Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

possesses multiple ring roads (or

beltway A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...

s).

1st Ring Road

When the city of Beijing had tram lines in operation from the 1920s to the 1950s, Line No. 4's route formed a ring-shaped loop, running 17-km clockwise through

Tiananmen The Tiananmen (also Tian'anmen (天安门), Tienanmen, T’ien-an Men; ), or the Gate of Heaven-Sent Pacification, is a monumental gate in the city center of Beijing, China, the front gate of the Imperial City of Beijing, located near the ci ...

Xidan Xidan ( Chinese: 西单; Pinyin: Xīdān) is a major traditional commercial area in Beijing, China. It is located in the Xicheng District. The Xidan commercial district incorporates the Xidan Culture Square, North Xidan Street, as well as man ...

- Xisi - Pinganli - Dianmen - Gulou - Jiaodaokou - Beixinqiao - Dongsi - Dongdan -

. This route was known as the "Ring Road" (環形路). After the tramlines were removed in the 1950s, this name lost its meaning as it was simply a collection of surface streets (in contrast, each of the other ring roads today is a single expressway). Plans in 1954 and 1957 show a different "1st Ring Road", a slightly larger rectangular loop between Beixingqiao - Ciqikou -

Caishikou Caishikou () is a neighborhood in Beijing, situated in Xicheng District. Part of it, known as Caishikou Execution Grounds (菜市口法场), was where most of Beijing's capital punishments were carried out during the Qing Dynasty and were open ...

- Xinjiekou. Most maps in Beijing do not actually show the 1st Ring Road as such; only very few maps give a faint yellow highlight of a possible variant of it. However, the original name remained to be used later for other ring roads constructed decades later. The notion of "1st Ring Road" briefly reappeared after the end of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

, during which the original names of the roads described above were changed to names with strong political propaganda meaning that eulogized and advocated the ideologies of the

, and when the political turmoil had ended, the names changed. One suggestion was to completely rename those roads as "1st Ring Road" to symbolize the new start in the era of reform, as well as to reflect the willingness of China to embrace modernness and globalization, but this suggestion was quickly turned down because most people favored the original names of the roads and believed in their historical meaning and cultural heritage, and more importantly, they felt that returning the original names also had more symbolic meaning of denouncing

. Therefore, the original names of the roads were adopted once again, and the phrase "1st Ring Road" was seldom heard again.

2nd Ring Road

Beijing's ''first'' (innermost) ring road, the 2nd Ring Road was built in the 1980s and expanded in the 1990s. It now forms a rectangular loop around central Beijing, an area that is roughly equivalent to the old city, which includes the four precincts: Dongcheng Qu (Eastern Urban Precinct), Xicheng Qu (Western Urban Precinct), Xuanwu Precinct and Chongwen Precinct. Its four sections begin at

Xizhimen Xizhimen () was a gate in the Beijing city wall and is now a transportation node in Beijing. The gate was the entrance of drinking water for the Emperor, coming from the Jade Spring Hills to the west of Beijing. The gate was demolished in 196 ...

Dongzhimen Dongzhimen (; lit. "East Straight Gate") was a gate in the old Beijing city fortifications. It is now a commercial center and transportation node in Beijing. Latimer D. (2014) ''The Improbable Beijing Guidebook'', Sinomaps, Beijing, , p.69 Histor ...

Caihuying Caihuying () is an overpass complex in southwestern urban Beijing. The main feature is Caihuying Bridge (). It links the 2nd Ring Road, which does a turn from south to east, with a connection road to the Jingkai Expressway and another route to th ...

and Zuo'anmen. The 2nd Ring Road passes through very central parts of Beijing, and runs almost directly past the original

Beijing railway station Beijing railway station (), or simply Beijing station (), is a passenger railway station in Dongcheng District, Beijing. The station is located just southeast of the city centre inside the Second Ring Road with Beijing Station Street to the nor ...

