Beijing
Abbreviation: Jing
Area: 16,800 square kilometres
Population: 11.43 million
Location: In the southern part of
the North China Plain
 A
conurbation of nearly 14 million people,
Beijing is China's capital and one of the
four centurally adininistered cities in
the country, the other three being Chongqing,
Shanghai and Tianjin. The city is also China's
political, cultural centre as well as a
transport and international exchange hub.
Beijing is an ancient city well
known in the world for her long history
and rich culture. Her history dates back
to more than 3,000 years. Half a million
years ago, in the time of Peking Man, the
remote ancestor of Chinese nation, already
lived at Zhoukoudian Village 48 kilometres,
southwest of Beijing.
Beijing was first seen in historical
records in the name of Ji, meaning thistle.
The slave state came into existence with
Ji as the centre was called Yah (a powerful
independent state at that time). After several
hundred years, the State of Yan rose in
the North and became one of the seven powers
(the other six powers being Qin, Zhao, Qi,
Han, Wei, and Chu) contending for hegemony
in the Central Plains. According to historical
records, Ji, the capital of the State of
Yan, was the richest city at that time.
Ji was exactly the predecessor of the city
of Beijing.
 The
city of Ji had an advantageotts geographical
position for development. It is situated
in a small plain surrounded on three sides
by mountains and to the south lies a broad
expanse of rolling plain, the vast North
China Hain. Among the mountain ranges as
her back there are a number of natural gorges
leading to the south and the north, such
as, Nankou (Southern Entry) Pass, Juyongguan
(Dwelling-in- Harmony) Pass, Shangguan Pass
(demolished during 1522-1566 of the Ming
Dynasty), and Badaling (Eight Prominent
Peaks) at the northwestern corner leading
to the Mongolian Plateau; Gubeikou Pass
at the northeastern comer leading to the
vast Song-Liao (Northeast) Plain. In this
way, the city of Ji became a communication
hub and a strategic point between mountains
and plains and between the south and the
north as well.
When Emperor Qinshihuang (259-210
BC, reigned 247-210 BC) of the Qin Dynasty
established the first united feudal dynasty
in China after annexing six different states
in 221 BC, Ji was the place where the government
of Guaagyang Prefecture was located. Thus
Ji turned out to be a place of strategic
importance of the Qin court to resist against
the invasion of other tribes in Northeast
China. Owing to the fact the city of Ji
was abundant in produce and advanced in
the ways of production and that it was located
between the Han nationality and various
national minorities in the Northeast, during
the period of nearly 1,000 years from the
Qin Dynasty to the end of Tang Dynasty,
Ji gradually developed into a trade centre
of exchange between  the
south and the north and a big city in the
North and an advanced base of the ruler
of the central government to pacify the
Northeast. In February611, Emperor Yangdi
(569-618, reigned 604-618) of the Sui Dynasty
(581-618) sailed after opening the Grand
Canal, in "dragon boat" with hundreds
of officials and over 1,000 followers from
Jiangdu (present-day Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province)
to the city of Ji after over 50 days of
voyage. In April 645, Li Shimin (599-649,
reigned 626-649 ), Emperor Taizhong of the
Tang Dynasty (618- 907), staged a rally
south of Youzhou (city of Ji) to pledge
resolution before an east expedition to
Gaoli ( former name for Korea). He returned
victoriously in November and built Minahongsi
Temple (today's Fayuansi--Temple of the
Source of Law--Temple outside Xuanwumen
Gate) south of the city to hold a memorial
ceremony for those killed in battle. During
the time of the end of the Tang Dynasty
and the Five Dynasties, Qidan, one of the
national minorities in the Northeast, occupied
the city of Ji, changed its name into Nanjing
(Southern Capital) and made it the secondary
capital of the Liao court (916-1125) to
confront the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).
Not much construction was donein this period.
In the 12th century, the regime set up by
Nuzhen people replaced the Liao regime and
occupied Youzhou (Remote Prefecture ). They
moved their capital from the Songhua River
to Youzhou, changing its name into Zhongdu
(Central Capital), and went in for large-scale
construction at the site of the city of
Nanjing of the Liao court according to the
scale of Bianliang ( today's Kaifeng, Henan
Province), capital of the Northern Song
Dynasty. The newly built Zhongdu .had three
layers of city walls (the perimeter of the
city wall of Zhongdu being 32.5 kilometres)
and twelve city gates. The royal city in
the middle had nine rows of palaces, including
36 halls. To the west of the city several
garden villages for the amusement of imperial
families were built on the basis of the
landscape. At that time, Zhongdu developed
into a centre of commerce, a big, flourishing
city.
 The
Mongolian cavalry destroyed the imperial
city. It is said that the fire continued
for over a month. Before the Jin court extended
the Zhongdu, and the people of Northern
Song Dynasty called the city Yanjing. After
occupying Zhongdu, the Mongolian set up
"Yanshan Lu" (Yanshan Area). The
name Yanjing has been using till now.
