Beijing/Tongzhou

Tongzhou is a district in Beijing. Tongzhou used to be a rather large old village of Tongzhou surrounded by a more modern area and then a large rural area with lots of small villages. The modern area has developed all the way out to ring road six resulting in the disappearance of a number of villages. All of the central Tongzhou village has been torn down to make room for a new modern district with housing and private and government offices. This has changed the appearance of Tongzhou completely.

Get in
Tongzhou can be reached by metro Line 1-Batong Line without any interchange at Sihui Station since 29 August 2021. The stations from Beiyuan and until the terminal station are all in Tongzhou District. Or, at Sihui Station you can change to bus 322, which goes to Beiyuan and continues along the main shopping street, Xinhua Street. Finally, it is possible to go by bus 804 from Guomao to Beiyuan and further along Xinhua Street. Subway line 6 is also available in Tongzhou, and has 4 stations on the west bank of the Grand Canal, while some stations can serve the new municipal administration area on the east bank of Grand Canal. Line 7 has its six eastern stations in Tongzhou, ending at Universal Resort.

A new fast bus route to Tongzhou has been established along Chaoyang Road. Further, the new metro line 22 along Chaoyang Road is under construction and will improve the access to the new modern area east of the canal.

Get around
Some of the routes described under 'Get in' also runs through the district. Further local buses are available, but a large part of the district is not well covered by public transportation. Official taxis are scarce in the district, but unofficial 'black' taxis are everywhere at least in the central part of the district.

Galleries
Songzhuang Artist's Village in Tongzhou District is the newest large art area to be found in Beijing, and could be argued to be the largest concentration of contemporary Chinese artists in the world. Already back in the 1980s, many artists lived in this village. During the 1990s artists from around the country moved here and by 2009, the number of artists grew to more than 2,000. The area is concentrated in the village and especially the larger street, Renli Road (任李路; Rènlǐlù), to the east of the village. Directions: Take bus 808, 809, 813 from Dawanglu Metro Station (lines 1 and 14) to Renzhuangcun Station (任庄村; Rènzhuāngcūn) and walk north of Renlilu; alternatively, take the metro to Tongzhoubeiyuan (extension of line 1) and take an unofficial taxi from there (negotiate the price before you get in, it should be around ¥30).



Buy
The main shopping street is Xinhua East Street (新华东街) and its extension Xinhua West Street with department stores and specialty shops. For smaller shops and a narrower street try West Meizi West Street (西梅子西街). The supermarkets are primarily found south of Xinhua Street.

Eat
In Tongzhou District, the main restaurant street is Chezhan Road with dusins of restaurants.