. Prices of real estate inside the ring road are considerably higher than other parts of town. The 2nd Ring Road of today is part of an extended ring road which takes the southern route through Zuo'anmen and

instead of

Qianmen Qianmen () is the colloquial name for Zhengyangmen (; Manchu:; Möllendorff:tob šun-i duka, literally meaning "Gate of the Zenith Sun"), a gate in Beijing's historic city wall. The gate is situated to the south of Tiananmen Square and once guar ...

Road, just south of Tian'anmen. Its southernmost part between Jianguomen and Fuxingmen appears "squashed" outwards. The 2nd ring is directly connected to the Airport Expressway and

Badaling Expressway The Badaling Expressway (Simplified Chinese: 八达岭高速公路, Traditional Chinese: 八達嶺高速公路, Hanyu Pinyin: Bādálíng Gāosù Gōnglù) is an expressway in China which links urban Beijing to the Badaling stretch of the Great ...

3rd Ring Road

The 3rd Ring Road was built in the 1980s and completed in the 1990s. It is by no means peripheral, as it passes through Beijing's CBD (Guandongdian) and diplomatic communities (Dongzhimenwai / Liangmaqiao, Jianguomenwai). It is directly interlinked with numerous expressways—the Jingcheng Expressway, the Jingshi Expressway, the Jingkai Expressway, and the

Jingjintang Expressway Jingjintang Expressway (), also known as the Jingtang Expressway, links Beijing via central Tianjin to the Tanggu District in eastern Tianjin. 143 kilometres in length, it crosses the jurisdictions of Beijing and Tianjin municipalities and Hebei ...

4th Ring Road

The 4th Ring Road was completed in 2001, around from the center of Beijing. It connects the less central parts of Beijing and navigates through

Zhongguancun Zhongguancun () is a major technology hub in Haidian District, Beijing, China. Zhongguancun occupies a band between the northwestern Third Ring Road and the northwestern Fourth Ring Road, in the northwestern part of Beijing. Zhongguancun is ...

technology hub, western Beijing,

Fengtai District Fengtai District () is a district of the municipality of Beijing. It lies mostly to the southwest of the city center, extending into the city's southwestern suburbs beyond the Sixth Ring Road, but also to the south and, to a smaller extent, the s ...

, and eastern Beijing. The Jingshen Expressway and the Jingtong Expressway (as of Dawangqiao) begin from the 4th Ring Road. The 4th Ring Road, along with other ring roads, now have a few locations where "fake" police lights (red and blue in colour) light up at night. Drivers are easily fooled into thinking that the police is out in force. This indirectly forces drivers to slow down.

5th Ring Road

The 5th Ring Road is, along with the

6th Ring Road The 6th Ring Road () is an expressway ring road in Beijing, China which runs around the city approximately from the center of the city. The 6th Ring Road is approximately long. The road is numbered G4501 and as such is strictly speaking co ...

, a full expressway ring road. It is designated as a provincial expressway with number S50. This ring road is further distant (around ) from central Beijing, and links the suburban areas of Huantie, Shigezhuang, Dingfuzhuang and Ciqu. It also passes through the Beijing Development Area. It navigates through very barren land in the south before heading west toward the

Fragrant Hills Fragrant Hills or Xiangshan Park is a public park and former imperial garden at the foot of the Western Hills in the Haidian District, Beijing, China. It was also formerly known as Jingyi Garden or "Jingyiyuan" (靜宜園). It covers and cons ...

. Due to its proximity to Olympic venues, it has been nicknamed the "Olympic Avenue". Also there is a comical Chinese song about the rings of Beijing. known as th
Song of the 5th Ring Road

6th Ring Road

At present the most remote ring road from central Beijing (around ), the 6th Ring Road was built in the 2000s and was completed in 2010. of expressway between the interchanges with

and Jingshi Expressway, running clockwise, are open to general motor traffic. It is the only ring road to be interlinked with the equally remote Jingha Expressway. This toll expressway ring road links Beijing with

Shunyi District Shunyi District () is an administrative district of Beijing, located to the northeast of the city's urban core. As of 2014, the population of the district is around 983,000, of which approximately 601,000 have local residency permits. The Beiji ...

