Beijing’s new mayor has vowed¹ to gut² the city of all functions unrelated to its status as national capital, in an effort to push the growing population into the surrounding provinces.

北京新任市长蔡奇承诺疏解北京所有的非首都功能，努力把不断增长的人口疏散到周围省份。

The city’s functions would be reduced “like peeling off cabbage leaves”, with the economy and cityscape restructured to make it “leaner and more efficient”, Cai Qi said.

蔡奇表示，将减少北京市的功能，就像剥掉“白菜帮子”一样，优化北京市的经济结构和空间结构，“瘦身健体、提质增效”。

Asian states have historically moved capitals when they have become too crowded and have depleted³ local resources. Most recently, Myanmar and Kazakhstan have built new capitals from scratch, moving the government away from historic commercial cities that were the traditional centres of power. But Mr Cai, a rising political star, may be the first to seek to move the city away from the capital.

从历史上说，亚洲国家在首都变得过于拥挤并耗尽当地资源时会迁都。不久前，缅甸和哈萨克斯坦都从零开始建起了新首都，把政府迁出了曾是传统权力中心的历史悠久的商业城市。但冉冉升起的政治新星蔡奇可能是第一个试图把城市迁出首都的人。

Beijing has been the Chinese capital and a centre of power and culture for most of the past 750 years. It was founded as a walled city in the 11th century BC on a well-watered plain. After serving for centuries as a military garrison⁴ and capital of several independent states it first became the national capital in the 13th century AD during the Yuan dynasty, when Mongols ruled what is now China.

在过去750年的多数时间里，北京都是中国的首都和权力与文化中心。它始建于公元前11世纪，最初是一座位于水源充沛的平原上的有围墙的城市。在若干个世纪里，它曾是一个军事重镇，先后作过几个小国的都城。在公元13世纪的元朝，北京首次成为全中国的首都，当时统治中国的是蒙古人。

Its population expanded rapidly after the Communist party took power in 1949 and created the headquarters of a Leninist state. The population boomed again in the reform era, as relaxation⁵ of China’s strict hukou, or residency, regulations combined with a property bubble near the centre of power.

中国共产党1949年夺取政权并在这里建立起一个列宁主义国家的大本营后，北京市人口迅速增加。在改革开放时代，北京市人口再次迅猛增长，当时中国严格的户口制度有所放松，而且在这个权力中心附近出现了房地产泡沫。

Almost 22m people now live in Beijing or surrounding satellite cities, up from 4m in 1950 and 9m in 1980. Most of the ancient city’s unique architecture and distinct hutongs, or lanes, have been bulldozed to make way for highways, shopping malls, office buildings and state-owned banks and enterprises.

如今有近2200万人居住在北京或周边的卫星城，而1950年为400万人，1980年为900万人。这座古老城市的许多独特建筑和别具一格的胡同被拆除，给高速公路、购物中心、办公楼以及国有银行和企业腾出地方。

The result has been traffic jams, increasing strain on water resources, and rising public dissatisfaction with the city’s choking pollution.

结果是交通堵塞、水资源日益紧张、公众对北京令人窒息的污染越来越感到不满。

Mr Cai said he would reduce Beijing’s land zoned⁶ for construction and cap the city’s population at 23m.

蔡奇表示，他将削减北京的建设用地，把常住人口控制在2300万人以下。

Administrative⁷ action could temporarily reduce the city’s population, says Dai Qing, an environmental activist⁸ who has long argued that Beijing’s growth is dangerously depleting⁹ its underground aquifers¹⁰. “But if you don’t restructure the system whereby interests and resources are concentrated in the capital, people will come flooding back in.”

环保活动人士戴晴早就指出，北京的发展正在危险地耗尽该市的地下水资源。她表示，行政措施可能会临时降低北京的人口。“但如果你不调整这个利益和资源集中于首都的体制的结构，人们还会如潮水般涌回来。”

Mr Cai’s announcement is a twist on central government plans revealed in 2014 to shift some of the national bureaucracy to Baoding, a nearby military and industrial city that was denoted the nation’s most polluted that year.

蔡奇的表态是中央政府2014年披露的将部分国家机关迁到保定的计划的一个变化版本。保定是邻近北京的一个军事和工业城市，是当年中国污染最严重的城市。

Plans to develop the “Jing-Jin-Ji” area (a shorthand for Beijing, the port city of Tianjin and the surrounding province of Hebei) have resulted in economic stimulus¹¹ and new property development across the region.

发展“京津冀”地区的计划导致这一地区出台了经济刺激措施，进行了新的房地产开发。

They have been accompanied by campaigns within Beijing to tear down neighbourhood shops and wholesale¹² markets where migrant workers work, in an attempt to force lower-income residents out of the city. Schools have closed their doors to the children of migrants. The number of new migrants to Beijing halved¹³ in 2015.

与此同时，北京市采取行动，拆除外来务工人员打工的小区商店和批发市场，以求迫使低收入居民离开这座城市。学校则拒绝招收外来务工人员子女入学。2015年，北京新增外来务工人员数量减少了一半。

Areas that have been cleared would not see new construction, and would instead be turned into green and public space, Mr Cai vowed.

蔡奇承诺，对于城区腾退后的空间不再建设，而是将其变成绿地，变成公共服务设施。

Beijing has also encouraged its universities to develop new campuses in satellite cities.

北京还鼓励该市高校在卫星城发展新校区。

Hollowing out the city may help Mr Cai in his December pledge to prevent property prices in Beijing from rising this year. On Monday he also vowed to cut coal use in the capital by 30 per cent. The city is phasing out its last coal-fired power plant in favour of a gas-fired plant. It already sources much of its power from the smoke-shrouded city of Zhangjiakou, four hours’ drive to the north-west, which will host the Winter Olympics in 2022.

蔡奇去年12月承诺北京房价今年不再上涨，疏解非首都功能可能有助于他兑现承诺。本周一，蔡奇还誓言要将北京煤炭使用量削减30%。北京正淘汰其最后一座燃煤电厂，建设燃气电厂。北京现在所用的许多电力已然由烟雾笼罩下的城市张家口提供。张家口位于北京西北方向，距北京车程4个小时，该市将在2022年承办冬季奥运会。