"In past winters, every family burnt honeycomb briquets for cooking and keeping warm. The choking smoke from the briquet stoves often permeated the whole 'Hutong'," said middle-aged ZhouHuifeng, who has just moved from her old home in a "Hutong", or Beijing-style lane, into an apartment in a new housing development.

The scene she described is history now. Looking westward from the balcony of Zhou's flat on the eighth floor of the building, she can see Mt Xishan near Beijing very clearly.

The high visibility is thanks to the city's efforts to clear its skies and protect its atmosphere.

It had cost the city government 50 billion yuan (6.02 billion US dollars) over the past five years to improve Beijing's air quality, local officials said.

So far this year, air quality in the city has reached the second best level or better for 201 days, more than 55 percent of the whole year, according to data provided by the municipal environmental protection department.

For several days in mid December, the heaviest snowfall in 161 years worried Liu Yufeng, a Beijing taxi driver. However, the bad weather failed to paralyze traffic, largely due to an orderly emergency traffic control system in the city.

Besides, "there are now many more roads in the city, as againstthe increasing number of private cars being registered," said Liu."Beijing's urban management capacity is up to that of an international mega-city."

Beijing's intensive transport network allows people better access to their destinations in and outside the city. This year the city has built 128 km of expressways and opened the 20.62-km western section of an urban railway to traffic. In one month the eastern part of the railway will be completed. Work will start next year on seven subway and urban railway lines across the city.

Before Beijing hosts the 2008 Olympic Games, as Vice Mayor Liu Jingmin promised, its citizens will be able to get to any destination inside its fifth ring road by subway or urban railway within 20 minutes, while from any point inside the second ring road a subway station will be only a five-minute walk away.

Though the city keeps changing daily, the unique charm of Old Peking remains in the eyes of its residents.

The Changpu River, once an important historical waterway insideBeijing's imperial city and covered for more than four decades, has seen daylight again. And a section of ancient dilapidated citywalls has been restored in the southeastern part of the city, and been included in a wall relics park.

Also on the city's restoration list are city walls built in theYuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties,the Forbidden City, the ruins of the Old Summer Palace and the Temple of Earth.

Li Delong, an old man living in a slightly shabby "Siheyuan" by Shichahai Lake, is not worried about the fate of the traditional Beijing-style house built around a quadrangle. "The city government is working on a development plan for the lake area. It is said that some foreign architects will vie for the bid," he said.

(People's Daily December 31, 2002)