, suggesting to them that they relocate their dogs, to no avail.

While the new regulations have caused much uncertainty and worry among the Beijing pet-owner community, the laws regarding canines in Beijing have not actually changed. Based on information found on the Beijing Public Security Bureau’s official website, this is what we could find with regards to the Beijing Canine Restriction laws:

The “central controlled zone” is largely confined to Beijing’s six central-most districts, however, according to a government directive from Jun 7 this year, the government retains the right to modify the definition of a district from “generally controlled” to “controlled” based on the population density, which is used to explain why the residential apartment areas in Tongzhou have been subject to stricter regulations since 2006.
According to updated restrictions from June this year, large dogs and aggressive breeds are defined as dogs whose height exceeds 35cm, measured from the shoulder. The PSB offers a helpful list of larger breeds, such as Tibetan mastiff, dobermann, greyhound, chow chow, and akita, among others, which therefore can not be kept as pets in central controlled zones.
Certain exceptions to the height rule exist, for example for service dogs that assist the visually impaired or disabled.
Under Beijing law, all dogs must be registered with the PSB, otherwise, they are automatically considered stray, and can be taken by the police at any time. Registration must be renewed annually, between May 1 and Jun 30, regardless of when the dog was initially registered.

As we know, rules can often be changed at the whim of local police so it’s best to always keep an eye out for notices in your building or neighborhood and ask a Chinese friend or colleague to help translate if necessary.

For details on how to register your dog, click here.

Images: Tom Arnstein, Pu Shu (via Weibo)

New Intracity Express Train Will Take You From Beijing West Station to Tongzhou in 42 Minutes

Kipp Whittaker — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 07:52:13 +0000

A new Beijing express train that will allow commuters to travel from Beijing West Railway Station to Tongzhou in just 42 minutes is set to open before the end of the year.

The Municipal Development and Reform Commission approved the construction of the new urban-suburban auxiliary line yesterday as a way to relieve pressure on public transportation systems such as Line 1 and 6 on the Beijing Metro.

The suburban railway line will run east-west through the heart of the city, stretching a total of 38.8 kilometers.

The line will consist of five stations (listed from west to east): Yamenkou (in Shijingshan), Beijing West Railway Station (Line 7 and 9), Beijing Railway Station (Line 2), Beijing East Railway Station (future CBD Line, currently located next to beginning of the Batong Line at Sihui Station), and Tongzhou Railway Station.

City planners say commuters will be able to travel from Beijing Railway Station in the downtown core to the eastern suburb of Tongzhou in just 25 minutes.

The new line is expected to become operational in just a few short months because it will reappropriate existing transportation infrastructure and facilities. The suburban railway line will make use of pre-existing lines such as the west suburban line, the underground crosstown line, and the Beijing-Harbin line for its stretch towards Tongzhou station.

Out of the five stations planned for this line, only Yamenkou will require new facilities; for this reason, the suburban railway line will temporarily not be offering service to its western terminal station when it opens this year.

The new line is the first of many suburban railway projects to be determined by the state and not the city. According to plans, Beijing’s future cross-city transportation will consist of seven north-south lines and three east-west lines.

In other transportation news, Beijing finally began testing its very own maglev subway train on August 5.

The wheel-less S1 Line runs for 10 kilometers to the west of Beijing, starting at Pingguoyuan Station on Line 1. Unlike its predecessor in Shanghai, the Beijing maglev train was developed using domestic resources that resulted in last summer’s unveiling of a maglev in Changsha. Designed to run at a medium speed, this technology is touted as being more environmentally friendly due to its noiseless operation and smaller energy requirements.

Images: Lianjia, Weibo