More than 80 municipal-level government departments have relocated from downtown Beijing to the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center in Tongzhou. It marks the completion of a historic restructuring of the city's urban spatial layout, according to officials.

Li Xianxia, executive vice-director of Tongzhou and deputy director of the administrative committee of the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center, made the remarks ahead of May 27, which marks the 10th anniversary of the central government's announcement to plan and construct the center in Beijing's suburban Tongzhou district.

"Concurrently, with their moves, 374 subsidiaries of central and State-owned enterprises have established themselves in the area. Seven top hospitals, including branches of Beijing Friendship Hospital and Beijing Anzhen Hospital, have been set up, effectively reducing medical treatment pressures in central Beijing," Li said.

Additionally, four universities have also settled in Tongzhou. The campuses of Renmin University of China and Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology have opened, accommodating over 6,400 teachers and students.

This number is expected to rise to 25,000 during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30).

The center is a park landscaped in the shape of the Chinese character fu, symbolizing auspiciousness. It opened during the May 1 holiday as the first phase of the Sixth Ring Road High Line Park.

The park, part of an urban renewal project, has transformed an old expressway section into a vibrant space. It attracted up to 330,000 visitors in its first week, data from Tongzhou showed.

A Beijing resident, surnamed Zhang, said: "It was my first time visiting a high line park ... before I heard of such parks overseas. I also visited the three major construction projects in Tongzhou — the new library, art center and museum — and was very impressed by the transformation of Tongzhou from a peripheral area of Beijing."

More than 50 new parks have taken shape in Tongzhou.

Yu Rundong, deputy director of the Tsinghua Urban Planning &Design Institute, recalling his first visit to the administrative center site in 2016, said: "Back then, it was just an abandoned chemical plant. Wild weeds dominated the landscape, and rusted steel structures groaned in the wind."

Yu remembered when a colleague handed him a draft master plan. "I picked up a pen and decisively marked a pivotal spot on the blueprint," he said.

Today, the area has transformed into the Central Green Forest Park, which Yu described as a "vibrant hub for civil exchanges".

Rooted in green ecology, the park seamlessly integrates dynamic urban functions into its landscape.

Yu said the park adheres to a global vision, international standards and Chinese characteristics, rather than being a conventional urban park.

Reflecting on the past decade of development, Yu is committed to continuing his efforts.

Currently, he and his team are working on renovating a section of National Highway 103, which has long served as a divide between the Central Green Forest Park and Zhangjiawan, an emerging tourism destination home to the Universal Beijing Resort.

"Our plan is to transform it into a pleasant urban landscape boulevard, truly bridging the two areas," he said.

While modest in scale, the project holds significant importance, connecting fragmented urban zones and meeting real-life needs, while also weaving together Tongzhou's past and future.

Statistics show that from 2016 to 2025, the GDP of the administrative center increased from 65 billion yuan ($9.56 billion) to 163.88 billion yuan, achieving an average annual growth rate of over 6 percent.

Last year, its GDP surged by 10.8 percent year-on-year, the highest in Beijing. The total number of local enterprises has reached 207,000, ranking third in the city, representing a 150 percent growth compared with 2016, according to the district.