Relocation remedy must be handled carefully

For decades, Beijing, as the capital of China, has been expanding, with the number of ring roads increasing from two to six and the population reaching 21.7 million in 2015. Such rapid expansion has caused multiple problems, such as overcrowded communities, severe traffic congestion and a worsening environment. It is now urgent that the government should find prescriptions to cure such urban diseases.

One of the prescriptions the central government has come up is relocating the Beijing municipal government, industrial plants and other functions not related to its role as the nation's capital out of the city center.

Many "low-end" industries are to be relocated according to a plan released in April last year, and the Beijing authorities have followed the central government's lead by announcing that around 200 markets are also to be relocated from the central area of Beijing.