二环路 (èrhuánlù): Second Ring Road (circular beltway around a Chinese city, especially the famous one in Beijing)

Beijing's 二环路, opened in 1992, traces the footprint of the demolished Ming-Qing inner city wall — the line of today's 东直门, 朝阳门, 崇文门, 宣武门, 阜成门 stations of Subway Line 2 corresponds to the old gates. Many Chinese cities copied the scheme: Chengdu, Xi'an, Wuhan and others all have 一环, 二环, 三环 and beyond.

memory

环 is literally 'ring' — 二环 is the second concentric ring outside the historic core. Beijing has rings all the way out to 七环 (the G95 'Greater Beijing' orbital).