Beijing

Over the past 3,000 years, the city of Beijing has had numerous other names. The name Beijing, which means "Northern Capital" (from the Chinese characters 北 for north and 京 for capital), was applied to the city in 1403 during the Ming dynasty to distinguish the city from Nanjing (the "Southern Capital").^[35] The English spelling Beijing is based on the government's official romanization (adopted in the 1980s) of the two characters as they are pronounced in Standard Mandarin. An older English spelling, Peking(北平 in Chinese meaning), was used by Jesuit missionary Martino Martini in a popular atlas published in Amsterdam in 1655.^[36] Although Peking is no longer the common name for the city, some of the city's older locations and facilities, such as Beijing Capital International Airport, with the IATA Code PEK, and Peking University, still retain the former romanization.

The single Chinese character abbreviation for Beijing is 京, which appears on automobile license plates in the city. The official Latin alphabet abbreviation for Beijing is "BJ".^[37]

Discover more about Etymology related topics

Names of Beijing

Names of Beijing

"Beijing" is from pinyin Běijīng, which is romanized from 北京, the Chinese name for this city. The pinyin system of transliteration was approved by the Chinese government in 1958, but little used until 1979. It was gradually adopted by various news organizations, governments, and international agencies over the next decade.

Chinese characters

Chinese characters

Chinese characters are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as kanji. Chinese characters in South Korea, which are known as hanja, retain significant use in Korean academia to study its documents, history, literature and records. Vietnam once used the chữ Hán and developed chữ Nôm to write Vietnamese before turning to a romanized alphabet. Chinese characters are the oldest continuously used system of writing in the world. By virtue of their widespread current use throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as their profound historic use throughout the Sinosphere, Chinese characters are among the most widely adopted writing systems in the world by number of users.

Ming dynasty

Ming dynasty

The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last imperial dynasty of China with a ruling elite of Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group in China. Although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng, numerous rump regimes ruled by remnants of the Ming imperial family—collectively called the Southern Ming—survived until 1662.

Nanjing

Nanjing

Nanjing, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in Eastern China. The city has 11 districts, an administrative area of 6,600 km2 (2,500 sq mi), and a total recorded population of 9,423,400 as of 2021.

Romanization of Chinese

Romanization of Chinese

Romanization of Chinese is the use of the Latin alphabet to transliterate Chinese. Chinese uses a logographic script and its characters do not represent phonemes directly. There have been many systems using Roman characters to represent Chinese throughout history. Linguist Daniel Kane wrote, "It used to be said that sinologists had to be like musicians, who might compose in one key and readily transcribe into other keys." The dominant international standard for Standard Mandarin since about 1982 has been Hanyu Pinyin, invented by a group of Chinese linguists in the 1950s including Zhou Youguang. Other well-known systems include Wade–Giles (Mandarin) and Yale romanization.

Martino Martini

Martino Martini

Martino Martini, born and raised in Trento, was a Jesuit missionary. As cartographer and historian, he mainly worked on ancient Imperial China.

Beijing Capital International Airport

Beijing Capital International Airport

Beijing Capital International Airport is one of two international airports serving Beijing, the other one being Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX). It is located 32 km (20 mi) northeast of Beijing's city center, in an exclave of Chaoyang District and the surroundings of that exclave in suburban Shunyi District. The airport is owned and operated by the Beijing Capital International Airport Company Limited, a state-controlled company. The airport's IATA Airport code, PEK, is based on the city's former romanized name, Peking.

International Air Transport Association code

International Air Transport Association code

IATA codes are abbreviations that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) publishes to facilitate air travel. They are typically 1, 2, 3, or 4 character combinations that uniquely identify locations, equipment, companies, and times to standardize international flight operations. All codes within each group follow a pattern to reduce the potential for error.

Peking University

Peking University

Peking University is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of China. A successor of the older Guozijian Imperial College, it was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter by the Guangxu Emperor.

Latin alphabet

Latin alphabet

The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions, it forms the Latin script that is used to write English and other modern European languages. With modifications, it is also used for other alphabets, such as the Vietnamese alphabet. Its modern repertoire is standardised as the ISO basic Latin alphabet.

Standardization Administration of China

Standardization Administration of China

The Standardization Administration of China is the standards organization authorized by the State Council of China to exercise administrative responsibilities by undertaking unified management, supervision and overall coordination of standardization work in China. The SAC represents China within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and other international and regional standardization organizations; the SAC is responsible for organizing the activities of the Chinese National Committee for ISO and IEC; the SAC approves and organizes the implementation of international cooperation and the exchange of projects on standardization.

Early history

The earliest traces of human habitation in the Peking municipality were found in the caves of Dragon Bone Hill near the village of Zhoukoudian in Fangshan District, where Peking Man lived. Homo erectus fossils from the caves date to 230,000 to 250,000 years ago. Paleolithic Homo sapiens also lived there more recently, about 27,000 years ago.^[38] Archaeologists have found neolithic settlements throughout the municipality, including in Wangfujing, located in central Peking.

The first walled city in Beijing was Jicheng, the capital city of the state of Ji and was built in 1045 BC. Within modern Beijing, Jicheng was located around the present Guang'anmen area in the south of Xicheng District.^[39] This settlement was later conquered by the state of Yan and made its capital.^[40]

Early Imperial China

The Tianning Pagoda, built around 1120 during the Liao dynasty

After the First Emperor unified China in 221 BC, Jicheng became a prefectural capital for the region.^[1] During the Three Kingdoms period, it was held by Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao before falling to the Wei Kingdom of Cao Cao. The AD third-century Western Jin demoted the town, placing the prefectural seat in neighboring Zhuozhou. During the Sixteen Kingdoms period when northern China was conquered and divided by the Wu Hu, Jicheng was briefly the capital of the Xianbei Former Yan Kingdom.^[41]

After China was reunified by the Sui dynasty in 581, Jicheng, also known as Zhuojun, became the northern terminus of the Grand Canal. Under the Tang dynasty, Jicheng as Youzhou, served as a military frontier command center. During the An-Shi Rebellion and again amidst the turmoil of the late Tang, local military commanders founded their own short-lived Yan dynasties and called the city Yanjing, or the "Yan Capital." Also in the Tang dynasty, the city's name Jicheng was replaced by Youzhou or Yanjing. In 938, after the fall of the Tang, the Later Jin ceded the frontier territory including what is now Beijing to the Khitan Liao dynasty, which treated the city as Nanjing, or the "Southern Capital", one of four secondary capitals to complement its "Supreme Capital" Shangjing (modern Baarin Left Banner in Inner Mongolia). Some of the oldest surviving pagodas in Beijing date to the Liao period, including the Tianning Pagoda.

The Liao fell to the Jurchen Jin dynasty in 1122, which gave the city to the Song dynasty and then retook it in 1125 during its conquest of northern China. In 1153, the Jurchen Jin made Beijing their "Central Capital", or Zhongdu.^[1] The city was besieged by Genghis Khan's invading Mongolian army in 1213 and razed to the ground two years later.^[42] Two generations later, Kublai Khan ordered the construction of Dadu (or Daidu to the Mongols, commonly known as Khanbaliq), a new capital for his Yuan dynasty to the northeast of the Zhongdu ruins. The construction took from 1264 to 1293,^[1][42][43] but greatly enhanced the status of a city on the northern fringe of China proper. The city was centered on the Drum Tower slightly to the north of modern Beijing and stretched from the present-day Chang'an Avenue to the northern part of Line 10 subway. Remnants of the Yuan rammed earth wall still stand and are known as the Tucheng.^[44]

Ming dynasty

One of the corner towers of the Forbidden City, built by the Yongle Emperor during the early Ming dynasty

In 1368, soon after declaring the new Hongwu era of the Ming dynasty, the rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang captured Dadu/Khanbaliq and razed the Yuan palaces to the ground.^[45] Since the Yuan continued to occupy Shangdu and Mongolia, Dadu was used to supply the Ming military garrisons in the area and renamed Beiping (Wade–Giles: Peip'ing, "Northern Peace").^[46] Under the Hongwu Emperor's feudal policies, Beiping was given to his son Zhu Di, who was created "Prince of Yan".

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

The early death of Zhu Yuanzhang's heir led to a succession struggle upon his death, one that ended with the victory of Zhu Di and the declaration of the new Yongle era. Since his harsh treatment of the Ming capital Yingtian (modern Nanjing) alienated many there, he established his fief as a new co-capital. The city of Beiping became Beijing ("Northern Capital") or Shuntian^[47] in 1403.^[35] The construction of the new imperial residence, the Forbidden City, took from 1406 to 1420;^[42] this period was also responsible for several other of the modern city's major attractions, such as the Temple of Heaven^[48] and Tian'anmen. On 28 October 1420, the city was officially designated the capital of the Ming dynasty in the same year that the Forbidden City was completed.^[49] Beijing became the empire's primary capital, and Yingtian, also called Nanjing ("Southern Capital"), became the co-capital. (A 1425 order by Zhu Di's son, the Hongxi Emperor, to return the primary capital to Nanjing was never carried out: he died, probably of a heart attack, the next month. He was buried, like almost every Ming emperor to follow him, in an elaborate necropolis to Beijing's north.)

