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Beijing (Chinese: 北京; pinyin: Běijīng; Wade-Giles: Pei-ching; Postal System Pinyin: Peking), is the capital city of the People's Republic of China.
Beijing is one of the 4 municipalities of the People's Republic of China, which have a provincial-level status, and is under the direct control of the central government. Beijing has been a municipality since the beginning of the PRC.
Beijing is one of the largest cities in China, second only to Shanghai as the nation's biggest in terms of population. It is also a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads and expressways connecting the capital city in all directions. Currently Beijing is recognized as the political, cultural, and social center in the People's Republic of China.
Names
Beijing literally means "northern capital" (as opposed to Nanjing, meaning "southern capital" and Tonkin and Tokyo, both of which mean "eastern capital"). Beijing is sometimes referred to as Peking. The term originated with French missionaries four hundred years ago, and corresponds to an archaic pronunciation which does not take into account a /k/ to /tɕ/ sound change in Mandarin that occurred during the Qing dynasty. (/tɕ/ is represented in pinyin as j, as in Beijing.)
In China, the city has had many names. Between 1928 [1] (http://www.bartleby.com/67/2470.html) and 1949, it was known as Beiping (北平 Wade-Giles Peip'ing) or "Northern Peace". The name was changed because jing means "capital" and the Kuomintang government in Nanjing wanted to emphasize that Beijing was not the capital of China, and Beijing's warlord government was not legitimate.
The name was changed back to Beijing by the Japanese, since Beijing was the capital of a North China; at the end of World War II the Republic of China changed the name back. The Communist Party of China changed the name to Beijing in 1949 again in part to emphasize that Beijing was the capital of China. The government of the Republic of China on Taiwan has not formally recognized the name change, and during the 1950s and 1960s it was common for Beijing to be called Peiping on Taiwan. Today, almost everyone on Taiwan, including the ROC government, uses the term Beijing, although some maps of China from Taiwan still use the old name along with pre-1949 provincial boundaries.
For the historical names of Beijing, see Capital of China.
History There were cities in the vicinities of Beijing by the 1st millennium BC, and the capital of the State of Yan (燕), one of the powers of the Warring States Period, was established at Ji (蓟), near modern Beijing. Ji has often been claimed to be the beginning of Beijing; but in reality Ji had been abandoned no later than the 6th century. The exact location of Ji remains unknown despite much effort in recent decades to identify the site. Remnants of city walls around Beijing (August 2004 image) During the great Tang and Song dynasties, only townships existed in this area. Numerous ancient poets came here to mourn the lost city, as testified by their surviving compositions.
The Later Jin Dynasty ceded a large part of its northern frontier, including modern Beijing, to the Khitan Liao Dynasty in the 10th century. Soon the Liao Dynasty had set up a "secondary capital" in the city proper, and called it Nanjing ("the Southern Capital").
The Jin Dynasty that annexed Liao and ruled northern China built its capital there, called Zhongdu (中都), or "the Central Capital".
Mongol forces burned Zhongdu to the ground in 1215 and rebuilt its own "Grand Capital" (大都) to the north of the Jin capital in 1267, which was the true beginning of contemporary Beijing. This site is known as Cambaluc in Marco Polo's accounts. Apparently, Kublai Khan, who wanted to become a Chinese emperor, established his capital in Beijing instead of more traditional sites in central China because Beijing 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.
In 1403, the 3rd Ming emperor Zhu Di(朱棣）, who had just grabbed the throne by killing his nephew after a bloody civil war and moved the capital from southern China to his own power base in the north, renamed the city Beijing (北京), or "Northern Capital".
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 PRC in modern times, 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) The shape and form of Beijing as seen and as recognised today (in particular within the confines of the current-day 2nd Ring Road) took form after the Ming Dynasty settled in Beijing and made it its capital.
