Upping The Pace

The first thing commuters see when they arrive in Wangjing – a northeastern subdistrict of Beijing – is a fibreglass sculpture of a mother and baby panda placidly chewing on bamboo. The gentle maternal tableau speaks to the former wholly residential nature of the area, but nowadays that homely image is somewhat misleading.

- Crystal Wilde

Around 20 years ago, the commuters were heading in the opposite direction. Wangjing, then nicknamed “Sleeping City”, was nothing more than a bedroom community – a place for workers to lay their heads at cheap rents after a hard day’s toil in the city. Although strategically placed between the airport and the CBD, there were few shops, hardly any restaurants and absolutely nothing in the way of big business in what was then considered a remote location.

Today, the district, which lies between the fourth and fifth ring roads that encase the city in ever-tightening loops, is a buzzing hive of established and striving tech companies. The area’s new profile, led by the likes of Sony, Panasonic, Daimler, Alibaba and Meituan-Dianping, is bringing in a full spectrum of lifestyle and entertainment outlets, in turn attracting a cosmopolitan and talented workforce.

Tech businesses first started to trickle into Wangjing in the early 1990s as the northwestern enclave of Zhongguancun, then regarded as Beijing’s Silicon Valley, became increasingly overpriced and oversaturated. Along with the newcomers came a gradual wave of international restaurants, bars and hotels.

Government attempts to smooth the path for businesses in China has seen the country rise by 32 spots (from 78 to 46) in the World Bank’s latest Ease of Doing Business report. With red tape and bureaucracy slashed considerably, setting up shop in the Middle Kingdom now takes only nine days, in theory.

According to a 2018 report by CB Insights, Beijing is on track to eclipse Silicon Valley as the world’s biggest startup hub; the report adds that Beijing and Shanghai “lead among high-growth hubs for unicorns, mega-rounds and large exits. Company creation is accelerating.”