In 1260 Kublai Khan (1215-1294,
reigned 1260-1294), the grandson of Genghis
Khan (1162-1227), came to Yanjing from Helm
on the Mongolian Plateau, and lived in a
picturesque temporary palace in the northeastern
suburbs (now Beihai Park). Before long,
Kublai Khan decided to make Yanjing the
capital and built the historically illustrious
city of Dadu or Great Capital ( the city
wall of Dadu being 28.55 kilometres in circumference)
and adopted the new title of the reigning
dynasty "yuan."
Construction of Dadu of the
Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) established the
layout of the city of Beijing of today.
On the basis of the conception of the construction
of imperial capital of ancient China, namely,
with the court in the front, market in the
rear, ancestral temple on the left and temple
to the god of the land on the right, and
integrating construction with geographical
conditions, the city so built combined the
magnificent palatial structures and elegant
scenery, and with the imperial city as the
centre, on both sides of the south-north
central axis were built fifty residential
areas separated by streets running from
east to west. This opened up a very important
page in the history of urban construction
in Chins.
One hundred years after construction
of Dadu of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang
(1328-1398, reigned 1368-1398 ), founder
of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), declared
himself emperor at Nanjing (south of the
Yangtze River) and made the city the capital.
 Early
Ming famous general Xu Da (1332-1385) stormed
and captured Dadu and changed its name into
Beiping in the early Ming Dynasty ( Northern
Peace). Zhu Di (1360-1424, reigned 1403-1424
), the fourth son of Zhu Yuanzhang, Prince
Yan, became emperor in 1403 after he ousted
his nephew, the second emperor of the Ming
Dynasty. He changed the name of the city
into Beijing in 1403 and moved the capital
from Nanjing to Beijing in 1421 after the
completion of the Forbidden City. It took
14 years for him to rebuild the model of
Nanjing and open up the southem city, forming
the layout of Beijing today. In 1564, an
outer city was built in the south of the
original city, thus forming the outer city,
and inner city in Beijing. The inner city
wall was 6,650 metres from east to west,
5,350 metres from north to south, and its
perimeter being 24 kilometres with 9 gates-Zhengyang
Gate ( Front Gate ), Chongwenmen, Xuanwumen,
Dongzhimen ( Chongrenmen ), Chaoyangmen
( Qihuamen ), Xizhimen (Heyimen), Fuehengmen
(Pingzemen), Andingmen and Deshengmen. The
outer city was 7,950 metres from east to
west, 3,100 metres from north to .south
and 22 kilometres in circumference, with
7 gates--Xibianmen, Guangningmen (formerly
called Guangningmen and Emperor Daogang's
name happened to he "Minning."
Under feudal etiquette, the mention of the
emperor's name was a taboo. Therefore, it
was changed into Guang'anmen), You'anmen,
Yongdingmen, Zuo'anmen, Guangqumen, and
Dongbianmen. The Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)
entirely inherited the palaces of the Ming
Dynasty and was concentrated its main force
on the construction of two temporary palaces
in the western suburbs. The unrivalled Yuanmingyuan
(Park of Perfection and Brightness or the
Old Summer Palace) was destroyed in 1860
by the Anglo-French Allied Forces; the admired
Summer Palace became a scenic spot for tourists
in Beijing.
 Since
1949, Beijing has become the capital of
the People's Republic of China. This ancient,
young, solemn, and yet charming famous city
of culture draws millions of domestic and
overseas tourists all the year round. In
the modernization programme of reform and
opening-up to the outside world, Beijing
has been attracting worldwide attention.
Today, Beijing is the political
and cultural centre and the home of the
greatest repository of monuments from imperial
China. The city encompasses 17,020 square
kilometres with a population currently pushing
14 million. It administers 16 districts
end 2 counties.
Beijing has a continental climate
of temperate zone with four seasons distinctly
divided. In summer, July is quite hot with
a daily average temperature of 35.8 12;
in winter, January is quite cold with a
daily average temperature of - 4.8 12. In
Beijing, autmnn is characterized by clear
sky and crisp air as well as beautiful scenery,
so the city is a magnet for visitors both
home and abroad.
The 2008 Beijng Olympic Games
2008
Just as the Olympic Games will
foster global interest in the charm of the
Chinese ancient capital of Beijing, visitors
and athletes from around the world also
will have the opportunity to experience
the splendour of five other Chinese cities
chosen as sub- venues for the 2008 Olympic
Games. The 2008 Olympic Games will take
place in 37 competition venues, with another
58 venues provided for training. Qingdao
in East China would feature a sailing centre,
and soccer matches would be played in East
China's Shanghai, North China's Tianjin
and Qinhuangdso and Northeast China's Shenyang.
The choice of these venue sites, design
and construction of the venues will best
present the concept of a "Green Olympics,"
"High-tech Olympics" and "People's
Olympics." With facilities already
under construction, the five cities, each
with unique scenic attractions, are ready
to provide enjoyable and safe accommodations
for Olympic guests in 2008.
|
