Beijing From the start of this year, Beijing’s municipal commission of commerce has forbidden the construction of big department stores within the second ring road and is strictly controlling the construction of supermarkets larger than 10,000 sq metres.
In future most major commercial projects will be built outside the fourth ring road because of market oversupply in downtown areas. China Daily said that the average profit rate of large retail stores in central Beijing had been squeezed to just 3.7 per cent because of the intense competition.