While on the mainland, the Republic of China established its capital in Nanjing. During the early days of the Republic, Yuan Shikai seized power in Beijing and declared an empire nation from Beijing (the Beiyang Government). In 1928, Nanjing was officially made the capital of the Republic of China, and Beijing was renamed Beiping. (See "Name" section, above)
During the second Sino-Japanese War, Beiping fell to Japan on July 29, 1937. During the occupation, Beiping was renamed Beijing, and made the seat of the North China Executive Committee, a puppet state that ruled Japanese-occupied North China. This lasted until Japan's surrender in World War II, on August 15, 1945, and Beijing's name was changed back to Beiping.
On January 31, 1949, during the Chinese Civil War, communist forces entered Beiping 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 decided that Beiping would be the capital of the PRC, and that its name be changed back to Beijing.
At the time of the founding of the People's Republic, Beijing consisted of just its urban area and immediate suburbs. The urban area was divided into many district inside the 2nd Ring Road, with most of the city wall still intact until the 1950s. Since then several surrounding counties have been incorporated as well, enlarging the city limits of Beijing by many times.
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, 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 capital of the nation, Beijing has also been the site of political turmoil in recent years. Tiananmen Square, widely regarded as the spiritual center of China, was the site of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, which ended in a bloody crackdown that remains highly controversial. Tiananmen 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 a drastic influx of migrants from poorer regions of the country, especially the countryside.
Beijing has been chosen to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, an event that sparked a high tide of patriotic emotion across China.
Geography - Main article: Geography of Beijing
Eastern Chang'an Avenue (July 2004 image) Beijing borders Hebei province to the north, west, south, and for a tiny fraction to the east. The southwestern part borders Tianjin municipality. Hills dominate the scene to the north, northwest and west of Beijing.
The city's climate is harsh, characterized by hot, humid summers (due to the East Asian monsoon), and cold, windy, dry winters (reflecting the influence of the vast Siberian anticyclone, or high-pressure system).
The urban area of Beijing spreads out in bands of concentric ring roads. Tian'anmen is right at the centre of Beijing, and is directly to the south of the well-known Forbidden City, and to the east of Zhongnanhai, current residence of the paramount leaders of the People's Republic of China. Running through central Beijing from east to west is the well-known Chang'an Avenue.
Most of the area of Beijing Municipality, however, is found outside the urban area of Beijing, and extends in all directions, especially northwards into the Yanshan Mountains.
Neighbourhoods Major neighbourhoods in urban Beijing include:
Dongcheng District
Xicheng District
Chaoyang District
Haidian District
Administrative divisions The municipality currently governs 18 county-level divisions: 16 districts and 2 counties. (Some districts outside of the city centre were previously counties.)
| edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Beijing&action=edit) | County-level divisions of Beijing | | | | | see also: Township-level divisions of Beijing |
Districts of Beijing Xidan -- Beijing Bookstore The urban and suburban areas of the city are made up of 8 districts: The other 8 districts are found further out, and govern distant suburbs, satellite towns, and some rural areas: - Mentougou District (门头沟区: Méntóugōu Qū)
- Fangshan District (房山区: Fángshān Qū) — Fangshan County until 1986
- Tongzhou District (通州区: Tōngzhōu Qū) — Tongxian County until 1997
- Shunyi District (顺义区: Shùnyì Qū) — Shunyi County until 1998
- Changping District (昌平区: Chāngpíng Qū) — Changping County until 1999
- Daxing District (大兴区: Dàxīng Qū) — Daxing County until 2001
- Pinggu District (平谷区: Pínggǔ Qū) — Pinggu County until 2001
- Huairou District (怀柔区: Huáiróu Qū) — Huairou County until 2001
Counties of Beijing The 2 counties of Beijing govern very distant towns and rural areas: - Miyun County (密云县: Mìyún Xiàn)
- Yanqing County (延庆县: Yánqìng Xiàn)
Township-level divisions The above districts and counties are further subdivided into 318 township-level divisions: 142 towns, 40 townships, 5 ethnic townships and 131 subdistricts.
Economy In 2002 Beijing's total gross domestic product was 313 billion Renminbi, an increase of 10.2% from the previous year. GDP per capita was 27,746 Renminbi, which converts to about US$ 3355 by market exchange rates. (Note that GDP per capita is usually converted by purchasing power parity instead, which would yield a US$ value about four times higher in this case.)
