Has any place changed so much, so quickly? In a pair of essays, two RECORD editors look at Beijing’s rapid transformation, try to make sense of the current boom, and ponder its future.

Photo © Robert Ivy

From Olympic venues and a massive airport terminal to an equally eye-catching residential development, the 15 projects that we profile this month—including work by Andreu, Foster, Herzog & de Meuron, Holl, Pei-Zhu, and other renowned designers—have helped place Beijing at the vanguard of 21st-Century architecture.

Photo ©Tim Griffith

Architects, impresarios, and our own editors recommend Beijing destinations from bookstores, lounges, and artist-owned restaurants to parks and markets. Find out where to eat, sleep, or contemplate city life in China’s capital.

Photo courtesy Timezone 8

Rapid development has led to sweeping changes in Beijing, and we have compiled information on Air Pollution, Population, Education, and more to help put the city’s new architecture in context.

RECORD looks at a few of the people shaping Beijing’s skyline and pioneering a new wave of building innovation.

Photo © Michael Goodman

Thanks to a high demand for manual labor and contractors’ pressing deadlines, migrant workers represent nearly one quarter of Beijing’s population. In this photo essay, Photographer Iwan Baan focuses his camera on the people who are building the new Beijing.

Photo © Iwan Baan

Michael Meyer, author of The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed, gives a firsthand account of the Chinese capital’s struggles to preserve its past in the face of rapid development and Olympic Glory.

Photo © Tim Griffith

Chéngyǔ or "set phrases" are Chinese four-character idioms. Their origins are in ancient literature, but they are still widely used today. We offer a small sampling of Chéngyǔ and their pronunciations—along with literal and figurative translations—that will be useful for architects working or traveling in Beijing.

Recent RECORD stories about architecture in China, including a critical examination of historic districts in Beijing and Shanghai, a study of an adaptive reuse project in the Forbidden City, a look at the technology behind the “Water Cube,” and a roundup of recent news headlines.

Photo © Hisun Wong/China Heritage Fund

From the official site of the 2008 Summer Olympics and guides to the Beijing’s burgeoning nightlife to articles about China’s human rights record, the index below lists Web sites of interest to architects working or traveling in the city.

Image courtesy Jennifer Richter