Beijing

Beijing is a large city located in the northeastern part of the People's Republic of China. It is the capital of the country and is the second largest city in China by population behind Shanghai. More than 18,000,000 people live in Beijing, which is approximately 1,600 square miles.The city is surrounded by mountains to its north, northwest, and west and has several rivers that run through it, such as the Yongding and the Chaobai Rivers.

It has been theorized that Beijing has been inhabited by humans for more than 27,000 years, withas evidenced by Homo Erectus fossils being found in nearby caves. The city has a long history but has been considered a capital city for over 1,200 years and first became the capital in the 9thninth century during the Tang dynasty. The city has been occupied by several groups, including the Mongols in 1215. During the Yuan dynasty in 1272, Beijing became the capital of the united country for the first time. The famous Forbidden City started being built during the Ming dynasty in 1406 and Beijing continued expanding for centuries.

In 1860, the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) was burnt down by invaders, and in 1900, the Eight-nation Allied Forces occupied Beijing. This all happened during the Quing dynasty, which was the last dynasty in China asbecause in 1912, the last emperor Puyi was forced to abdicate the throne. Several wars broke out in the 20thtwentieth century, including the War of Resistance against Japan in 1947 and a civil war in 1945. The People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, and Beijing was made the capital of it. Leader Mao Zedong announced that it would be a communist regime and ruled in that manner until his death in 1976.

In 1989, protests took place in Tiananmen Square in the city to voice opinions that the citizens of the country should have more freedom, and there should be less corruption in the government. The protests grew across China and in May of the same year, martial law was declared in Beijing, A few days later in June, Chinese troops opened fire on protestors and killed thousands of them.

Beijing has seen several other large events in the last several decades, including hosting the summer Olympics in 2008 and hosted the winter Olympics in 2022.

Beijing is a large city located in the northeastern part of the People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of China. It is the capital of the country and is the second largest city in China by population behind ShanghaiShanghai. More than 18,000,000 people live in Beijing, which is approximately 1,600 square miles.The city is surrounded by mountains to its north, northwest, and west and has several rivers that run through it such as the Yongding and the Chaobai Rivers.

It has been theorized that Beijing has been inhabited by humans for more than 27,000 years, with Homo Erectus fossils being found in nearby caves. The city has a long history but has been considered a capital city for over 1,200 years and first became the capital in the 9th century during the Tang dynasty. The city has been occupied by several groups, including the Mongols in 1215. During the Yuan dynasty in 1272, Beijing became the capital of the united country for the first time. The famous Forbidden City started being built during the Ming dynasty in 1406 and Beijing continued expanding for centuries.

In 1860, the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) was burnt down by invaders and in 1900, the Eight-nation Allied Forces occupied Beijing. This all happened during the Quing dynasty, which was the last dynasty in China as in 1912, the last emperor Puyi was forced to abdicate the throne. Several wars broke out in the 20th century including the War of Resistance against Japan in 1947 and a civil war in 1945. The People's Republic of China was founded in 1949 and Beijing was made the capital of it. Leader Mao Zedong announced that it would be a communist regime and ruled in that manner until his death in 1976.

In 1989, protests took place in Tiananmen Square in the city to voice opinions that the citizens of the country should have more freedom and there should be less corruption in the government. The protests grew across China and in May of the same year, martial law was declared in Beijing, A few days later in June, Chinese troops opened fire on protestors and killed thousands of them.

Beijing has seen several other large events in the last several decades, including hosting the summer Olympics in 2008 and hosted the winter Olympics in 2022.

The following is a list of major sites to see in Beijing:

Beijing at dusk

• The Forbidden City
• The Great Wall of China
• Tiananmen Square
• Beihai Park
• The Temple of Heaven
• The Summer Palace
• Beijing National Stadium
• The Lama Temple (Yonghe)
• Beijing Capital Museum & the National Centrer for the Performing Arts
• Beijing Ancient Observatory

Beijing is a large city located in the northeastern part of the People's Republic of China. It is the capital of the country and is the second largest city in China by population behind Shanghai. More than 18,000,000 people live in Beijing, which is approximately 1,600 square miles.The city is surrounded by mountains to its north, northwest, and west.

