TWO URBAN VILLAGES in the southeast and northwest corners of Beijing - one that was known for its polluting low-end processing industries and the other for its poor living conditions - have been transformed into a 710,000-square-meter wetland park and a 290-hectare forest park. Beijing News comments:

The two parks, which are respectively close to Beijing's Yizhuang high-tech industrial zone and Zhongguancun, China's "silicon valley", are of considerable socioeconomic value.

The Beijing municipal government did not auction the two pieces of land after acquiring the land-use rights from local residents, as many had expected, and instead developed them into two large public parks. The forest park, one of the largest in the capital, is believed to directly benefit more than 200,000 residents living nearby.