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Before 1998, Beijing was divided into several districts (区) and several counties (县). In China, districts belonged to the urban area, and counties belonged to the rural area.

In 1998, northeastern Shunyi County (顺义县) was first renamed Shunyi District (顺义区). In the following ten years, other counties also changed their names to districts.

After the renaming, these new districts began to urbanize quickly, and large amounts of cultivated farmland were turned into industrial compounds and residential communities.

Today, if you visit these new districts, you will see that they are more and more similar to the old districts. In a sense, Beijing is becoming a metropolis without agriculture.