There are many difficulties in the shield launching for Metro tunnels in urban areas, such as difficulties related to limited site area, cold weather and sensitive buildings. During the launching of the shield for Guloudajie StationShichahai Station section on Line 8 of Beijing Metro, countermeasures, including separate shield launching, cutterhead opening ratio optimization, heat preservation, boring parameter control and accurate management, are taken. Due to the countermeasures mentioned above, successful shield launching has been achieved, the settlement of the sensitive buildings has been brought under effective control and the safety of the sensitive buildings has been guaranteed.