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Beijing

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Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China. The city used to be known as Peking. It is in the northern and eastern parts of the country. Having more that 21 million residents, it is one of the most populous capital cities.

北京市
Peking
Municipality
Beijing montage 1.png
Location of Beijing Municipality within China
Location of Beijing Municipality within China
Coordinates: 39°55′N 116°23′E / 39.917°N 116.383°E / 39.917; 116.383Coordinates: 39°55′N 116°23′E / 39.917°N 116.383°E / 39.917; 116.383
CountryPeople's Republic of China
Established1045 BC (Zhou Dynasty)
Divisions[1]
 – County-level
 – Township-level
16 districts
289 towns and villages
Government
 • TypeMunicipality
 • Party SecretaryCai Qi
 • MayorChen Jining
 • Congress ChairmanLi Wei
 • Conference ChairmanJi Lin
Area
[2]
 • Municipality16,410.5 km2 (6,336.1 sq mi)
 • Urban
 (2018)[3]
4,144 km2 (1,600 sq mi)
 • Rural
12,266.5 km2 (4,736.1 sq mi)
Elevation
43.5 m (142.7 ft)
Population
 (2018)[4]
 • Municipality21,542,000
 • Density1,312.70/km2 (3,399.87/sq mi)
 • Urban
 (2018)[5]
21,450,000
 • Metro
 (2017)
24,000,000
 • Ranks in China
Population: 27th;
Density: 4th
Major ethnic groups
 • Han95%
 • Manchu2%
 • Hui2%
 • Mongol0.3%
 • Other0.7%
Time zoneUTC+8 (CST)
ISO 3166 codeCN-BJ
GDP (nominal)[6]2018
 - Total¥3.03 trillion
($458 billion)
(12th)
 – Per capita¥140,748 ($21,261) (1st)
 – GrowthIncrease 6.6%
HDI (2017)0.888[7] (1st)—very high
License plate prefixes京A, C, E, F, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, Y
京B (taxis)
京G (outside urban area)
京O, D (police and authorities)
AbbreviationBJ / 京 (jīng)
City treesChinese arborvitae (Platycladus orientalis)
 Pagoda tree (Sophora japonica)
City flowersChina rose (Rosa chinensis)
 Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium)
WebsiteBeijing Official Website International – eBeijing.gov.cn (in English) 首都之窗-北京市政务门户网站 (in Chinese)
Beijing
Beijing name.svg
"Běijīng" in regular Chinese characters
Chinese 北京
Hanyu Pinyin Loudspeaker.png Běijīng (info • help)
Postal Map Peking[8]
Peiping (1368–1403;
1928–1937; 1945–1949)
Literal meaning "Northern Capital"
Beijing in China

The city of Beijing has played a very important role in the development of China. Many people from different cities and countries come to Beijing to look for better chances to find work. Nearly 15 million people live there. Beijing hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 2008, and the Winter Olympic Games in 2022. It is the only city that has hosted both.

Beijing is well known for its ancient history. Since the Jin Dynasty, Beijing has been the capital of several dynasties (especially the later ones), including the Yuan, Ming, and Qing. There are many places of historic interest in Beijing.

Name

Further information: Chinese language

The Mandarin Chinese name of the city is Běijīng,[a] which means "The Northern Capital". It got this name when the Yongle Emperor of the Ming family of rulers moved most of his government from Nanjing ("The Southern Capital") in the early 1400s. In Chinese, Beijing's name is written Chinese: 北京. Today, people spell it "Beijing" because they use the pinyin way of spelling, which shows what the name should sound like in Mandarin. People used to spell it "Peking" because that was the spelling used by some of the first people from Europe to visit the Ming and write home about it; the Jesuits' work was made popular by their French brother Du Halde.[9] It then became the official Chinese Postal Map spelling around 1900 and continued to be used until pinyin became more popular.[10]

Beijing was also known as Beiping ("City of Northern Peace") between 1928 and 1949, when the Nationalists moved the Chinese capital to Nanjing and Chongqing.

