New Old Building in Qianmen

During our trip to Asia in 2008, we spent a few days in Beijing, China. On 3rd November 2008, we spent the morning in Qianmen. Qianmen has been the famous and busiest place in Beijing for businesses and shopping. There are many over 100 years old stores in Qianmen. Due to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Qianmen has been undergoing renovation, taking old buildings down and rebuilding just like before. The building on this picture has just been finished but it is still waiting for business to occupy.

Architecturally, this building is quite interesting, round on one end, rectanglar on the other end. The two ends are connected somehow with a bridge. There must be a reason why this building is designed like that. We think that it must be related to the type of business it is being conducted there. Anyway, we will keep our eyes open to find out more on this building and look forward to hearing the historical background behind it.