Beijing's real estate and automobile sectors continue to boom in recent years. In 2002 a total of 16.044 million square metres of housing real estate was sold, for a total of 81.38 billion Renminbi. In the same period Beijing saw the sale of 260,000 automobiles. The total number of automobiles registered in Beijing has now exceeded two million, of which 64% are privately-owned.
The Beijing CBD, centered at the Guomao area, has been identified as the city's new central business district, and is home to a variety of corporate regional headquarters, shopping malls, and high-end housing. The Beijing Financial Street, in the Fuxingmen and Fuchengmen area, is a traditional financial center. The Wangfujing and Xidan areas are major shopping districts. Zhongguancun, dubbed "China's Silicon Valley", continues to be a major center in electronics- and computer-related industries, as well as pharmaceuticals-related research.
Architecture There are three predominant styles of architecture in Beijing. First, there's the "traditional" architecture of imperial times gone by (examples include the massive gate north of Tian'anmen, despite being the PRC's trademark building). Next there is what is sometimes referred to as the "Sino-Sov" style from the 1950s and the 1970s; boxy and generally poorly made. Finally, there are much more modern architectural forms — most noticeably in the area of the Beijing CBD. Pictured below are some images of Beijing architecture — blending the old and the new in a sometimes bizarre, sometimes beautiful, but always very Beijing manner. The ancient Beijing skyline. | The boxy look of buildings made in the 1970s. | The very modern contrast. | Details of traditional architecture. | A mix of 70s and 90s styles. | Mix and match the old and the new. |
A bizarre and striking mix of both old and new styles of architecture can be seen at the Dashanzi Art District, which mixes 1950s-design with a blend of the new.
Demographics The Wangjing neighbourhood, in Chaoyang District, Beijing, is known for its high concentration of South Korean expatriates. The total population of Beijing municipality in 2003 was 14.56 million, of whom about 11.49 million had a Beijing hukou (residency card) and 3.07 million were on temporary residence permits. In addition, there is a large but unknown number of migrant workers who live illegally in Beijing without any sort of residence permit.
The vast majority of Beijing residents are Han Chinese. There are also some Manchu, Hui, and Mongol people who call the city home. In recent years there has been an influx of South Koreans, who live in Beijing predominantly for business and study, and are concentrated in the Wangjing and Wudaokou areas.
The northern, northeastern and eastern parts of the Beijing urban area are densely populated and house the foreign community in the capital. The southwest and southern parts of the Beijing urban area are less densely populated.
Culture People from urban Beijing speak the Beijing dialect, which belongs to the Mandarin subdivision of spoken Chinese. Beijing dialect provides the basis for Standard Mandarin, the standard Chinese language used in the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China on Taiwan, and Singapore. Outlying areas of Beijing have their own dialects akin to those of Hebei.
Beijing opera, or Jingju, is well-known throughout the national capital. Commonly lauded as one of the highest achievements of Chinese culture, Beijing opera is performed through a combination of singing, spoken dialogue, and codified action sequences, such as gestures, walking, fighting and acrobatics. Much of Beijing opera is carried out in an archaic stage dialect quite different from modern Standard Mandarin and from the Beijing dialect; this makes the dialogue somewhat hard to understand, and the problem is compounded if one is not familiar with Chinese, although modern theaters often have electronic titles in Chinese and English.
The siheyuan is a traditional architectural style of Beijing. A siheyuan consists of a square housing compound, with rooms enclosing a central courtyard. This courtyard often contains a pomegranate or other type of tree, as well as potted flowers or a fish tank.
A hutong in eastern urban Beijing near Dongsishitiao. When photographed in March 2003, the left side was still standing; it has since given way to a new construction project. Hutongs, or alleyways, connect the interior of Beijing's old city. They are usually straight and run east-to-west so that doorways can face north and south for Feng Shui reasons. They vary in width — some are very narrow, enough for only a few pedestrians to pass through at a time.
Once ubiquitous in Beijing, siheyuans and hutongs are now rapidly disappearing, as entire city blocks of hutongs are leveled and replaced with high-rise buildings. Residents of the hutongs are entitled to apartments in the new buildings of at least the same size as their former residences. Many complain, however, that the traditional sense of community and street life of the hutongs cannot be replaced.
