l live nearby, so i went there for a look last week. not much is new, except the grass grows taller now, but i took some pics anyways. it's still quite a shock because there used to be so many buildings where now it's only grass, i'm surprised they grow so well.
you can see the river (the empress xiao river) which will go through the park or by it i think, they tore down an old bridge, and someone is unhappy that their house was tore down "illegally". i'm sure they will sort it out, as far as i know they are generous with the compensation. the pics of the buildings are nearby resident complexes to the north of the park. 10 years ago there's nothing but farm land. the villagers who used to live there now live in the taller red buildings with white top. in the pic behind the buildings across the road would be the park area. the other pic with buildings, the camera was facing west, so the park area is out of view on the left side.
on related subjects, they are extending two subway lines (line 7, and batong line, itself being an extension of line 1) eastward to reach the park. they are also building a new line connecting the two airports of beijing (the new one is being built) and it will probably pass by the park.
central government made a big dicision about beijing, to move many institutions and facilities to the east suburb of tongzhou district, to upgrade it to a "second center" of beijing, in order to solve the many problems the city has now. that's our dictrict, where the park is in. this is a good message, because lots of money and talent and attention will pour into this larger area, and projects in it will gain higher priority. we already see many improvements of infrastructure.
the air pollution problem of beijing, which was worst two years ago, has seen fast improvement. which is of course not necessarily a good thing, since the government here has greater power in their hands to achieve the goals they desire. at least this one is which we all desire. i'd like to have faith that they will solve the problem.
will go check the site out from time to time.