By the 15th century, Beijing had essentially taken its current shape. The Ming city wall continued to serve until modern times, when it was pulled down and the 2nd Ring Road was built in its place.^[50] It is generally believed that Beijing was the largest city in the world for most of the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.^[51] The first known church was constructed by Catholics in 1652 at the former site of Matteo Ricci's chapel; the modern Nantang Cathedral was later built upon the same site.^[52]

The capture of Beijing by Li Zicheng's peasant army in 1644 ended the dynasty, but he and his Shun court abandoned the city without a fight when the Manchu army of Prince Dorgon arrived 40 days later.

Qing dynasty

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

Dorgon established the Qing dynasty as a direct successor of the Ming (delegitimising Li Zicheng and his followers)^[53] and Beijing became China's sole capital.^[54] The Qing emperors made some modifications to the Imperial residence but, in large part, the Ming buildings and the general layout remained unchanged. Facilities for Manchu worship were introduced, but the Qing also continued the traditional state rituals. Signage was bilingual or Chinese. This early Qing Beijing later formed the setting for the Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber. Northwest of the city, Qing emperors built several large palatial gardens including the Old Summer Palace and the Summer Palace.

Chongwenmen, a gate to the inner walled city, c. 1906

During the Second Opium War, Anglo-French forces captured the outskirts of the city, looting and burning the Old Summer Palace in 1860. Under the Convention of Peking ending that war, Western powers for the first time secured the right to establish permanent diplomatic presences within the city. From 14 to 15 August 1900 the Battle of Peking was fought. This battle was part of the Boxer Rebellion. The attempt by the Boxers to eradicate this presence, as well as Chinese Christian converts, led to Beijing's reoccupation by eight foreign powers.^[55] During the fighting, several important structures were destroyed, including the Hanlin Academy and the (new) Summer Palace. A peace agreement was concluded between the Eight-Nation Alliance and representatives of the Chinese government Li Hung-chang and Prince Ching on 7 September 1901. The treaty required China to pay an indemnity of US$335 million (over US$4 billion in current dollars) plus interest over a period of 39 years. Also required was the execution or exile of government supporters of the Boxers and the destruction of Chinese forts and other defenses in much of northern China. Ten days after the treaty was signed the foreign armies left Peking, although legation guards would remain there until World War II.^[56]

With the treaty signed the Empress Dowager Cixi returned to Peking from her "tour of inspection" on 7 January 1902 and the rule of the Qing dynasty over China was restored, albeit much weakened by the defeat it had suffered in the Boxer Rebellion and by the indemnity and stipulations of the peace treaty.^[57] The Dowager died in 1908 and the dynasty imploded in 1911.

Republic of China

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

The fomenters of the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 sought to replace Qing rule with a republic and leaders like Sun Yat-sen originally intended to return the capital to Nanjing. After the Qing general Yuan Shikai forced the abdication of the last Qing emperor and ensured the success of the revolution, the revolutionaries accepted him as president of the new Republic of China. Yuan maintained his capital at Beijing and quickly consolidated power, declaring himself emperor in 1915. His death less than a year later^[58] left China under the control of the warlords commanding the regional armies. Following the success of the Kuomintang's Northern Expedition, the capital was formally moved to Nanjing in 1928. On 28 June the same year, Beijing's name was returned to Beiping (written at the time as "Peiping").^[16][59]

On 7 July 1937, the 29th Army and the Japanese army in China exchanged fire at the Marco Polo Bridge near the Wanping Fortress southwest of the city. The Marco Polo Bridge Incident triggered the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II as it is known in China. During the war,^[16] Beijing fell to Japan on 29 July 1937^[60] and was made the seat of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China, a puppet state that ruled the ethnic-Chinese portions of Japanese-occupied northern China.^[61] This government was later merged into the larger Wang Jingwei government based in Nanjing.^[62]

People's Republic of China

Mao Zedong proclaiming the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949

In the final phases of the Chinese Civil War, the People's Liberation Army seized control of the city peacefully on 31 January 1949 in the course of the Pingjin Campaign. On 1 October that year, Mao Zedong announced the creation of the People's Republic of China from atop Tian'anmen. He restored the name of the city, as the new capital, to Beijing,^[63] a decision that had been reached by the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference just a few days earlier.

In the 1950s, the city began to expand beyond the old walled city and its surrounding neighborhoods, with heavy industries in the west and residential neighborhoods in the north. Many areas of the Beijing city wall were torn down in the 1960s to make way for the construction of the Beijing Subway and the 2nd Ring Road.

A scene from the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games

During the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, the Red Guard movement began in Beijing and the city's government fell victim to one of the first purges. By the autumn of 1966, all city schools were shut down and over a million Red Guards from across the country gathered in Beijing for eight rallies in Tian'anmen Square with Mao.^[64] In April 1976, a large public gathering of Beijing residents against the Gang of Four and the Cultural Revolution in Tiananmen Square was forcefully suppressed. In October 1976, the Gang was arrested in Zhongnanhai and the Cultural Revolution came to an end. In December 1978, the Third Plenum of the 11th Party Congress in Beijing under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping reversed the verdicts against victims of the Cultural Revolution and instituted the "policy of reform and opening up."

Since the early 1980s, the urban area of Beijing has expanded greatly with the completion of the 2nd Ring Road in 1981 and the subsequent addition of the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Ring Roads.^[65][66] According to one 2005 newspaper report, the size of newly developed Beijing was one-and-a-half times larger than before.^[67] Wangfujing and Xidan have developed into flourishing shopping districts,^[68] while Zhongguancun has become a major center of electronics in China.^[69] 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 significant influx of migrant workers from less-developed rural areas of the country.^[70] Beijing has also been the location of many significant events in recent Chinese history, principally the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.^[71] The city has also hosted major international events, including the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2015 World Championships in Athletics, and the 2022 Winter Olympics, making it the first city to ever host both Winter and Summer Olympics.^[72]

Discover more about History related topics

History of Beijing

History of Beijing

The city of Beijing has a long and rich history that dates back over 3,000 years. Prior to the unification of China by the First Emperor in 221 BC, Beijing had been for centuries the capital of the ancient states of Ji and Yan. It was a provincial center in the earliest unified empires of China, Qin and Han. The northern border of ancient China ran close to the present city of Beijing, and northern nomadic tribes frequently broke in from across the border. Thus, the area that was to become Beijing emerged as an important strategic and a local political centre. During the first millennia of imperial rule, Beijing was a provincial city in northern China. Its stature grew in the 10th to the 13th centuries when the nomadic Khitan and forest-dwelling Jurchen peoples from beyond the Great Wall expanded southward and made the city a capital of their dynasties, the Liao and Jin. When Kublai Khan made Dadu the capital of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), all of China was ruled from Beijing for the first time. From 1279 onward, with the exception of two interludes from 1368 to 1420 and 1928 to 1949, Beijing would remain as China's capital, serving as the seat of power for the Ming dynasty (1421–1644), the Manchu-led Qing dynasty (1644–1912), the early Republic of China (1912–1928) and now the People's Republic of China (1949–present).

Fangshan District

Fangshan District

Fangshan District is situated in the southwest of Beijing, 38 km (24 mi) away from downtown Beijing. It has an area of 2,019 square kilometres (780 sq mi) and a population of 814,367. The district is divided into 8 subdistricts, 14 towns, and 6 townships.

Peking Man

Peking Man

Peking Man is a subspecies of H. erectus which inhabited the Zhoukoudian Cave of northern China during the Chibanian. The first fossil, a tooth, was discovered in 1921, and the Zhoukoudian Cave has since then become the most productive H. erectus site in the world. Peking Man was instrumental in the foundation of Chinese anthropology, and fostered an important dialogue between Western and Eastern science for decades to come. The fossils became the centre of anthropological discussion, and were classified as a direct human ancestor, propping up the Out of Asia hypothesis that humans evolved in Asia. Peking Man also played a vital role in the restructuring of the Chinese identity following the Chinese Communist Revolution, and was intensively communicated to working class and peasant communities to introduce them to Marxism and science. Early models of Peking Man society strongly leaned towards communist or nationalist ideals, leading to discussions on primitive communism and polygenism. This produced a strong schism between Western and Eastern interpretations, especially as the West adopted the Out of Africa hypothesis by late 1967, and Peking Man's role in human evolution diminished as merely an offshoot of the human line. Though Out of Africa is now the consensus, Peking Man interbreeding with human ancestors is frequently discussed especially in Chinese circles.

