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www.wikipedia.com
Beijing (Chinese:
Pinyin: Běijīng),
a city in northern
China (formerly spelled in European Languages as Peking or Peiking
or Pekino), is the
capital of the
People's Republic of China (PRC). Beijing is one of the four
municipalities of the PRC, equivalent to a
province in China's
administrative structure. Beijing Municipality borders
Hebei Province to
the north, west, south, and for a small section in the east, and
Tianjin
Municipality to the southeast.
Beijing is China's second largest city in terms of
population,
after Shanghai.
It is a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads and expressways
entering and leaving it in all directions. It is also the focal point of many
international flights to China. Beijing is recognized as the
political,
educational, and
cultural center of the People's Republic of China, while
Shanghai
and Hong Kong
predominate in
economic fields.
Beijing is one of the
Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. It will also host the
2008 Summer Olympics.
Buildings, monuments, and landmarks that you MUST
visit:
History: There were cities in the vicinities of Beijing
by the
1st millennium BC, and the capital of the
State
of Yan, one of the powers of the
Warring States Period, was established at Ji (T:
薊 /
S: 蓟), near modern Beijing. It has often been claimed that Ji was the
beginning of Beijing but Ji had been abandoned no later than the 6th century
AD.
The exact location of Ji remains unknown despite much effort in recent decades
to identify the site.
During the
Sui
(581-618) and
Tang
(618-907) dynasties, only small towns existed in this area. Numerous ancient
poets came here to mourn the lost city, as testified by their compositions.
In 936, the
Later Jin Dynasty (936-947) of northern China ceded a large part of its
northern frontier, including modern Beijing, to the
Khitan
Liao
Dynasty in the 10th century. In 938, the
Liao
Dynasty set up a secondary capital in what is now Beijing, and called it
Nanjing (the "Southern Capital"). In 1125, the
Jurchen
Jin Dynasty annexed Liao, and in 1153 moved its capital to Liao's Nanjing,
calling it Zhongdu (中都), "the central capital." Zhongdu was situated in
what is now the area centred around
Tianningsi, slightly to the southwest of central Beijing.
Mongol forces burned Zhongdu to the
ground in 1215 and rebuilt it to the north of the Jin capital in 1267. In
preparation for the conquest of all of China,
Yuan
(Mongol) Dynasty founder
Kublai
Khan made this his capital as
Khanbaliq
(Mongolian
for "great residence of the Khan") or
Dadu
(大都,
Chinese for "grand capital"). This site is known as Cambuluc in
Marco Polo's
accounts. Apparently, Kublai Khan, who wanted to become a Chinese emperor,
established his capital at this location instead of more traditional sites in
central China because it was closer to his power base in Mongolia. The decision
of the Khan greatly enhanced the status of a city that had been situated on the
northern fringe of
China
proper and it was the true beginning of contemporary Beijing. Khanbaliq was
situated north of modern central Beijing. It centred on what is now the northern
stretch of the
2nd
Ring Road, and stretched northwards to between the
3rd
and
4th Ring Roads. There are remnants of Mongol-era wall still standing.
After the fall of the
Yuan
Dynasty in 1368, the city was later rebuilt by the
Ming
Dynasty and renamed Shuntian (順天). In 1403, the third Ming
Emperor
Yongle moved the Ming capital from
Nanjing (Nanking)
to the renamed Beijing (Peking) (北京), the "northern capital",
situated in the north. He also gave it its modern name. Beijing during the Ming
Dynasty took its current shape, and the Ming-era city wall served as the
Beijing city wall until modern times, when it was pulled down and the
2nd
Ring Road was built in its place.
It is believed that Beijing was the largest city in the world
from 1425 to 1650 and from 1710 to 1825.
[2]
The
Forbidden City was constructed soon after that (1406-1420), followed by the
Temple of Heaven (1420), and numerous other construction projects.
Tian'anmen,
which has become a state symbol of the
People's Republic of China and is featured on its emblem, was burned down
twice during the Ming Dynasty and the final reconstruction was carried out in
1651.
Beijing's
Tian'anmen Square, as seen from the Tian'anmen Chenglou Building
(taken in July of 2004).
After the
Manchus overthrew the
Ming Dynasty and established the
Qing Dynasty in its place, Beijing remained China's
capital throughout the Qing period. It was the scene of the
siege of the foreign legations during the
Boxer Rebellion in 1900.
