How Green Is Rewriting Daily Life

<article><section data-type="rtext">Qi Chenjiong/Global Times OnlineOn 7 August,50 foreign influencers, exchange students, short video creators and photographers set off to see how green is rewriting daily life in the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center. Organized by Beijing Tongzhou District Publicity Department and Cyberspace Affairs Office, and supported by Global Times Online, the one-day event was titled “A Green Trip Beyond What You See: 2025 4th Chinese and Foreign Online Influencers Visit Beijing Municipal Administrative Center.”They visited the Beijing Investment Group Plaza, Heritage Site Park at the Ancient Government Seat of Luxian County, Beijing Bishui Reclaimed Water Plant and CANALWEST. They explored the center’s work in green buildings, ecological protection, energy innovation and green culture, and will share their images with global audiences to show how Chinese cities are turning green ideas into living reality. <img data-alt="" src="https://img.huanqiucdn.cn/dp/api/files/imageDir/a2fbe41748c02d7771a7b8586f5eb41du1.png?imageView2/2/w/1260?imageView2/2/w/1260" />Creative Green Buildings for a Low-Carbon City How can a building stay functional and beautiful while cutting emissions? This question is answered the moment visitors step inside Beijing Investment Group Plaza. Shaped like the traditional bronze ritual vessel called "ding", symbolizes "firmly standing in all directions." The building"s roof integrates drainage channels with photovoltaic tubes to gather both rain and sunlight. Its surrounding glass curtain wall, named the “breathing mirror”, automatically adjusts reflectivity based on solar angle, reducing air-conditioning demand by roughly 15%.<img data-alt="" src="https://img.huanqiucdn.cn/dp/api/files/imageDir/6838d25252b650b1ec6fb09b8302d36bu1.png?imageView2/2/w/1260?imageView2/2/w/1260" />Three floors underground, a 175,000m² “power heart” integrates three major systems: renewable energy station, rooftop photovoltaic system, solar water-heating system. The system has an annual electricity output of 400,000 kWh and a renewable utilization rate of 60%, saving 1,753.83 tons of CO₂ annually, offering a replicable model for urban low-carbon energy systems. <img data-alt="" src="https://img.huanqiucdn.cn/dp/api/files/imageDir/88691068b15e5cfd9325cebf98bda472u1.png?imageView2/2/w/1260?imageView2/2/w/1260" />The same formula—engineering below, ecology above—powers the Beijing Bishui Reclaimed Water Plant, the first in the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center to hide all of its hardware underground. All treatment facilities are located underground, with a capacity of 180,000 t of wastewater per day. Within 23 hours, the wastewater is fully transformed and becomes a replenishing source for the clear waters of the canal, cutting yearly carbon emissions by the equivalent of planting around 66.7 hectares of new forest. On the surface, the “Blue Treasure” education centre has already nudged 700,000 residents from passive observers into active green-living participants.History Lives, Culture Turns Green The Grand Canal, a UNESCO world-heritage waterway, has lost none of its bustle. A 1.3-kilometre stretch of waterfront on the CANALWEST has been transformed into a green living experience zone. <img data-alt="" src="https://img.huanqiucdn.cn/dp/api/files/imageDir/187e35531b08b2055f0725054ede62d3u1.png?imageView2/2/w/1260?imageView2/2/w/1260" />An open riverside promenade with viewing decks and water-level plazas offers space for walking and sightseeing. A cluster of “waterfront play zones”hosts cafés, boutiques, sports outlets and night markets, creating round-the-clock leisure. The annual “Better Life Festival” stitches green shopping stalls to intangible-heritage crafts and sports zones, reviving the canal’s historic “prosperity through water” spirit via 8 eco-stations that turn sustainability from a slogan into a daily choice.With 36 % green cover and sponge-cushioned walkways, the shopping district doubles as a rain sponge, while 3-D night projections powered by solar lights keep the night-time economy buzzing without extra carbon.Heritage Site Park at the Ancient Government Seat of Luxian County, spanning the Warring States to the Qing dynasties, has become Beijing’s first “museum-park”. The main exhibition area is designed as a subterranean structure, its roof planted with native grasses that blend seamlessly into the surrounding parkland, creating a “hidden museum” effect that allows the building to vanish into the landscape.“I didn’t expect Beijing Municipal Administrative Center to have made such strides in green development,” Belarusian social-media creator Ekaterina Kaligaeva said. “What truly stunned me was watching a water-reclamation plant turn 180,000 tonnes of sewage into clean water in a single day—it’s providing local residents with a much healthier environment.”“I come to Beijing Municipal Administrative Center at least once a year, and every visit I find new districts, new parks and fresh projects to explore,” Argentine influencer Brian González said. “The city keeps rolling out greener spaces and initiatives at a remarkable pace.”</section></article>