The Chinese capital has remodeled the design of its emerging financial district downtown, featuring a four-hectare green square and two 30-story, 116-meter-high skyscrapers, which will be tallest buildings in the city.

The new design was unveiled this week by the developer, Beijing Jinrongjie Holdings Co., Ltd., which is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

American design firm SOM won the international bidding for the new plan.

The financial district, known to Beijingers as Jinrongjie, covers an area of 103 hectares in downtown Beijing about three kilometers west of Tiananmen Square.

Seven years of construction has made the district home to more than 300 financial institutions and leading corporations, including the People's Bank of China, the Bank of China, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and Taikang Life Insurance.

The revamping of the financial district is targeted for completion in 2005, the developer said.

(People's Daily December 09, 2001)