The
Xinhai Revolution of 1911, aimed at replacing Qing rule with a republic,
originally intended to establish its capital at
Nanjing.
After high-ranking Qing official
Yuan
Shikai forced the abdication of the Qing emperor in Beijing and ensured the
success of the revolution, the revolutionaries in Nanjing accepted that Yuan
should be the president of the new
Republic of China, and that the capital should remain at Beijing.
Yuan gradually consolidated power, culminating in his
declaration of a Chinese Empire in late 1915 with himself as emperor. The move
was highly unpopular, and Yuan himself died less than a year later, ending his
brief reign. China then fell under the control of regional warlords, and the
most powerful factions fought frequent wars (the
Zhili-Anhui War, the
First Zhili-Fengtian War, and the
Second Zhili-Fengtian War) to take control of the capital at Beijing.
Following the success of the
Kuomintang's
Northern Expedition which pacified the warlords of the north, Nanjing was
officially made the capital of the Republic of China in 1928, and Beijing was
renamed Beiping (Peip'ing) (北平), "northern peace" or "north
pacified", to emphasize that the warlord government in Beijing was not
legitimate.
During the
Second Sino-Japanese War, Beiping fell to
Japan on
29 July
1937. During the
occupation, the city was reverted to its former name, Beijing, and made the seat
of the
Provisional Government of the Republic of China, a
puppet
state that ruled the
ethnic
Chinese portions of Japanese-occupied
North
China. It was later merged into the larger
Wang Jingwei Government based in Nanjing. With Japan's surrender in
World
War II, on
15 August
1945, however,
Beijing's name was changed back to Beiping.
On
January 31,
1949, during the
Chinese Civil War, Communist forces entered Beijing without a fight. On
October 1
of the same year, the
Communist Party of China, under the leadership of
Mao Zedong,
announced in
Tian'anmen
the creation of the
People's Republic of China in Beijing. Just a few days earlier, the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference had decided that Beiping
would be the capital of the new government, and that its name would be changed
back to Beijing.
At the time of the founding of the People's Republic, Beijing
Municipality consisted of just its urban area and immediate suburbs. The urban
area was divided into many small districts inside what is now the
2nd Ring Road. Since then several surrounding
counties have been incorporated into the Municipality, enlarging the limits
of Beijing Municipality by many times and giving it its present shape. The
Beijing city wall was torn down between 1965 and 1969 to make way for the
construction of the
2nd Ring Road.
Following the
economic reforms of
Deng
Xiaoping, the urban area of Beijing has expanded greatly. Formerly within
the confines of the
2nd
Ring Road and the
3rd
Ring Road, the urban area of Beijing is now pushing at the limits of the
recently-constructed
5th
Ring Road and
6th
Ring Road (currently under construction), with many areas that were formerly
farmland now developed residential or commercial neighborhoods. A new commercial
area has developed in the
Guomao area,
Wangfujing
and Xidan have
developed into flourishing shopping districts, while
Zhongguancun has become a major center of electronics in China.
As the national capital, Beijing has also been the site of
political turmoil in recent years.
Tian'anmen Square, a well-known landmark in the city, was the site of the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1976 and then the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, which ended in a military crackdown.
Tian'anmen Square has also been the site of protests by
Falun Gong.
In recent years, the expansion of Beijing has also brought to
the forefront some problems of urbanization, such as heavy traffic, poor
air
quality, the loss of historic neighborhoods, and significant influx of
migrants from poorer regions of the country, especially rural areas.
Early 2005 saw the approval by government of a plan to finally
stop the sprawling development of Beijing in all directions. Development of the
Chinese capital would now proceed in two semicircular bands just outside of the
city centre (both west and east) instead of being in concentric rings.
Beijing has been chosen to host the
2008 Summer Olympics, an event that has sparked
nationalistic pride across China.
More Things for this wonderful World Cultural Heritage
ofBeijing can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing
Interesting Links:
See also:
www.BeijingService.com
www.BeijingChinaWorld.com
www.beijinghighlights.com
www.beijingpage.com
www.orientaltravel.com/china/china_city.htm
www.orientaltravel.com/China/Beijing.htm
www.chinaholidays.co.uk/itineraries/taste-of-china.html
The official website of the Games of the XXIX OlympiadThe official web site of
the 2008 summer games in Beijing is:
www.en.beijing2008.com
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