Wudaokou, Beijing

Wudaokou, whose name is a literal reference to the fifth level crossing of the Jingbao Railway, is a neighborhood in the Haidian District of North West Beijing, famous for its close distances to universities including Tsinghua University and Peking University. It is around 10 km from the center of Beijing, between the Fourth and Fifth ring roads, and has good public transport links including a station on Line 13 of the Beijing Subway. It became a commercial center in Haidian during the 1950s following the establishment of several universities. The high price of real estate in this area has led to it being dubbed the "Center of the Universe." Until as recently as 2001 the area consisted mainly of Hutong neighborhoods and late 1960s apartment blocks, but major development has erased many of these old structures, replacing them with luxury apartments and technology parks. Some may also refer to Wudaokou as Koreatown, for the large number of Koreans in the area. ()