, Tongzhou District,

Changping District Changping District (), formerly Changping County (), is a district situated in the suburbs of north and northwest Beijing. History Changping County and Jundu County which administered the area were established in the Han Dynasty. Changping was i ...

and

Daxing District Daxing District () is a district of Beijing, covering the southern suburbs of the city. It borders the Beijing districts of Tongzhou to the east/northeast, Fangshan to the west, Fengtai to the northwest, Chaoyang to the northeast, and the Heb ...

. It is included in the

National Trunk Highway System The expressway network of China, with the national-level expressway system officially known as the National Trunk Highway System (; abbreviated as NTHS), is an integrated system of national and provincial-level expressways in China.Li, Si-ming ...

and planned as a branch of

G45 Daqing–Guangzhou Expressway The Daqing–Guangzhou Expressway (), designated as G45 and commonly referred to as the Daguang Expressway () is an expressway that connects the cities of Daqing, Heilongjiang, and Guangzhou, Guangdong. When fully complete, it will be in length. ...

, and henceforth receives the designation G45₀₁.

7th Ring Road

The G95 Capital Area Loop Expressway, colloquially known as the 7th Ring Road, is an orbital road of about 1,000 km that encircles the city centre of Beijing, mostly passing through Hebei. Only 38 kilometers passes through Beijing, another 38 km runs through Tianjin and 924 km is in Hebei province. Construction of the road was completed in June 2018 with the final section linking Beijing's outer districts of Tongzhou and Daxing.

Others

China National Highway 112 China National Highway 112 is a 1228 km ring road which runs outside Beijing (municipality). Route and distance See also * China National Highways The China National Highways (CNH/Guodao) () is a network of trunk roads across m ...

is a ring road which runs around Beijing through province of Hebei and municipality of Tianjin, completely outside of Beijing municipality. Although not popularly known as part of Beijing's "ring road system", it has been informally identified as the "8th Ring Road" by some road-trip fans.

Inter-ring road connection routes

There also exist many connection routes between the ring roads. The ones listed below are all expressways or express routes. Travel on these routes is often surprisingly smooth, as there are no traffic lights on them. 11 routes are under construction as of 2004. * Xueyuan Road (N.

4th Ring Road The 4th Ring Road () is a controlled-access expressway ring road in Beijing, China which runs around the city, with a radius of approximately from city centre. The total length of the road is . There are 147 bridges and viaducts that run the l ...

- N.

5th Ring Road Beijing's 5th Ring Road (, China Road Numbering: S50 (Beijing) is a ring road encircling the city about away from the city centre. It takes the form of an expressway and is in length. Being a ring road, it has no natural start or end point, ...

, under projection) *

(as of N.

2nd Ring Road The 2nd Ring Road () is the innermost ring road highway which encircles the city center of Beijing, People's Republic of China. (The first ring road had been a circular tram route.) The ring road can be divided into two parts: the original ring ...

, expressway as of N. 3rd Ring Road, constructed) * Jingcheng Expressway (as of N. 3rd Ring Road, partially constructed) * Airport Expressway (as of N. 3rd Ring Road, portion connecting to N.

under construction as an express route) * Yaojiayuan Road (E. 3rd Ring Road - N.

, connecting to projected Jingping Expressway, under projection) * Tonghui River North Road (E.

- E.

, under construction as an express route) * Jingshen Expressway (as of E.

, portion connecting to E.

under construction) *

(as of E. 3rd Ring Road, constructed) * Puhuangyu Road (as of S.

to S.

, under construction/projection) * Jingkai Expressway (as of S.

, expressway as of S. 3rd Ring Road, constructed) * Fengbei Road (W.

- Jingshi Expressway (after Yuquan Road exit), under construction) * Lianhuachi West Road (W. 3rd Ring Road - W.

, opened October 15, 2005) * Fushi Road (W. 3rd Ring Road - W.

, under projection) * Xizhimen Outer Street extension (W.

3rd Ring Road (Beijing) The 3rd Ring Road () is a -long city ring road that encircles the city center of Beijing. When Beijing first became the capital of the People's Republic of China, the road existed only in segments encircling the northern, eastern, and southe ...

- W.

, under construction/projection)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ring Roads Of Beijing Ring roads in China Streets in Beijing