Beijing (/beɪˈdʒɪŋ/ bay-JING;[12][13] Chinese: 北京; pinyin: Běijīng; Mandarin pronunciation: [pèi.tɕíŋ] (audio speaker iconlisten)), alternatively romanized as Peking[14] (/piːˈkɪŋ/ pee-KING),[15] is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 million residents within an administrative area of 16,410.5 km2 (6336 sq. mi.).[16] It is located in Northern China, and is governed as a municipality under the direct administration of the State Council with 16 urban, suburban, and rural districts.[17] Beijing is mostly surrounded by Hebei Province with the exception of neighboring Tianjin to the southeast; together, the three divisions form the Jingjinji megalopolis and the national capital region of China. Beijing is a global city and one of the world's leading centres for culture, diplomacy, politics, finance, business and economics, education, research, language, tourism, sport, science and technology and transportation. A megacity, Beijing is the second largest Chinese city by urban population after Shanghai and is the nation's cultural, educational, and political center.[19] It is home to the headquarters of most of China's largest state-owned companies and houses the largest number of Fortune Global 500 companies in the world, as well as the world's four biggest financial institutions by total assets. Beijing is the "billionaire capital of the world" with the highest number of billionaires living in the city.[22][23] In 2020, Beijing had the fifth-largest total wealth of any city in the world.[24] It is also a major hub for the national highway, expressway, railway, and high-speed rail networks. The Beijing Capital International Airport has been the second busiest in the world by passenger traffic (Asia's busiest) since 2010,[25] and, as of 2016, the city's subway network is the busiest and longest in the world. The Beijing Daxing International Airport, a second international airport in Beijing, is the largest single-structure airport terminal in the world. Combining both modern and traditional style architectures, Beijing is one of the oldest cities in the world, with a rich history dating back over three millennia. As the last of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, Beijing has been the political center of the country for most of the past eight centuries,[28] and was the largest city in the world by population for much of the second millenium CE.[29] With mountains surrounding the inland city on three sides, in addition to the old inner and outer city walls, Beijing was strategically poised and developed to be the residence of the emperor and thus was the perfect location for the imperial capital. The city is renowned for its opulent palaces, temples, parks, gardens, tombs, walls and gates.[30] It has seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites—the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Ming Tombs, Zhoukoudian, and parts of the Great Wall and the Grand Canal—all of which are popular tourist locations.[31] Siheyuans, the city's traditional housing style, and hutongs, the narrow alleys between siheyuans, are major tourist attractions and are common in urban Beijing. Many of Beijing's 91 universities consistently rank among the best in the Asia-Pacific and the world.[32][33][34] Beijing is home to the two best C9 League universities (Tsinghua and Peking) in the Asia-Pacific and emerging countries.[35][36] Beijing CBD is a center for Beijing's economic expansion, with the ongoing or recently completed construction of multiple skyscrapers. Beijing's Zhongguancun area is a world leading center of scientific and technological innovation as well as entrepreneurship. Beijing has been ranked the No.1 city in the world with the largest scientific research output as tracked by the Nature Index since 2016 The city has hosted numerous international and national sporting events, the most notable being the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2008 Summer Paralympics Games. In 2022, Beijing became the first city ever to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics,[39] and also the Summer and Winter Paralympics.[40] Beijing hosts 175 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of many organizations, including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the Silk Road Fund, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the Central Academy of Drama, the Central Conservatory of Music, and the Red Cross Society of China.

Etymology

Over the past 3,000 years, the city of Beijing has had numerous other names. The name Beijing, which means "Northern Capital" (from the Chinese characters 北 for north and 京 for capital), was applied to the city in 1403 during the Ming dynasty to distinguish the city from Nanjing (the "Southern Capital"). The English spelling Beijing is based on the government's official romanization (adopted in the 1980s) of the two characters as they are pronounced in Standard Mandarin. An older English spelling, Peking, is the postal romanization of the same two characters as they are pronounced in Chinese dialects spoken in the southern port towns first visited by European traders and missionaries.[42] Those dialects preserve the Middle Chinese pronunciation of 京 as kjaeng,[43] prior to a phonetic shift in the northern dialects to the modern pronunciation.[44] Although Peking is no longer the common name for the city, some of the city's older locations and facilities, such as Beijing Capital International Airport, with the IATA Code PEK, and Peking University, still retain the former romanization.

Early history

The earliest traces of human habitation in the Peking municipality were found in the caves of Dragon Bone Hill near the village of Zhoukoudian in Fangshan District, where Peking Man lived. Homo erectus fossils from the caves date to 230,000 to 250,000 years ago. Paleolithic Homo sapiens also lived there more recently, about 27,000 years ago.[46] Archaeologists have found neolithic settlements throughout the municipality, including in Wangfujing, located in central Peking.

The first walled city in Beijing was Jicheng, the capital city of the state of Ji and was built in 1045 BC. Within modern Beijing, Jicheng was located around the present Guang'anmen area in the south of Xicheng District. This settlement was later conquered by the state of Yan and made its capital.

Early Imperial China

The Tianning Pagoda, built around 1120 during the Liao dynasty.

After the First Emperor unified China, Jicheng became a prefectural capital for the region.[1] During the Three Kingdoms period, it was held by Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao before falling to the Wei Kingdom of Cao Cao. The AD 3rd-century Western Jin demoted the town, placing the prefectural seat in neighboring Zhuozhou.

During the Sixteen Kingdoms period when northern China was conquered and divided by the Wu Hu, Jicheng was briefly the capital of the Xianbei Former Yan Kingdom.

After China was reunified during the Sui dynasty, Jicheng, also known as Zhuojun, became the northern terminus of the Grand Canal. Under the Tang dynasty, Jicheng as Youzhou, served as a military frontier command center. During the An-Shi Rebellion and again amidst the turmoil of the late Tang, local military commanders founded their own short-lived Yan dynasties and called the city Yanjing, or the "Yan Capital." Also in the Tang dynasty, the city's name Jicheng was replaced by Youzhou or Yanjing. In 938, after the fall of the Tang, the Later Jin ceded the entire northern frontier to the Khitan Liao dynasty, which treated the city as Nanjing, or the "Southern Capital", one of four secondary capitals to complement its "Supreme Capital", Shangjing (modern Baarin Left Banner in Inner Mongolia). Some of the oldest surviving structures in Beijing date to the Liao period, including the Tianning Pagoda.|

The Liao fell to the Jurchen Jin dynasty in 1122, which gave the city to the Song dynasty and then retook it in 1125 during its conquest of northern China. In 1153, the Jurchen Jin made Beijing their "Central Capital", or Zhongdu.[1] The city was besieged by Genghis Khan's invading Mongolian army in 1213 and razed to the ground two years later.[50] Two generations later, Kublai Khan ordered the construction of Dadu (or Daidu to the Mongols, commonly known as Khanbaliq), a new capital for his Yuan dynasty to the northeast of the Zhongdu ruins. The construction took from 1264 to 1293,[1][50][51] but greatly enhanced the status of a city on the northern fringe of China proper. The city was centered on the Drum Tower slightly to the north of modern Beijing and stretched from the present-day Chang'an Avenue to the northern part of Line 10 subway. Remnants of the Yuan rammed earth wall still stand and are known as the Tucheng.