Homo erectus

Homo erectus

Homo erectus is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago. Its specimens are among the first recognizable members of the genus Homo.

Paleolithic

Paleolithic

The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic, also called the Old Stone Age, is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehistoric technology. It extends from the earliest known use of stone tools by hominins, c. 3.3 million years ago, to the end of the Pleistocene, c. 11,650 cal BP.

Neolithic

Neolithic

The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts of the world. This "Neolithic package" included the introduction of farming, domestication of animals, and change from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one of settlement.

Ancient Chinese urban planning

Ancient Chinese urban planning

Ancient Chinese urban planning encompasses the diverse set of cultural beliefs, social and economic structures, and technological capacities that historically influenced urban design in the early period of Chinese civilization. Factors that have shaped the development of Chinese urban ism include: fengshui geomancy and astronomy; the well-field system; the cosmological belief that Heaven is round and the Earth is square, the concept of qi ; political power shared between a ruling house and educated advisers; the holy place bo; a three-tiered economic system under state control; early writing; and the walled capital city as a diagram of political power.

Jicheng (Beijing)

Jicheng (Beijing)

Ji or Jicheng was an ancient city in northern China, which has become the longest continuously inhabited section of modern Beijing. Historical mention of Ji dates to the founding of the Zhou dynasty in about 1045 BC. Archaeological finds in southwestern Beijing where Ji was believed to be located date to the Spring and Autumn period. The city of Ji served as the capital of the ancient states of Ji and Yan until the unification of China by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Thereafter, the city was a prefectural capital for Youzhou through the Han dynasty, Three Kingdoms, Western Jin dynasty, Sixteen Kingdoms, Northern Dynasties, and Sui dynasty. With the creation of a Jizhou (蓟州) during the Tang dynasty in what is now Tianjin Municipality, the city of Ji took on the name Youzhou. Youzhou was one of the Sixteen Prefectures ceded to the Khitans during the Five Dynasties. The city then became the southern capital of the Liao dynasty and then main capital of the Jin dynasty (1115–1234). In the 13th century, Kublai Khan built a new capital city for the Yuan dynasty adjacent to Ji to the north. The old city of Ji became a suburb to Dadu. In the Ming dynasty, the old and new cities were merged by Beijing's Ming-era city wall.

Guang'anmen

Guang'anmen

Guang'anmen, also known as the Gate of Expansive Peace, Guangningmen and Zhangyimen, was a city gate of old Beijing, constructed during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor (1521–1567) of the Ming Dynasty. This gate was part of Beijing's city wall, situated south-west of the city center and facing east. Guang'anmen served as a main entrance to Beijing.

Liao dynasty

Liao dynasty

The Liao dynasty, also known as the Khitan Empire, officially the Great Liao, was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 916 and 1125, ruled by the Yelü clan of the Khitan people. Founded around the time of the collapse of the Tang dynasty, at its greatest extent it ruled over Northeast China, the Mongolian Plateau, the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, southern portions of the Russian Far East, and the northern tip of the North China Plain.

Qin Shi Huang

Qin Shi Huang

Qin Shi Huang was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor (始皇帝) of the Qin dynasty from 221 to 210 BC. His self-invented title "emperor" would continue to be borne by Chinese rulers for the next two millennia. Historically, he was often portrayed as a tyrannical ruler and strict Legalist, in part from the Han dynasty's scathing assessments of him. Since the mid 20th-century, scholars have begun to question this evaluation, inciting considerable discussion on the actual nature of his policies and reforms. Regardless, according to sinologist Michael Loewe "few would contest the view that the achievements of his reign have exercised a paramount influence on the whole of China's subsequent history, marking the start of an epoch that closed in 1911".

Qin's wars of unification

Qin's wars of unification

Qin's wars of unification were a series of military campaigns launched in the late 3rd century BC by the Qin state against the other six major Chinese states — Han, Zhao, Yan, Wei, Chu and Qi.

Landsat 7 satellite image of Beijing Municipality with the surrounding mountains in dark brown

Beijing is situated at the northern tip of the roughly triangular North China Plain, which opens to the south and east of the city. Mountains to the north, northwest and west shield the city and northern China's agricultural heartland from the encroaching desert steppes. The northwestern part of the municipality, especially Yanqing District and Huairou District, are dominated by the Jundu Mountains, while the western part is framed by Xishan or the Western Hills. The Great Wall of China across the northern part of Beijing Municipality was built on the rugged topography to defend against nomadic incursions from the steppes. Mount Dongling, in the Western Hills and on the border with Hebei, is the municipality's highest point, with an altitude of 2,303 metres (7,556 ft).

Major rivers flowing through the municipality, including the Chaobai, Yongding, Juma, are all tributaries in the Hai River system, and flow in a southeasterly direction. The Miyun Reservoir, on the upper reaches of the Chaobai River, is the largest reservoir within the municipality. Beijing is also the northern terminus of the Grand Canal to Hangzhou, which was built over 1,400 years ago as a transportation route, and the South–North Water Transfer Project, constructed in the past decade to bring water from the Yangtze River basin.

The urban area of Beijing, on the plains in the south-central of the municipality with elevation of 40 to 60 metres (130–200 feet), occupies a relatively small but expanding portion of the municipality's area. The city spreads out in concentric ring roads. The Second Ring Road traces the old city walls and the Sixth Ring Road connects satellite towns in the surrounding suburbs. Tian'anmen and Tian'anmen Square are at the center of Beijing, directly to the south of the Forbidden City, the former residence of the emperors of China. To the west of Tian'anmen is Zhongnanhai, the residence of China's current leaders. Chang'an Avenue, which cuts between Tiananmen and the Square, forms the city's main east–west axis.

Cityscape

A panorama of the Forbidden City, viewed from the Jingshan Park

Architecture

Three styles of architecture are predominant in urban Beijing. First, there is the traditional architecture of imperial China, perhaps best exemplified by the massive Tian'anmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace), which remains the People's Republic of China's trademark edifice, the Forbidden City, the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Temple of Heaven. Next, there is what is sometimes referred to as the "Sino-Sov" style, with structures tending to be boxy and sometimes poorly constructed, which were built between the 1950s and the 1970s.^[73] Finally, there are much more modern architectural forms, most noticeably in the area of the Beijing CBD in east Beijing such as the new CCTV Headquarters, in addition to buildings in other locations around the city such as the Beijing National Stadium and National Center for the Performing Arts.

1940s Nationalist Beijing with predominantly traditional architecture

Since 2007, buildings in Beijing have received the CTBUH Skyscraper Award for best overall tall building twice, for the Linked Hybrid building in 2009 and the CCTV Headquarters in 2013. The CTBUH Skyscraper award for best tall overall building is given to only one building around the world every year.

In the early 21st century, Beijing has witnessed tremendous growth of new building constructions, exhibiting various modern styles from international designers, most pronounced in the CBD region. A mixture of both 1950s design and neofuturistic style of architecture can be seen at the 798 Art Zone, which mixes the old with the new. Beijing's tallest building is the 528-meter China Zun.

The sign of Doujiao Hutong, one of the many traditional alleyways in the inner city

Beijing is famous for its siheyuans, a type of residence where a common courtyard is shared by the surrounding buildings. Among the more grand examples are the Prince Gong Mansion and Residence of Soong Ching-ling. These courtyards are usually connected by alleys called hutongs. The hutongs are generally straight and run east to west so that doorways face north and south for good Feng Shui. They vary in width; some are so narrow only a few pedestrians can pass through at a time. Once ubiquitous in Beijing, siheyuans and hutongs are rapidly disappearing,^[74] as entire city blocks of hutongs are replaced by high-rise buildings.^[75] Residents of the hutongs are entitled to live in the new buildings in apartments 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,^[76] and these properties are often government owned.^[77]

Climate

Beijing average annual temperatures from 1970 to 2019 during summer (June, July, and August) and winter (December, January, and February). Weather station data from ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/noaa/. For comparison the Global Surface Temperature Anomaly rose by approximately one degree over the same time period.

