DOSSIER - China: out with industry, in with digital everything

From an industrial city where factories formed a thick, polluting belt, Beijing has, in just five years, become an all-digital, innovation-driven city. Little by little, the air is even becoming more breathable. New apps now punctuate life in the capital, which is nevertheless tightening its restrictions by banning all access to Western social networks and multiplying the number of surveillance cameras on every street corner. The urbanisation of this sprawling megalopolis is expanding, to the point where it will no doubt soon join its satellite cities such as Tianjin, the "port of Beijing", some one hundred kilometres to the south-east. A former French concession, Tianjin is now a business-friendly free trade zone where more and more major international groups - including Airbus - are setting up operations in huge economic development zones. As a result, its hotel industry is changing and diversifying. In Beijing, the hotel industry is doing extremely well, with prestigious openings and major renovations. Report by Cécile Balavoine - Photos by Ludovic Maisant