A Hub for Key Industries

The Beijing CBD is characterized by the headquarters economy, supported by the building-based economy, led by international financial industry, dominated by high-end business services, and home to a cluster of cultural and media entities.

The headquarters economy has been becoming increasingly prominent in the district. In 2023, the Beijing CBD launched a "Headquarters Growth Program" aimed at attracting multinationals around the globe to establish their headquarters in the district. This program not only targets regional headquarters, functional headquarters, and private enterprise headquarters, but also encourages existing headquarters enterprises to transform and upgrade in terms of development of new trade formats, operations management, and R&D design, among other functional domains. As of June 2025, the number of multinational regional headquarters in the Beijing CBD reached 123, accounting for 72 percent of Chaoyang District's total and nearly half of Beijing's total.

The international financial industry has been growing in an accelerated manner. Several global stock exchanges and international insurance institutions have established their presence in Chaoyang. Iconic financial institutions such as foreign-funded securities companies, foreign-funded auto finance companies, and foreign-funded fund management companies are all present. These made the CBD a commercial district with the most comprehensive range and the highest density of international financial institutions in Beijing.

The cultural and media sectors there hold distinct advantages. The CBD hosts over 80 percent of Beijing's international media outlets, including those of CNN and BBC, making it a crucial international cultural communication hub for China and Beijing's primary cluster for international media.

The district is also renowned for its high-end business services. It is home to over 200 world-class high-end service enterprises, including PwC and McKinsey & Company, as well as R&D centers of nearly 100 multinationals such as IBM and Samsung. It is the largest area for both undertaking service outsourcing and generating demand for such services.