Beijing News You Might Have Missed This Week, Jul 23

Beijing is a happening city! Don't miss a thing with our weekend roundup of the latest news.

Fences, Barriers Removed at Two Beijing Parks: Fences and gates at two popular city parks, Yuan Dadu Relics Park and Qingfeng Park, were recently removed, reports Beijing Daily. The report says the removal of fences was carried out to “better integrate the parks” with the city around them, and is part of a greater pilot program to create more recreational spaces in Beijing. The decision to remove fences at these first two parks will certainly be a welcome one: seeing as both are popular spots for walking and jogging, it’ll make life easier for those looking to get a bit of exercise in without having to go through so many gates.

Two Beijing Pizza Hut shops reprimanded for food safety issues: Pizza Hut was involved in a food scandal due to poor sanitation. According to a report from the Global Times, a series of food safety problems were found in two Beijing store, including selling expired items and not replacing cooking oil for a long time. This is not the first time that Pizza Hut was involved in food safety problems, as one of the branches was already found to be using expired ingredients as recently as March of this year.

In response to the news, Pizza Hut said it had suspended the operation of these two branches and was also carrying out an investigation.

Didi fined over RMB 8 billion for violating data laws: The ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing was hit with penalties mounting to more than RMB 8 billion for breaching the country's data security laws. According to the Cyberspace Administration of China, the company had evaded supervision and maliciously breached three separate laws related to data security. In a social media post Didi said that it took full responsibility and accepted the regulator's penalties.