The first urban renewal demonstration project on Beijing’s central axis to implement a down-tier renovation will open to the public

Hengsu Realm · Time Inner View. Photo by Qu Bowei

China News Service, Beijing, July 3 (Reporter Xu Jing) At No. 158 Di’anmen Outer Street in Beijing, large mixed courtyard homes, narrow alleys, and old factories have been “moved” into a commercial complex. According to Beijing Xicheng District, Hengsu Realm · Time, with a total construction area of nearly 8,500 square meters, will officially open to the public on July 8. It is a city renewal demonstration project on Beijing’s central axis: the first to implement a lowered-level renovation, the first to start construction, and the first to unveil and begin operations.

In the 20th century, the site of Hengsu Realm · Time was previously the Jinggong Friendship Garment Factory (later renamed Jinggong Friendship Fashion Garment Factory). It gathered a group of renowned master craftsmen and was a well-known clothing manufacturing enterprise in Beijing. Later, the site became the Dongtianyi Market, handling wholesale sales of clothing and small goods, and the Beihai Hospital was also once based here. With urban development and changes over time, business formats needed to be transformed and adjusted. More than 500 merchants in the Dongtianyi Market carried out evacuation, relocation, and clearance.

In 2020, as the first lowered-level project in Beijing’s implementation of master-planning controls for the core area, the Dongtianyi Market and the Beihai Hospital began demolition. The original buildings were lowered from 23 meters to 9.6 meters, helping restore the historical appearance and landscape viewing corridors along the central axis.

Today, this old factory building located on Beijing’s central axis has been “transformed” into a new consumer setting. It is being developed into an integrated commerce, culture, and tourism complex by Tianheng Wenlv Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tianheng Group, a state-owned enterprise under Xicheng District.

After taking the escalator to the 2nd floor, on the street placards by the roadside it says Qianmen Avenue. Young people wearing “trendy” red patchwork floral dresses and shirts follow the music to dance disco. The large bowl milk tea of “old-style split servings,” the shouts selling candied hawkened fruits; the newspaper vendor kids calling out as they sell papers along the street; the knocking sounds from the craftsmen’s shops… scene by scene, nostalgic settings awaken visitors’ memories.

Project lead and Deputy General Manager of Tianheng Wenlv Group Tao Li introduced that the immersive experience scenes cover elements of changes from 1950 to 1990. Through deep integration of city renewal, cultural inheritance, historical transitions, commercial operations, and scene innovation, with culture as the core, experience as the focus, and commerce as the carrier, the project aims to create a people of all ages friendly new space for culture and tourism, helping upgrade the quality of culture-and-tourism experiences in the old city.

The project also brings the large mixed courtyards indoors. NPC actors throw beanbags under the persimmon tree and jump rope with the audience, interacting with visitors. It is said that from the initial design, part of the terrace was replicated to look like a large mixed courtyard. The weather in the courtyard changes with the seasons, and with natural lighting sources, people can blend in more easily.

In terms of spatial setup, the project specially creates a time tunnel featuring holographic four-sided screens. From a panoramic presentation of the central axis, to the appearance of the end-point area of the south section of the Grand Canal’s North Canal, and to the street neighborhood scene as it looks today, it creates a unique sensory experience for visitors. In the future, more three-dimensional images of memories of urban transitions will be presented in this space.

For business and service formats, the project integrates six major sectors: performances, catering, retail, cultural and creative offerings, study tours, and leisure. It balances both rigid-demand consumption and distinctive experiential experiences, links day-time sightseeing and night-time entertainment all-day consumption scenes, extends visitors’ length of stay, and forms a one-stop closed loop for culture-and-tourism consumption. (End)

(Editor: Wen Jing)

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