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Beijing (北京, Hanyu Pinyin: Běijīng, Wade-Giles: Pei-ching; Postal System Pinyin: Peking), is the capital city of the People's Republic of China. It 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. It is also a major transportation hub, with dozens of roads and expressways departing the capital city in all directions.

北京市
Běijīng Shì
Abbreviation: 京 (pinyin: Jīng)
Beijing is highlighted on this map
Origin of Name北 běi - north
京 jīng - capital
put together: northern capital
Area
 - Total
 - % of national
 - % water 		Ranked 29th
16,808 km²
0.175%
xx%
Population
 - Total (2001)
 - % of national
 - Density 		Ranked 26th
13,820,000
1.08%
822/km²
GDP in RMB¥
 - Total (2002)
 - % of national
 - per capita 		Ranked 15th
313.0 billion ¥
3.06%
22600 ¥
City treesChinese arborvitae
(Platycladus orientalis)
Pagoda tree
(Sophora japonica)
City flowersChrysanthemum
(Chrysanthemum morifolium)
Chinese rose
(Rosa chinensis)
Administration TypeMunicipality
MayorWang Qishan
CPC Beijing Committee SecretaryLiu Qi
County-level subdivisions18
Township-level subdivisions318
ISO 3166-2CN-11

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 'j' sound shift in Mandarin that occurred during the Qing dynasty.

In China, the city has had many names. Between 1928 [1] 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. From 1937 to 1945, Beijing was occupied by the Japanese.

The name was changed back by the Communist Party of China in 1949 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.

The GDP per capita was ¥24077 (US$2907), ranked no. 41 among all 659 Chinese cities.

For the historical names of Beijing, see Capital of China.

History

Map of central Beijing (1988)

The metropolitan area of Beijing had been settled in the 1st millennium BC and the capital of Kingdom Yan (燕) was established there, who named it Ji (蓟). 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.

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.

By the early 10th century, Kingdom Liao 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. 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 Li, who had just grabbed the throne by killing his brother 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.

File:BeijingFromTian'anmenChenglouJul2004.jpg
Beijing's Tian'anmen Square, as seen from the Tian'anmen Chenglou Building (taken in July of 2004)

Geography

Beijing borders Hebei province to the north, west, south, and for tiny fraction to the east. The southwestern part borders with Tianjin municipality.

Hills dominate the scene to the north, northwest and west of Beijing. The mountains to the west are known as Xishan, which is Chinese for Western Hills.

Administrative Divisions

The municipality governs 16 districts and 2 counties. 8 of the districts govern the urban and suburban areas of the city:

8 of the districts are found further out, and govern distant suburbs, satellite towns, and some rural areas:

The 2 counties govern very distant towns and rural areas:

Economy

Demographics

Culture

Transportation

Roads and Expressways

The Badaling Expressway near the intersection with the Northern 6th Ring Road (taken in November of 2002)

The city is served by four completed concentric ring roads (with a fifth nearing completion); these are:

The western part of the 6th Ring Road is still partially under construction. Rare sources have mentioned a potential 7th Ring Road, but no further details have been given.

Oddly enough, there is the lack of a 1st Ring Road. This may have referred to a rectangle of roads around the intersections at Dongdan, Xidan, Dongsi, and Xisi; it may also be a mapmaker's fiction.

For more on Beijing's ring roads, see the article Ring Roads of Beijing.

Nine toll expressways link Beijing to its suburbs, outlying regions, and other cities; these are:

Further planned are expressways linking Beijing city to Pinggu district, and a second expressway (possibly linking with Tianjin) between the current-day Jingtong and Jingshen Expressways. Also, an eastern part of an expressway, running between the E. 5th Ring Rd. and the E. 6th Ring Rd., is on the drawing board.

City Transportation

The evolving Beijing Subway has four lines (two above ground, two underground), with several more being built in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The number of bus routes is approaching one thousand. There are also many trolleybus routes in the city. Taxis are nearly ubiquitous in appearance and some can accept Yikatong cards for payment.

Traffic in the city centre is gridlocked, especially around rush hour. The authorities have attempted several moves with limited success. One big problem is that public transportation is underdeveloped (the underground system is presently minimal) and that even busses are jam-packed with people around rush hour. Beijing authorities trumpet that traffic jams may be a thing of a past come the 2008 Olympics.

Rail

Beijing has two major railway stations: Beijing Railway Station (or the central station) and Beijing West Railway Station. Beijing North Railway Station, Beijing East Railway Station and Beijing South Railway Station all exist, but they handle only limited traffic. Hepingli Railway Station seems to have been completely abandoned and is apparently no longer in service.

International trains, including lines to Russia and Pyongyang, North Korea (DPRK), all run through Beijing. Direct trains to Hong Kong also leave Beijing. Nationwide, lines to all major cities and minor cities in the mainland leave Beijing.

Air

Beijing's main airport is the Beijing Capital International Airport near Shunyi, which is about 20 kilometres northeast of Beijing proper. Flights from all major continents land in Beijing. This airport is also where a lot of domestic lines land.

Other airports in the city include Liangxiang Airport, Nanyuan Airport and Xijiao Airport. However, these are lesser well-known.

Tourism

Inner courtyard of Forbidden City
Inner courtyard of Forbidden City

Famous landmarks around Beijing include:

Important tourist attractions also include:

Famous Theatres of Beijing include:

Colleges and Universities

[National]

[Public]

[Private]

Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed.

A simulated-color image of Beijing, taken by NASA's Landsat 7.

Media

TV and Radio

Beijing has nine TV programmes, numbered channels 1 through 9. Unlike CCTV, there is at present no exclusive English-language TV channel on a citywide level in Beijing.

The TV programmes are run by Beijing TV.

There are two radio stations which feature programmes in English. They are Hit FM on FM 88.7 and Easy FM by CRI on FM 91.5.

Press

The well-known Beijing Evening News newspaper appears without delay every Beijing afternoon, covering news in Chinese about Beijing. Other newspapers are the Beijing Star Daily, the Beijing Morning News and the English-language Beijing Weekend.

Nationwide newspapers are also available in Beijing.

Publications catering to the expat community include City Weekend, that's Beijing and MetroZine, among others.

International newspapers in most languages, including English and Japanese, are available in hotels and Friendship Stores, and content often appears complete.

Miscellaneous topics

Beijing will be the site of the 2008 Summer Olympics and of the 2008 Summer Paralympics.

Sports teams based in Beijing include:

Chinese Football Association Super League

Chinese Basketball Association

See also:

See also

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