Particularly historic or picturesque hutongs are being preserved and restored by the government, with the objective that by the 2008 Olympics, at least some hutongs will remain, albeit in a tidy, gleaming, showcase fashion. One such example can be seen at Nanchizi.
Mandarin cuisine is the local style of cooking in Beijing. Peking duck is perhaps the most well-known dish. The Manhan Quanxi ("Manchu-Han Chinese full banquet") is a traditional banquet originally intended for the emperors of the ethnic Manchu emperors of the Qing Dynasty; it remains very prestigious and very expensive.
Teahouses are also common in Beijing. Chinese tea comes in many varieties and some (rather expensive) types of Chinese tea are said to cure an ailing body extraordinarily well.
Stereotypes Beijingers are stereotypically held to be open, confident, humorous, majestic in manner, concerned with politics or other "grand" matters, unconcerned with thrift or careful calculation, and happy to take center stage. They are also very enthusiastic about arts. They are however also stereotypically aristocratic, arrogant, laid back, disdainful of "provincials", always "lording it over others", and strongly conscious of social class. These stereotypes may have originated from Beijing's status as China's capital for most of the past 800 years. As a Confucian culture, China places a very high emphasis on government bureaucracy and hierarchy, and the high concentration of officials and other notables in Beijing have made an indelible mark, both on Beijing itself and on the opinions of Beijing that other Chinese hold.
Transportation - Main article: Transportation of Beijing
With the growth of the city following economic reforms, Beijing has evolved as an important transportation hub. Encircling the city are five ring roads, nine expressways and city express routes, eleven China National Highways, several railway routes, and an international airport.
Rail Beijing has two major railway stations: Beijing Railway Station (or the central station) and Beijing West Railway Station. Five other railway stations in Metropolitan Beijing handle regular passenger traffic: Beijing East, Beijing North, Beijing South, Fengtai, and Guanganmen.
Railways Beijing is a railway hub of all mainland China. Railway lines to Guangzhou, Shanghai, Harbin, Baotou, Taiyuan, Chengde, Qinhuangdao and Kowloon radiate out of Beijing.
International trains, including lines to Russia and Pyongyang, North Korea (DPRK), all run through Beijing. Direct trains to Hong Kong also leave Beijing.
Roads and Expressways - See: Ring Roads of Beijing, Expressways of Beijing and China National Highways of Beijing for more related information.
Beijing is connected via road links from all parts of China. Nine expressways of China (with six wholly new expressways under projection or construction) connect with Beijing, as do eleven China National Highways. Within Beijing itself, an elaborate network of five ring roads has developed, but they appear more rectangular than ring-shaped. Roads in Beijing often are in one of the four compass directions (unlike, for example, Tianjin).
One of the biggest concerns with traffic in Beijing deals with its apparently ubiquitous traffic jams. Traffic in the city centre is often gridlocked, especially around rush hour. (Even outside of rush hour, several roads still remain clogged up with traffic.) Urban area ring roads and major through routes, especially near the Chang'an Avenue area, are often clogged up during rush hour.
Recently, however, expressways have been extended (in some cases reconstructed as express routes) into the territories within the 3rd Ring Road. As they are either expressways or express routes, no traffic lights will lie in its trajectory. This may finally attempt to solve the question of "hopping between one ring and the other".
One big problem is that public transportation is underdeveloped (the underground system is presently minimal) and that even buses are jam-packed with people around rush hour. Compounding the problem is problematic enforcement of road regulations and road rage. Beijing authorities claim that traffic jams may be a thing of a past come the 2008 Olympics. The authorities have introduced several bus lanes where, during rush hour, all vehicles except for public buses must keep clear of the special lanes. An express bus route will be opened on Christmas Day 2004.
Chang'an Avenue runs through the centre of Beijing, past Tian'anmen. It is a major through route and is often touted as the "First Street in China" by the authorities.
| edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Roads_and_Expressways_of_Beijing&action=edit) | Roads and E |
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