Haidian

Haidan district, the second largest in Beijing, lies in the northwestern corner of the city centre. It neighbours Xicheng district and Chaoyang district to the east, Fengtai district to the south, to the west it borders with Shijingshan district and Mentougou district, and in the north it faces Changping district. Over the past decade Haidian has developed into the education and technological district of Beijing – that being said much of Old Beijing, such as the splendid Summer Palace, still remain. The Wudaokou and Zhongguancun neighbourhoods play host to the Beijing offices of many of the world’s major IT giants, including Microsoft and Siemens as well as local giants Baidu. The Zhongguancun Technology Hub and Haidian District Science and Technology Innovation Centre are two particularly important players in the area. The Wudakou region also consists of China’s top educational – Peking University and Tsinghua University – being of particular note. The district population is currently just under 2.5 million, however due to the big universities being located in the area, a lot of these inhabitants are students and therefore don’t have residential status. The Haidian district is at this moment served by nine metro lines (1,4,6,8,9,10,13,15,Changping line) operated by the Beijing Subway and line 2 of the Beijing City Rail (a commuter line). The northwestern sections of the 3rd Ring Rd., 4th Ring Rd. and 5th Ring Rd. also all pass through the district.