History

The center of Beijing was settled in the 1st millennium BC. In those days, the Kingdom of Yan (燕, Yān) set up their capital where Beijing is today.[11] They called it Ji (蓟, Jì). After the Kingdom of Yan was destroyed, the city became smaller, although it was still an important place.

Beijing became more important again in the 10th century, when the Jin dynasty set its capital there. This city was destroyed by Mongol forces in 1215. Then in 1267, Mongols built a new city on the north side of the Jin capital, and called it "Great Capital" (大都, Dàdū), which was the beginning of modern Beijing. When Kublai Khan the Mongolian monarch, set up the Yuan dynasty, this city became his capital.

The Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing dynasty all made Beijing their capital. When the Qing dynasty lost power and the Republic of China was set up, the new Republic moved its capital from Beijing to Nanjing. When the People's Republic of China seized power, Beijing became the capital of China again.

In 1989, there were protests in Tian'anmen Square because some people wanted democracy.[11]

Throughout its history, Beijing was the Chinese capital six times:[12]

  • 221 BC: Yan State capital
  • 1271: Yuan Dynasty national capital
  • 1402: Ming Dynasty capital
  • 1644: Qing Dynasty capital
  • 1912: Republic of China capital
  • 1949: People's Republic of China capital

Special places

Important places in Beijing include:

Education

Beijing is the education center of People's Republic of China. More than 500 famous universities of China are in Beijing. They also include 5 of the top universities: Peking University, Tsinghua University, China People University, Beijing Normal University, and Beihang University. Beijing is also education center of China for teaching Chinese as a foreign language. The standard Chinese pronunciation is based on Beijing dialect, so over 70% foreigners who want to study Chinese go to Beijing for their studies.


Beijing Media

  • Octagonal, thirteen-storeyed, solid brick pagoda at the Temple of Heavenly Tranquillity (天寧寺), Beijing, China. Built during the Liao dynasty (916-1125) on the site of a wooden pagoda constructed during the Sui dynasty in 602.

  • Beijing watch tower when sunset

  • Overlapping layout of Beijing during the Liao, Jin, Yuan and Ming dynasties

  • Summer Palace is one of the several palatial gardens built by Qing emperors in the northwest suburb area.

  • A large portrait of Chiang Kai-shek was displayed above Tiananmen after WWII.

  • Tiananmen during People's Republic of China

  • Wangjing SOHO

  • A view of the Forbidden City from the Jingshan Park during heavy smog

Sources

Pages

  1. ↑ "Township divisions". the Official Website of tGovernment. Archived from the original on 3 September 2009. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
  2. ↑ "Doing Business in China – Survey". Ministry Of Commerce – People's Republic Of China. Archived from the original on 26 May 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  3. ↑ Cox, W (2018). Demographia World Urban Areas. 14th Annual Edition (PDF). St. Louis: Demographia. p. 22. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  4. ↑ "Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics and NBS Survey Office in Beijing". Beijing Bureau of Statistics. 23 January 2019. Archived from the original on 23 January 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  5. ↑ Cox, W (2018). Demographia World Urban Areas. 14th Annual Edition (PDF). St. Louis: Demographia. p. 22. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  6. ↑ "2018年北京经济总体平稳 稳中提质" 北京市2018年国民经济和社会发展统计公报 [Statistical Communiqué of Beijing on the 2018 National Economic and Social Development] (in 中文). Statistical Bureau of Beijing. 23 January 2019. Archived from the original on 23 January 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  7. ↑ "Subnational Human Development Index" (in 中文). United Nations Development Programme China. 2017. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  8. ↑ Loaned earlier via French "Pékin".
  9. ↑ Du Halde (1735), Vol. I, p. 135.
  10. ↑ Harris (2008), p. 99.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "History - Beijing". Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  12. ↑ "10 Incredible Facts About Beijing, China". China Admissions. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  1. ↑ These marks show the tones of the Chinese word, which are important in saying them correctly.

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