Beijing has a monsoon-influenced humid continental climate (Köppen: Dwa), bordering on a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSk), characterized by hot, humid summers due to the East Asian monsoon, and brief but cold, dry winters that reflect the influence of the vast Siberian anticyclone.^[78] Spring can bear witness to sandstorms blowing in from the Gobi Desert across the Mongolian steppe, accompanied by rapidly warming, but generally dry, conditions. Autumn, similar to spring, is a season of transition and minimal precipitation. The monthly daily average temperature in January is −2.9 °C (26.8 °F), while in July it is 26.9 °C (80.4 °F). Precipitation averages around 570 mm (22 in) annually, with close to three-quarters of that total falling from June to August. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 47% in July to 65% in January and February, the city receives 2,671 hours of bright sunshine annually. Extremes since 1951 have ranged from −27.4 °C (−17.3 °F) on 22 February 1966 to 41.9 °C (107.4 °F) on 24 July 1999 (unofficial record of 42.6 °C (108.7 °F) was set on 15 June 1942).^[79][80]

See or edit raw graph data.

Environmental issues

Beijing has a long history of environmental problems.^[85] Between 2000 and 2009 Beijing's urban extent quadrupled, which not only strongly increased the extent of anthropogenic emissions, but also changed the meteorological situation fundamentally, even if emissions of human society are not included. For example, surface albedo, wind speed and humidity near the surface were decreased, whereas ground and near-surface air temperatures, vertical air dilution and ozone levels were increased.^[86] Because of the combined factors of urbanization and pollution caused by burning of fossil fuel, Beijing is often affected by serious environmental problems, which lead to health issues of many inhabitants. In 2013 heavy smog struck Beijing and most parts of northern China, impacting a total of 600 million people. After this "pollution shock" air pollution became an important economic and social concern in China. After that the government of Beijing announced measures to reduce air pollution, for example by lowering the share of coal from 24% in 2012 to 10% in 2017, while the national government ordered heavily polluting vehicles to be removed from 2015 to 2017 and increased its efforts to transition the energy system to clean sources.^[87]

Air quality

Joint research between American and Chinese researchers in 2006 concluded that much of the city's pollution comes from surrounding cities and provinces. On average 35–60% of the ozone can be traced to sources outside the city. Shandong Province and Tianjin Municipality have a "significant influence on Beijing's air quality",^[88] partly due to the prevailing south/southeasterly flow during the summer and the mountains to the north and northwest.

Heavy air pollution has resulted in widespread smog. These photographs, taken in August 2005, show the variations in Beijing's air quality.

In preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics and to fulfill promises to clean up the city's air, nearly US$17 billion was spent.^[89] Beijing implemented a number of air improvement schemes for the duration of the Games, including halting work at all construction sites, closing many factories in Beijing permanently, temporarily shutting industry in neighboring regions, closing some gas stations,^[90] and cutting motor traffic by half by limiting drivers to odd or even days (based on their license plate numbers),^[91] reducing bus and subway fares, opening new subway lines, and banning high-emission vehicles.^[92][93] The city further assembled 3,800 natural gas-powered buses, one of the largest fleets in the world.^[89] Beijing became the first city in China to require the Chinese equivalent to the Euro 4 emission standard.^[94]

Coal burning accounts for about 40% of the PM 2.5 in Beijing and is also the chief source of nitrogen and sulphur dioxide.^[95] Since 2012, the city has been converting coal-fired power stations to burn natural gas^[96] and aims to cap annual coal consumption at 20 million tons. In 2011, the city burned 26.3 million tons of coal, 73% of which for heating and power generation and the remainder for industry.^[96] Much of the city's air pollutants are emitted by neighboring regions.^[95] Coal consumption in neighboring Tianjin is expected to increase from 48 to 63 million tons from 2011 to 2015.^[97] Hebei Province burned over 300 million tons of coal in 2011, more than all of Germany, of which only 30% were used for power generation and a considerable portion for steel and cement making.^[98] Power plants in the coal-mining regions of Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi, where coal consumption has tripled since 2000, and Shandong also contribute to air pollution in Beijing.^[95] Shandong, Shanxi, Hebei and Inner Mongolia, respectively rank from first to fourth, among Chinese provinces by coal consumption.^[97] There were four major coal-fired power plants in the city to provide electricity as well as heating during the winter. The first one (Gaojing Thermal Power Plant) was shut down in 2014.^[99] Another two were shut in March 2015. The last one (Huaneng Thermal Power Plant) would be shut in 2016.^[100] Between 2013 and 2017, the city planned to reduce 13 million tons of coal consumption and cap coal consumption to 15 million tons in 2015.^[100]

The government sometimes uses cloud-seeding measures to increase the likelihood of rain showers in the region to clear the air prior to large events, such as prior to the 60th anniversary parade in 2009 as well as to combat drought conditions in the area.^[101] More recently, however, the government has increased its usage of such measures as closing factories temporarily and implementing greater restrictions for cars on the road, as in the case of "APEC blue" and "parade blue," short periods during and immediately preceding the APEC China 2014 and the 2015 China Victory Day Parade, respectively.^[102] During and prior to these events, Beijing's air quality improved dramatically, only to fall back to unhealthy levels shortly after.

Beijing air quality is often poor, especially in winter. In mid-January 2013, Beijing's air quality was measured on top of the city's US embassy at a PM2.5 density of 755 micrograms per cubic meter, which is more than 75 times the safe level established by the WHO, and went off the US Environmental Protection Agency's air quality index. It was widely reported, originally through a Twitter account, that the category was "crazy bad". This was later changed to "beyond index".^[103]

On 8 and 9 December 2015 Beijing had its first smog alert which shut down a majority of the industry and other commercial businesses in the city.^[104] Later in the month another smog "red alert" was issued.^[105]

According to Beijing's environmental protection bureau's announcement in November 2016, starting from 2017 highly polluting old cars will be banned from being driven whenever Smog "red alerts" are issued in the city or neighboring regions.^[106]

In recent years, there has been measurable reductions in pollutants after the "war on pollution" was declared in 2014, with Beijing seeing a 35% reduction in fine particulates in 2017.^[107]

Readings

Due to Beijing's high level of air pollution, there are various readings by different sources on the subject. Daily pollution readings at 27 monitoring stations around the city are reported on the website of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau (BJEPB).^[108] The American Embassy of Beijing also reports hourly fine particulate (PM2.5) and ozone levels on Twitter.^[109] Since the BJEPB and US Embassy measure different pollutants according to different criteria, the pollution levels and the impact to human health reported by the BJEPB are often lower than that reported by the US Embassy.^[109]

The smog is causing harm and danger to the population. The air pollution does directly result in significant impact on the mobility rate of cardiovascular disease and respiratory disease in Beijing.^[110] Exposure to large concentrations of polluted air can cause respiratory and cardiovascular problems, emergency room visits, and even death.^[111]

Dust storms

Dust from the erosion of deserts in northern and northwestern China results in seasonal dust storms that plague the city; the Beijing Weather Modification Office sometimes artificially induces rainfall to fight such storms and mitigate their effects.^[112] In the first four months of 2006 alone, there were no fewer than eight such storms.^[113] In April 2002, one dust storm alone dumped nearly 50,000 tons of dust onto the city before moving on to Japan and Korea.^[114]

Discover more about Geography related topics

Geography of Beijing

Geography of Beijing

Beijing is a municipality located in North China at the northern tip of the North China Plain, near the meeting point of the Xishan and Yanshan mountain ranges. The city itself lies on flat land that opens to the east and south. The municipality's outlying districts and counties extend into the mountains that surround the city from the southwest to the northeast. The highest peaks are over 2,000 m (6,600 ft).

Landsat 7

Landsat 7

Landsat 7 is the seventh satellite of the Landsat program. Launched on 15 April 1999, Landsat 7's primary goal is to refresh the global archive of satellite photos, providing up-to-date and cloud-free images. The Landsat program is managed and operated by the United States Geological Survey, and data from Landsat 7 is collected and distributed by the USGS. The NASA WorldWind project allows 3D images from Landsat 7 and other sources to be freely navigated and viewed from any angle. The satellite's companion, Earth Observing-1, trailed by one minute and followed the same orbital characteristics, but in 2011 its fuel was depleted and EO-1's orbit began to degrade. Landsat 7 was built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems.

North China Plain

North China Plain

The North China Plain or Huang-Huai-Hai Plain is a large-scale downfaulted rift basin formed in the late Paleogene and Neogene and then modified by the deposits of the Yellow River. It is the largest alluvial plain of China. The plain is bordered to the north by the Yanshan Mountains, to the west by the Taihang Mountains, to the south by the Dabie Mountains, and to the east by the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea. The Yellow River flows through the plain, before its waters empty into the Bohai Sea.

Huairou District

Huairou District

Huairou District is situated in northern Beijing about 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the city center.

Jundu Mountains

Jundu Mountains

Jundu Mountains is a mountain range north of Beijing in China. Jundu Mountains represent the west part of the Yan Mountains. The Great Wall of China passes through Jundu Mountains with famous sections as Badaling.

