China has gone through incredible changes in past decades and nowhere is that more true than in Beijing, the capital of China. (File photo courtesy of Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design; Present photo: Lu Dong/People's Daily)

In 2018, Beijing for the first time reported GDP of over 3 trillion yuan ($446.6 billion). Authorities said the volume at comparable prices was nearly 700 times that of 1952. In 2021, the city's GDP exceeded 4 trillion yuan ($627.7 billion). (File photo courtesy of Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design; Present photo: Lu Dong/People's Daily)

Check out these now and then photos to see Beijing's changes over the past seven decades. (File photo courtesy of Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design; Present photo: Lu Dong/People's Daily)

File photo courtesy of Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design; Present photo: Lu Dong/People's Daily

File photo courtesy of Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design; Present photo: Li Xuxiang

File photo courtesy of Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design; Present photo: CFP

File photo courtesy of Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design; Present photo: Lu Dong/People's Daily

File photo courtesy of Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design; Present photo: CFP

File photo courtesy of Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design; Present photo: Lu Dong/People's Daily

File photo courtesy of Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design; Present photo: Lu Dong/People's Daily

File photo courtesy of Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design; Present photo: CFP

File photo courtesy of Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design; Present photo: CFP

File photo courtesy of Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design; Present photo: CFP