Beijing

**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 in the world.

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

The Mandarin Chinese name of the city is _Běijīng_, 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  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. It then became the official Chinese Postal Map spelling around 1900 and continued to be used until pinyin became more popular.

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. 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.

Throughout its history, Beijing was the Chinese capital six times:
- 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:
- The Great Wall of China (_Chángchéng_), in the mountains between Beijing and the grasslands of Mongolia
- The Forbidden City (_Gùgōng_), the most important home of the emperors of Ming and Qing China
- Tian'anmen Square (_Tiān'ānmén Guǎngchǎng_), surrounded by China's most important government buildings and museums
- Jingshan & Beihai Parks, the hill overlooking the Forbidden City and the lake beside it, with many temples
- The Summer Palace (_Yìhéyuán_) and Old Summer Palace (_Yuánmíng Yuán_), the more natural home of the last Qing emperors and what is left of an older one
- Prince Gong's Mansion, a very nice old house for one of the Qing princes
- The Imperial Ancestral Temple (_Tàimiào_), where the emperors remembered the earlier people in their families
- The Temple of Heaven (_Tiāntán_) and Temple of the Earth (_Dìtán_), important places for China's old national religion
- The Temples of the Sun and the Moon, other important places for China's old national religion
- The Temple of Confucius and Imperial Academy, important places for China's old kind of education
- Niujie Mosque, a place for Beijing's Muslims and one of the city's oldest buildings
- The National and Urban Planning Museums
- Olympic Green, the park left from the 2008 Beijing Olympics
- Marco Polo Bridge, a very old bridge across the main river west of town
- Ming Tombs, where many Ming emperors were buried
- Zhoukoudian, caves in the mountains west of town where people lived long, long ago

## 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.

### Books

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## Other websites

- Beijing Travel
- Beijing Travel Guide
- Voyage Pékin
- Photos of Beijing

## Infobox (settlement)

- **other name**: Peking
- **settlement type**: Direct-administered municipalities of China, Municipality
- **image skyline**: Beijing montage 1.png
- **image caption**: Clockwise from top: Beijing central business district, Beijing CBD skyline, Tiananmen, Temple of Heaven, National Centre for the Performing Arts (China), National Center for the Performing Arts, and Beijing National Stadium
- **image map1**: Beijing in China (+all claims hatched).svg
- **map caption1**: Location of Beijing Municipality within China
- **area urban footnotes**:  (2018)
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision name**: People's Republic of China
- **established title**: Established
- **established date**: 1045 BC (Zhou Dynasty)
- **parts type**: Divisions
 – County-level division, County-level
 – Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China#Township level, Township-level
- **parts**:
List of administrative divisions of Beijing, 16 districts
289 towns and villages
- **government type**: Direct-administered municipalities of China, Municipality
- **leader title**: Party chief of the Communist Party of China, Party Secretary
- **leader name**: .
- **leader title1**: Mayor
- **leader name1**: .
- **total type**: Municipality
- **area total km2**: 16,410.5
- **area urban km2**: 4,144
- **area rural km2**: 12,266.5
- **elevation m**: 43.5
- **population total**: 21,542,000
- **population as of**: 2018
- **population density km2**: auto
- **population urban**: 21,450,000
- **population urban footnotes**:  (2018)
- **population metro**: 24,000,000
- **population metro footnotes**:  (2017)
- **population blank1 title**: Ranks in China
- **population blank1**: Population: List of People's Republic of China administrative divisions by population, 27th;
Density: List of People's Republic of China administrative divisions by population density, 4th
- **demographics type1**: Major List of ethnic groups in China, ethnic groups
- **demographics1 title1**: Han Chinese, Han
- **demographics1 info5**: 0.7%
- **area code**: Telephone numbers in China, 10
- **iso code**: ISO 3166-2:CN, CN-BJ
- **blank name sec1**: GDP (nominal)
- **blank info sec1**: 2018
- **blank1 name sec1**:  - Total
- **blank1 info sec1**: ¥3.03 trillion
($458 billion)
(List of Chinese administrative divisions by GDP, 12th)
- **blank name sec2**: **City trees**
- **blank info sec2**: Chinese arborvitae (_Platycladus orientalis_)
- **blank1 name sec2**:  
- **blank1 info sec2**: Styphnolobium, Pagoda tree (_Sophora japonica_)
- **website**: [http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/ Beijing Official Website International – eBeijing.gov.cn]  [http://www.beijing.gov.cn/ 首都之窗-北京市政务门户网站]
- **leader title2**: Congress Chairman
- **leader name2**: Li Wei
- **leader title3**: Conference Chairman
- **leader name3**: Ji Lin
- **demographics1 info1**: 95%
- **demographics1 title2**: Manchu people, Manchu
- **demographics1 info2**: 2%
- **demographics1 title3**: Hui people, Hui
- **demographics1 info3**: 2%
- **demographics1 title4**: Mongols in China, Mongol
- **demographics1 info4**: 0.3%
- **demographics1 title5**: Other
- **timezone**: China Standard Time, CST
- **utc offset**: +8
- **blank2 name sec1**:  – Per capita
- **blank2 info sec1**: ¥140,748 ($21,261)  (List of Chinese administrative divisions by GDP per capita, 1st)
- **blank3 name sec1**:  – Growth
- **blank3 info sec1**: 6.6%
- **blank4 name sec1**: Human Development Index, HDI (2017)
- **blank4 info sec1**: 0.888 (List of Chinese administrative divisions by HDI, 1st)—<span style="color:#090;">very high</span>
- **blank5 name sec1**: Vehicle registration plates of China, License plate prefixes
- **blank5 info sec1**:
 (taxis)
 (outside urban area)
 (police and authorities)
- **blank6 name sec1**: Abbreviation
- **blank6 info sec1**: BJ /  (jīng)
- **blank2 name sec2**: **City flowers**
- **blank2 info sec2**: Rosa chinensis, China rose (_Rosa chinensis_)
- **blank3 name sec2**:  
- **blank3 info sec2**: Chrysanthemum (_Chrysanthemum morifolium_)


## Infobox (chinese)

- **pic**: Beijing name.svg
- **piccap**: "" in kaishu, regular Chinese characters
- **picupright**: 0.5
- **l**: "Northern Capital"
- **psp**: Peking
Peiping <small>(1368–1403;
1928–1937; 1945–1949)</small>
- **w**: Pei<sup>3</sup>-ching<sup>1</sup>
- **bpmf**: ㄅㄟˇ   ㄐㄧㄥ
- **gr**: Beeijing
- **j**: Bak1ging1
- **y**: Bākgìng _or_ Bākgīng
- **ci**: _or_
- **suz**: Poh-cin
- **poj**: Pak-kiaⁿ
- **tl**: Pak-kiann
- **buc**: Báe̤k-gĭng
- **h**: Bet<sup>5</sup>-gin<sup>1</sup>
- **showflag**: p