Great Wall of China

Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic groups from the Eurasian Steppe. Several walls were built from as early as the 7th century BC, with selective stretches later joined by Qin Shi Huang (220–206 BC), the first emperor of China. Little of the Qin wall remains. Later on, many successive dynasties built and maintained multiple stretches of border walls. The best-known sections of the wall were built by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).

Mount Ling (Beijing)

Mount Ling (Beijing)

Mount Ling, also known as Mount Dongling (东灵山), Lingshan or Donglingshan, is a mountain in the Western Hills, an extension of the Taihang Mountains. It is located in Mentougou District, Beijing, about 120 kilometers to the west of downtown Beijing. The mountain is significant for its wildlife, especially birds. At an elevation of 2,303 metres, the summit is the highest point within the Municipality of Beijing.

Hebei

Hebei

Hebei or, is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and 0.3% Mongol. Three Mandarin dialects are spoken: Jilu Mandarin, Beijing Mandarin and Jin.

Chaobai River

Chaobai River

The Chaobai River is a river in northern China. The river is 458 km long and flows from the confluence of the Chao and Bai Rivers at the Miyun Reservoir in Beijing Municipality through Hebei Province and into the Grand Canal of the Hai River system in Tianjin Municipality. Its average depth is 2.5 meters.

Juma River (China)

Juma River (China)

Juma River is a river in northern China that emerges from a spring-fed lake in Laiyuan County, Hebei Province and flows to Fangshan District in Beijing Municipality before emptying into the Daqing River, a tributary of the Hai River. The length of the river is approximately 254 km. At Shidu, the meandering river creates a deep valley in the scenic karst landscape. At Zhangfang, the river forks into the Northern and Southern Juma, both of which flow into the Daqing. The Beijing–Yuanping Railway follows the Juma River through the Taihang Mountains.

Hai River

Hai River

The Hai River, also known as the Peiho, Pei Ho, or Hai Ho, is a Chinese river connecting Beijing to Tianjin and the Bohai Sea.

Hangzhou

Hangzhou

Hangzhou, also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, which separates Shanghai and Ningbo. Hangzhou grew to prominence as the southern terminus of the Grand Canal and has been one of China's most renowned and prosperous cities for much of the last millennium. It is a major economic and e-commerce hub within China, and the second biggest city in Yangtze Delta after Shanghai. Hangzhou is classified as a sub-provincial city and forms the core of the Hangzhou metropolitan area, the fourth-largest in China after Guangzhou-Shenzhen Pearl River agglomeration, Shanghai-Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou conurbation and Beijing. As of 2019, the Hangzhou metropolitan area was estimated to produce a gross metropolitan product (nominal) of 3.2 trillion yuan, making it larger than the economy of Nigeria. As of the 2020 Chinese census, it had a total population of 11,936,010 inhabitants. However, its metropolitan area, populated by 13.035 million people over an area of 8,107.9 km2 (3,130.5 sq mi), consists of all urban districts in Hangzhou and 3 urban districts of the city of Shaoxing.

The municipal government is regulated by the local Chinese Communist Party (CCP), led by the Beijing CCP Secretary (Chinese: 中共北京市委书记). The local CCP issues administrative orders, collects taxes, manages the economy, and directs a standing committee of the Municipal People's Congress in making policy decisions and overseeing the local government.

Government officials include the mayor (Chinese: 市长) and vice-mayor. Numerous bureaus focus on law, public security, and other affairs. Additionally, as the capital of China, Beijing houses all of the important national governmental and political institutions, including the National People's Congress.^[115]

Administrative divisions

Beijing Municipality currently comprises 16 administrative county-level subdivisions including 16 urban, suburban, and rural districts. On 1 July 2010, Chongwen and Xuanwu were merged into Dongcheng and Xicheng, respectively. On 13 November 2015 Miyun and Yanqing were upgraded to districts.

Administrative divisions of Beijing
Dongcheng Xicheng Chaoyang Fengtai Shijingshan Haidian Mentougou Fangshan Tongzhou Shunyi Changping Daxing Huairou Pinggu Miyun Yanqing
Division code[116]	Division	Area in km2[117]	Total population 2010[118]	Urban area population 2010[119]	Seat	Postal code	Subdivisions[120]
							Subdistricts	Towns	Townships [n 1]	Residential communities	Villages
110000	Beijing	16406.16	19,612,368	16,858,692	Dongcheng / Tongzhou	100000	149	143	38	2538	3857
110101	Dongcheng	41.82	919,253		Jingshan Subdistrict	100000	17			216
110102	Xicheng	50.33	1,243,315		Jinrong Street Subdistrict	100000	15			259
110105	Chaoyang	454.78	3,545,137	3,532,257	Chaowai Subdistrict	100000	24		19	358	5
110106	Fengtai	305.53	2,112,162	2,098,632	Fengtai Subdistrict	100000	16	2	3	254	73
110107	Shijingshan	84.38	616,083		Lugu Subdistrict	100000	9			130
110108	Haidian	430.77	3,280,670	3,208,563	Haidian Subdistrict	100000	22	7		603	84
110109	Mentougou	1447.85	290,476	248,547	Dayu Subdistrict	102300	4	9		124	179
110111	Fangshan	1994.73	944,832	635,282	Gongchen Subdistrict	102400	8	14	6	108	462
110112	Tongzhou	905.79	1,184,256	724,228	Beiyuan Subdistrict	101100	6	10	1	40	480
110113	Shunyi	1019.51	876,620	471,459	Shengli Subdistrict	101300	6	19		61	449
110114	Changping	1342.47	1,660,501	1,310,617	Chengbei Subdistrict	102200	8	14		180	303
110115	Daxing	1036.34	1,365,112	965,683	Xingfeng Subdistrict	102600	5	14		64	547
110116	Huairou	2122.82	372,887	253,088	Longshan Subdistrict	101400	2	12	2	27	286
110117	Pinggu	948.24	415,958	219,850	Binhe Subdistrict	101200	2	14	2	23	275
110118	Miyun	2225.92	467,680	257,449	Gulou Subdistrict	101500	2	17	1	57	338
110119	Yanqing	1994.89	317,426	154,386	Rulin Subdistrict	102100	3	11	4	34	376

Houhai Lake and Drum Tower at Shichahai, in the Xicheng District

Towns

Beijing's 16 county-level divisions (districts) are further subdivided into 273 lower third-level administrative units at the township level: 119 towns, 24 townships, 5 ethnic townships and 125 subdistricts. Towns within Beijing Municipality but outside the urban area include (but are not limited to):

Several place names in Beijing end with mén (门), meaning "gate", as they were the locations of gates in the former Beijing city wall. Other place names end in cūn (村), meaning "village", as they were originally villages outside the city wall.

Judiciary and procuracy

The judicial system in Beijing consists of the Supreme People's Court, the highest court in the country, the Beijing Municipal High People's Court, the high people's court of the municipality, three intermediate people's courts, one intermediate railway transport court, 14 basic people's court (one for each of the municipality's districts and counties), and one basic railway transport court. The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court in Shijingshan oversees the basic courts of Haidian, Shijingshan, Mentougou, Changping and Yanqing.^[121] The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court in Fengtai oversees the basic courts of Dongcheng, Xicheng, Fengtai, Fangshan and Daxing.^[121] The Beijing No. 3 Intermediate People's Court in Laiguangying, is the newest of the three intermediate people's courts and opened on 21 August 2013.^[121] It oversees the district courts of Chaoyang, Tongzhou, Shunyi, Huairou, Pinggu and Miyun.^[121][122] Each court in Beijing has a corresponding people's procuratorate.

Discover more about Government related topics

Politics of Beijing

Politics of Beijing

The politics of Beijing is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in the mainland of the People's Republic of China.

Chinese Communist Party

Chinese Communist Party

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil War against the Kuomintang, and, in 1949, Mao proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Since then, the CCP has governed China with eight smaller parties within its united front and has sole control over the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Each successive leader of the CCP has added their own theories to the party's constitution, which outlines the ideological beliefs of the party, collectively referred to as socialism with Chinese characteristics. As of 2022, the CCP has more than 96 million members, making it the second largest political party by party membership in the world after India's Bharatiya Janata Party. The Chinese public generally refers to the CCP as simply "the Party".

Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary

Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary

A Party Committee Secretary is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the de facto highest political office of its area of jurisdiction. The term can also be used for the leadership position of CCP organizations in state-owned enterprises, private companies, foreign-owned companies, universities, research institutes, hospitals, as well as other institutions of the state.

Chinese language

Chinese language

Chinese is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people speak a variety of Chinese as their first language.

National People's Congress

National People's Congress

The National People's Congress (NPC) is the national legislature and constitutionally the supreme state authority of the People's Republic of China.

List of administrative divisions of Beijing

List of administrative divisions of Beijing

Beijing is one of the four direct-controlled municipalities of the People's Republic of China, and is divided into 16 districts.

List of township-level divisions of Beijing

List of township-level divisions of Beijing

This is a list of township-level divisions of the municipality of Beijing, People's Republic of China (PRC). After province, prefecture, and county-level divisions, township-level divisions constitute the formal fourth-level administrative divisions of the PRC. However, as Beijing is a province-level municipality, the prefecture-level divisions are absent and so county-level divisions are at the second level, and township-level divisions are at the third level of administration. There are a total of 331 such divisions in Beijing, divided into 150 subdistricts, 143 towns and 38 townships. This list is organised by the county-level divisions of the municipality.

Chongwen District

Chongwen District

Chongwen District is a former district of Beijing, located relatively southeast to the city center (Tiananmen), and was situated between Yongdingmen and Qianmen. It spanned an area of 16.46 square kilometres (6.36 sq mi). It bordered Dongcheng District to the north, Fengtai District to the south, Chaoyang District to the east, and Xuanwu District to the west. It merged into the Dongcheng District in July 2010.

Miyun District

Miyun District

Miyun District is situated in northeast Beijing. It has an area of 2,227 square kilometres (860 sq mi) and a population of 460,800. Miyun District government seat is located in Gulou Subdistrict.

Dongcheng District, Beijing

Dongcheng District, Beijing

The Dongcheng District of Beijing covers the eastern half of Beijing's urban core, including all of the eastern half of the Old City inside of the 2nd Ring Road with the northernmost extent crossing into the area within the 3rd Ring Road. Its 40.6 km2 (15.7 sq mi) area is further subdivided into 17 subdistricts.

Chaoyang District, Beijing

Chaoyang District, Beijing

Chaoyang District is a core district of Beijing. It borders the districts of Shunyi to the northeast, Tongzhou to the east and southeast, Daxing to the south, Fengtai to the southwest, Dongcheng, Xicheng and Haidian to the west, and Changping to the northwest.

Fengtai District

Fengtai District

Fengtai District is a district of the municipality of Beijing. It lies mostly to the southwest of the city center, extending into the city's southwestern suburbs beyond the Sixth Ring Road, but also to the south and, to a smaller extent, the southeast, where it has borders with Chaoyang District and Dongcheng District.

Xidan is one of the oldest and busiest shopping areas in Beijing.

Beijing products treemap, 2020

As of 2018^[update], Beijing's nominal GDP was US$458 billion (CN￥3.0 trillion), about 3.45% of the country's GDP and ranked 12th among province-level administrative units; its nominal GDP per capita was US$21,261 (CN￥140,748) and ranked the 1st in the country.^[123] As of 2021, Beijing's gross regional products was CN￥4 trillion ($965 billion in GDP PPP),^[124] ranking among the tenth largest metropolitan economies in the world.^[125] Beijing's nominal GDP is projected to reach US$1.1 trillion in 2035, ranking among the world's top 10 largest cities (together with Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in China) according to a study by Oxford Economics,^[126] and its nominal GDP per capita will reach US$45,000 in 2030.^[127]

Due to the concentration of state owned enterprises in the national capital, Beijing in 2013 had more Fortune Global 500 Company headquarters than any other city in the world.^[128] As of August 2022, Beijing has 54 Fortune Global 500 companies, more than Japan (47), the third-place country after China (145) and the United States (124).^[129][130] Beijing has also been described as the "billionaire capital of the world".^[131][132] In 2020, Beijing is the fifth wealthiest city in the world, with a total wealth amounts to $2 trillion.^[133] Beijing is classified as an Alpha+ (global first-tier) city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, indicating its influence in the region and worldwide and making it one of the world's Top 10 major cities.^[134] In the 2021 Global Financial Centres Index, Beijing was ranked as having the sixth-most competitive financial center in the world and fourth-most competitive in the whole Asia & Oceania region (behind Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore).^[135]

As of 2021, Beijing was ranked first globally in terms of "Global City Competitiveness" in the 2020–2021 Global Urban Competitiveness Report jointly released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and the United Nations Programme for Human Settlements (UN-Habitat).^[136]

* Per-capita GDP is based on mid-year population.

Sector composition

The Taikoo Li Sanlitun shopping arcade is a destination for locals and visitors.

The city has a post-industrial economy that is dominated by the tertiary sector (services), which generated 76.9% of output, followed by the secondary sector (manufacturing, construction) at 22.2% and the primary sector (agriculture, mining) at 0.8%.

The services sector is broadly diversified with professional services, wholesale and retail, information technology, commercial real estate, scientific research, and residential real estate each contributing at least 6% to the city's economy in 2013.^[139]

The single largest sub-sector remains industry, whose share of overall output has shrunk to 18.1% in 2013.^[139] The mix of industrial output has changed significantly since 2010 when the city announced that 140 highly-polluting, energy and water resource intensive enterprises would be relocated from the city in five years.^[140] The relocation of Capital Steel to neighboring Hebei province had begun in 2005.^[141][142] In 2013, output of automobiles, aerospace products, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and food processing all increased.^[139]

In the farmland around Beijing, vegetables and fruits have displaced grain as the primary crops under cultivation.^[139] In 2013, the tonnage of vegetable, edible fungus and fruit harvested was over three times that of grain.^[139] In 2013, overall acreage under cultivation shrank along with most categories of produce as more land was reforested for environmental reasons.^[139]

Economic zones

The skyline of Beijing CBD

Zhongguancun is a technology hub in Haidian District.

In 2006, the city government identified six high-end economic output zones around Beijing as the primary engines for local economic growth. In 2012, the six zones produced 43.3% of the city's GDP, up from 36.5% in 2007.^[143][144] The six zones are:

1. Zhongguancun, China's silicon village in Haidian District northwest of the city, is home to both established and start-up tech companies. In the first two quarters of 2014, 9,895 companies registered in the six zones, among which 6,150 were based in Zhongguancun.^[145] Zhongguancun is also the center of Beijing-Tianjin-Shijiazhuang Hi-Tech Industrial Belt.
2. Beijing Financial Street, in Xicheng District on the west side of the city between Fuxingmen and Fuchengmen, is lined with headquarters of large state banks and insurance companies. The country's financial regulatory agencies including the central bank, bank regulator, securities regulator, and foreign exchange authority are located in the neighborhood.
3. Beijing Central Business District (CBD), is actually located to the east of downtown, near the embassies along the eastern Third Ring Road between Jianguomenwai and Chaoyangmenwai. The CBD is home to most of the city's skyscraper office buildings. Most of the city's foreign companies and professional service firms are based in the CBD.
4. Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area, better known as Yizhuang, is an industrial park the straddles the southern Fifth Ring Road in Daxing District. It has attracted pharmaceutical, information technology, and materials engineering companies.^[146]
5. Beijing Airport Economic Zone was created in 1993 and surrounds the Beijing Capital International Airport in Shunyi District northeast of the city. In addition to logistics, airline services, and trading firms, this zone is also home to Beijing's automobile assembly plants.
6. Beijing Olympic Center Zone surrounds the Olympic Green due north of downtown and is developing into an entertainment, sports, tourism and business convention center.

Shijingshan, on the western outskirts of the city, is a traditional heavy industrial base for steel-making.^[147] Chemical plants are concentrated in the far eastern suburbs.

Less legitimate enterprises also exist. Urban Beijing is known for being a center of infringed goods; anything from the latest designer clothing to DVDs can be found in markets all over the city, often marketed to expatriates and international visitors.^[148]

Discover more about Economy related topics

Economy of Beijing

Economy of Beijing

The economy of Beijing ranks among the most developed and prosperous cities in China. In 2013, the municipality's nominal gross domestic product (GDP) was CN￥1.95 trillion. It was about 3.43% of the country's total output, and ranked 13th among province-level administrative units. Per capita GDP, at CN￥93,213 (US$15,051) in nominal terms and Int $21,948 at purchasing power parity, was 2.2 times the national average and ranked second among province-level administrative units.

Gross domestic product

Gross domestic product

Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold in a specific time period by a country or countries, generally "without double counting the intermediate goods and services used up to produce them". GDP is most often used by the government of a single country to measure its economic health. Due to its complex and subjective nature, this measure is often revised before being considered a reliable indicator. GDP (nominal) per capita does not, however, reflect differences in the cost of living and the inflation rates of the countries; therefore, using a basis of GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) may be more useful when comparing living standards between nations, while nominal GDP is more useful comparing national economies on the international market. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of each industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the total population of the region is the per capita GDP.

List of Chinese administrative divisions by GDP

List of Chinese administrative divisions by GDP

The article lists China's province-level divisions by gross domestic product (GDP). Each province's GDP is listed in both the national currency renminbi (CN¥), and at nominal U.S. dollar values according to annual average exchange rates.

Administrative divisions of China

Administrative divisions of China

The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since ancient times, due to China's large population and geographical area. The constitution of China provides for three levels of government. However in practice, there are five levels of local government; the provincial, prefecture, county, township, and village.

List of Chinese administrative divisions by GDP per capita

List of Chinese administrative divisions by GDP per capita

The article China's first-level administrative divisions by their gross domestic product per capita in main years. All figures are given in the national currency, renminbi (CNY), and in USD at nominal values according to recent exchange rates as well as according to purchasing power parity (PPP). The average CNY exchange rate used here is from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, and CNY PPP exchange rates are estimated according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Gross regional product

Gross regional product

Gross regional product (GRP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a region or subdivision of a country in a period of time.

Guangzhou

Guangzhou

Guangzhou, also known as Canton and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about 120 km (75 mi) north-northwest of Hong Kong and 145 km (90 mi) north of Macau, Guangzhou has a history of over 2,200 years and was a major terminus of the maritime Silk Road; it continues to serve as a major port and transportation hub as well as being one of China's three largest cities. For a long time, the only Chinese port accessible to most foreign traders, Guangzhou was captured by the British during the First Opium War. No longer enjoying a monopoly after the war, it lost trade to other ports such as Hong Kong and Shanghai, but continued to serve as a major transshipment port. Due to a high urban population and large volumes of port traffic, Guangzhou is classified as a Large-Port Megacity, the largest type of port-city in the world. Due to worldwide travel restrictions at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, the major airport of Guangzhou, briefly became the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic in 2020.

Oxford Economic Papers

Oxford Economic Papers

Oxford Economic Papers is a peer reviewed academic journal of general economics published by Oxford University Press.

Fortune Global 500

Fortune Global 500

The Fortune Global 500, also known as Global 500, is an annual ranking of the top 500 corporations worldwide as measured by revenue. The list is compiled and published annually by Fortune magazine.

Billionaire

Billionaire

A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American business magazine Forbes produces a global list of known U.S. dollar billionaires every year and updates an Internet version of this list in real-time. The American oil magnate John D. Rockefeller became the world's first confirmed U.S. dollar billionaire in 1916.

Globalization and World Cities Research Network

Globalization and World Cities Research Network

The Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) is a think tank that studies the relationships between world cities in the context of globalization. It is based in the geography department of Loughborough University in Leicestershire, United Kingdom. GaWC was founded by Peter J. Taylor in 1998. Together with Jon Beaverstock and Richard G. Smith, they create the GaWC's biennial categorization of world cities into "Alpha", "Beta" and "Gamma" tiers, based upon their international connectedness.

Global Financial Centres Index

Global Financial Centres Index

The Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) is a ranking of the competitiveness of financial centres based on over 29,000 financial centre assessments from an online questionnaire together with over 100 indices from organisations such as the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the Economist Intelligence Unit. The first index was published in March 2007. It has been jointly published twice per year by Z/Yen Group in London and the China Development Institute in Shenzhen since 2015, and is widely quoted as a top source for ranking financial centres.

In 2013, Beijing had a total population of 21.148 million within the municipality, of which 18.251 million resided in urban districts or suburban townships and 2.897 million lived in rural villages.^[139] The encompassing metropolitan area was estimated by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) to have, as of 2010^[update], a population of 24.9 million.^[150][151]

Within China, the city ranked second in urban population after Shanghai and the third in municipal population after Shanghai and Chongqing. Beijing also ranks among the most populous cities in the world, a distinction the city has held for much of the past 800 years, especially during the 15th to early 19th centuries when it was the largest city in the world.

About 13 million of the city's residents in 2013 had local hukou permits, which entitles them to permanent residence in Beijing.^[139] The remaining 8 million residents had hukou permits elsewhere and were not eligible to receive some social benefits provided by the Beijing municipal government.^[139]

The population increased in 2013 by 455,000 or about 7% from the previous year and continued a decade-long trend of rapid growth.^[139] The total population in 2004 was 14.213 million.^[152] The population gains are driven largely by migration. The population's rate of natural increase in 2013 was a mere 0.441%, based on a birth rate of 8.93 and a mortality rate of 4.52.^[139] The gender balance was 51.6% males and 48.4% females.^[139]

Working age people account for nearly 80% of the population. Compared to 2004, residents age 0–14 as a proportion of the population dropped from 9.96% to 9.5% in 2013 and residents over the age of 65 declined from 11.12% to 9.2%.^[139][152] From 2000 to 2010, the percentage of city residents with at least some college education nearly doubled from 16.8% to 31.5%.^[153] About 22.2% have some high school education and 31% had reached middle school.^[153]

According to the 2010 census, nearly 96% of Beijing's population are ethnic Han Chinese.^[153] Of the 800,000 ethnic minority population living in the capital, Manchu (336,000), Hui (249,000), Korean (77,000), Mongol (37,000) and Tujia (24,000) constitute the five largest groups.^[154] In addition, there were 8,045 Hong Kong residents, 500 Macau residents, and 7,772 Taiwan residents along with 91,128 registered foreigners living in Beijing.^[153] A study by the Beijing Academy of Sciences estimates that in 2010 there were on average 200,000 foreigners living in Beijing on any given day including students, business travellers and tourists that are not counted as registered residents.^[155]

In 2017 the Chinese government implemented population controls for Beijing and Shanghai to fight what it called the "big city disease" which includes congestion, pollution, and shortages of education and health care services. From this policy, Beijing's population declined by 20,000 from 2016 to 2017.^[156] Some low-income people are being forcibly removed from the city as both legal and illegal housing is being demolished in some high-density residential neighborhoods.^[156] The population is being redistributed to Jing-Jin-Ji and Xiong'an New Area, the transfer to the latter expected to include 300,000-500,000 people working in government research, universities, and corporate headquarters.^[157][158]

Discover more about Demographics related topics

Demographics of Beijing

Demographics of Beijing

The registered population of Beijing Municipality consists of people holding either Beijing permanent residence hukou permits or temporary residence permits. The 2010 census revealed that the official total population in Beijing was 19,612,368, representing a 44% increase over the last decade. In 2006, the population of the urban core was 13.33 million, 84.3 percent of the total municipal population, which officially stood at 15.81 million. Urban sprawl continues at a rapid pace.

Metropolitan area

Metropolitan area

A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually comprises multiple principal cities, jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships, boroughs, cities, towns, exurbs, suburbs, counties, districts, as well as even states and nations like the eurodistricts. As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions.

OECD

OECD

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. It is a forum whose member countries describe themselves as committed to democracy and the market economy, providing a platform to compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practices, and coordinate domestic and international policies of its members.

List of cities in China by population

List of cities in China by population

As of 2022, China is the world's most populous country. According to Demographia, in 2017 there were 102 Chinese cities with over 1 million people in the "urban area", as defined by the group's methodology.

List of largest cities throughout history

List of largest cities throughout history

This article lists the largest human settlements in the world over time, as estimated by historians, from 7000 BC when the largest populated place in the world was a proto-city in the Ancient Near East with a population of about 1,000–2,000 people, to the year 2000 when the largest urban area was Tokyo with 26 million. Alexandria, Rome, or Baghdad may have been the first city to have 1,000,000 people, as early as 100 BC or as late as 925 AD. They were later surpassed by Constantinople, Chang'an, Kaifeng, Hangzhou, Jinling, Beijing, Edo, London, and New York, among others, before Tokyo took the crown in the mid-20th century. As of 2020, the Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, with more than 37.393 million residents.

Birth rate

Birth rate

The birth rate for a given period is the total number of live human births per 1,000 population divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registration system for births; population counts from a census, and estimation through specialized demographic techniques. The birth rate is used to calculate population growth. The estimated average population may be taken as the mid-year population.

Mortality rate

Mortality rate

Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of deaths per 1,000 individuals per year; thus, a mortality rate of 9.5 in a population of 1,000 would mean 9.5 deaths per year in that entire population, or 0.95% out of the total. It is distinct from "morbidity", which is either the prevalence or incidence of a disease, and also from the incidence rate.

Human sex ratio

Human sex ratio

In anthropology and demography, the human sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. Like most sexual species, the sex ratio in humans is close to 1:1. In humans, the natural ratio at birth between males and females is slightly biased towards the male sex: it is estimated to be about 1.05 or 1.06 or within a narrow range from 1.03 to 1.06 males per female.

Han Chinese

Han Chinese

The Han Chinese or Han people, are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive varieties of the Chinese language. The estimated 1.4 billion Han Chinese people worldwide are primarily concentrated in the People's Republic of China, where they make up about 92% of the total population. In Taiwan, they make up about 97% of the population. People of Han Chinese descent also make up around 75% of the total population of Singapore.

Manchu people

Manchu people

The Manchus are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and Qing (1636–1912) dynasties of China were established and ruled by the Manchus, who are descended from the Jurchen people who earlier established the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in northern China. Manchus form the largest branch of the Tungusic peoples and are distributed throughout China, forming the fourth largest ethnic group in the country. They can be found in 31 Chinese provincial regions. Among them, Liaoning has the largest population and Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Beijing have over 100,000 Manchu residents. About half of the population live in Liaoning and one-fifth in Hebei. There are a number of Manchu autonomous counties in China, such as Xinbin, Xiuyan, Qinglong, Fengning, Yitong, Qingyuan, Weichang, Kuancheng, Benxi, Kuandian, Huanren, Fengcheng, Beizhen and over 300 Manchu towns and townships. Manchus are the largest minority group in China without an autonomous region.

Hui people in Beijing

Hui people in Beijing

Beijing has a large community of Hui people, totaling 249,223 people per the 2010 Chinese Census, or 2.35% of the city's total population. As of 2010, the Hui are the second largest minority in the city, behind the Manchu. Neighborhoods with high concentrations of Hui people, such as Niujie, exist throughout the city.

Jing-Jin-Ji

Jing-Jin-Ji

The Jingjinji Metropolitan Region or Jing-Jin-Ji (JJJ), is the National Capital Region of the People's Republic of China. It is the biggest urbanized megalopolis region in North China, including an economic region surrounding the municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin, and along the coast of the Bohai Sea. This emerging region is rising as a northern metropolitan region rivaling the Pearl River Delta in the south and the Yangtze River Delta in the east. In 2020, Jingjinji had a total population of 110 million people, comparable to that of the Philippines.

Beijing is a world leading center for scientific and technological innovation and has been ranked the No.1 city in the world with the largest scientific research output, as tracked by the Nature Index since 2016.^{[31][159][32]} The city is also leading the world with the highest share of articles published in the fields of physical sciences, chemistry, and earth and environmental sciences, especially in the United Nations'17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related output.^{[160][161][162][163]}

Beijing has over 90 public colleges and universities, which is the largest urban public university system in Asia and the first city in China with most higher education institutions,^[164][165] and it is home to the two best universities (Tsinghua and Peking) in the whole of Asia-Oceania region and emerging countries with its shared rankings at 16th place in the world by the 2022 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.^{[166][167][30]} Both are members of the C9 League, an alliance of elite Chinese universities offering comprehensive and leading education.^[168]

Beijing also has the highest number of universities of any city in the country, representing more than one-fifth of 147 Double First-Class Universities, a national plan to develop elite Chinese universities into world-class institutions by the end of 2050.^[169] A number of Beijing's most prestigious universities consistently rank among the best in the Asia-Pacific and the world, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Beijing Normal University, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beihang University, Beijing Institute of Technology, China Agricultural University, Minzu University of China, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, University of International Business and Economics, University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Central University of Finance and Economics.^{[27][28][170][171]} These universities were selected as "985 universities" or "211 universities" by the Chinese government in order to build world-class universities.^[172][173]

Some of the national key universities in Beijing are:

Beijing is also home to several religious institutions, Some of them are listed as follows:

The city is a seat of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which has been consistently ranked the No.1 research institute in the world by Nature Index since the list's inception in 2014, by Nature Research.^{[174][175][176]} Beijing is also a site of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and National Natural Science Foundation of China.

The city's compulsory education system is among the best in the world: in 2018, 15-year-old students from Beijing (together with Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu) outperformed all of the other 78 participating countries in all categories (math, reading, and science) in the Program for International Student Assessment, a worldwide study of academic performance conducted by the OECD.^[177]

Discover more about Education and research related topics

Education in Beijing

Education in Beijing

Education in Beijing includes information about primary and secondary schools in Beijing.

Education in China

Education in China

Education in China is primarily managed by the state-run public education system, which falls under the Ministry of Education. All citizens must attend school for a minimum of nine years, known as nine-year compulsory education, which is funded by the government. Compulsory education includes six years of primary education, typically starting at the age of six and finishing at the age of twelve, followed by three years of junior secondary education. Middle schooling is followed by three years of high school, by the end of which secondary education is completed. Laws in China regulating the system of education include the Regulation on Academic Degrees, the Compulsory Education Law, the Teachers Law, the Education Law, the Law on Vocational Education, and the Law on Higher Education.

Higher education in China

Higher education in China

Higher education in China is the largest in the world. By the end of 2021, there were over 3,000 colleges and universities, with over 44.3 million students enrolled in mainland China and 240 million Chinese citizens having received high education. The system includes Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees, as well as non-degree programs, and is also open to foreign students.

List of universities and colleges in Beijing

List of universities and colleges in Beijing

This article is a list of universities and colleges in Beijing. There are at least 90 establishments of higher education in the Chinese capital, the first city with most higher education institutions nationwide. Most of the colleges and universities are public or affiliated; only a few are privately established.

List of universities in China

List of universities in China

This article is a non-comprehensive list of universities in China, which is defined as the People's Republic of China (PRC) in mainland China, as well as the Hong Kong and Macau SARs.

Double First Class University Plan

Double First Class University Plan

The World First Class University and First Class Academic Discipline Construction, together known as Double First Class, is a tertiary education development initiative designed by the People's Republic of China central government in 2015, which aims to comprehensively develop elite Chinese universities into world-class institutions by the end of 2050 through developing and strengthening their individual faculty departments. The Double First-Class University Plan has made new arrangements for the Chinese higher education institution development. The universities included in this plan are called Double First Class Universities.

List of cities by scientific output

List of cities by scientific output

The following article lists the cities and metropolitan areas with the greatest scientific output, according to the Nature Index. The Nature Index attempts to objectively measure the scientific output of institutions, cities and countries by the amount of scientific articles and papers published in leading journals. Differences in quality are taken into account. Only articles published in 82 selected quality journals are counted. These journals were selected by an independent committee. If authors from several institutions from different cities are involved in a scientific article, it is divided accordingly, assuming that all researchers were equally involved in the article.

Nature Index

Nature Index

The Nature Index is a database that tracks institutions and countries and their scientific output since its introduction in November, 2014. Each year, Nature Index ranks the leading institutions and countries by the number of scientific articles and papers published in leading journals. This ranking can also be categorized by individual fields of research such as life sciences, chemistry, physics, or earth sciences, with different institutions leading in each. The Nature Index was conceived by Nature Research. In total, more than 10,000 institutions are listed in the Nature Index.

Chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science under natural sciences that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, properties, behavior and the changes they undergo during a reaction with other substances. Chemistry also addresses the nature of chemical bonds in chemical compounds.

Public university

Public university

A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national university is considered public varies from one country to another, largely depending on the specific education landscape.

Peking University

Peking University

Peking University is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of China. A successor of the older Guozijian Imperial College, it was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter by the Guangxu Emperor.

C9 League

C9 League

The C9 League is an alliance of nine universities in China, initiated by the Chinese Central Government to promote the development and reputation of higher education in China in 2009. Collectively, universities in the C9 League account for 3% of the country's researchers, but receive 10% of national research expenditures. They produce 20% of the nation's academic publications and 30% of total citations. People's Daily, an official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, refers to the C9 League as China's Ivy League.

The Beijing Ancient Observatory

People native to urban Beijing speak the Beijing dialect, which belongs to the Mandarin subdivision of spoken Chinese. This speech is the basis for putonghua, the standard spoken language used in mainland China and Taiwan, and one of the four official languages of Singapore. Rural areas of Beijing Municipality have their own dialects akin to those of Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing Municipality.

Beijing or Peking opera is a traditional form of Chinese theater well known throughout the nation. Commonly lauded as one of the highest achievements of Chinese culture, Beijing opera is performed through a combination of song, spoken dialogue, and codified action sequences involving gestures, movement, fighting and acrobatics. Much of Beijing opera is carried out in an archaic stage dialect quite different from Modern Standard Chinese and from the modern Beijing dialect.^[178]

Beijing cuisine is the local style of cooking. Peking duck is perhaps the best known dish. Fuling jiabing, a traditional Beijing snack food, is a pancake (bing) resembling a flat disk with a filling made from fu ling, a fungus used in traditional Chinese medicine. Teahouses are also common in Beijing.

The cloisonné (or Jingtailan, literally "Blue of Jingtai") metalworking technique and tradition is a Beijing art speciality, and is one of the most revered traditional crafts in China. Cloisonné making requires elaborate and complicated processes which include base-hammering, copper-strip inlay, soldering, enamel-filling, enamel-firing, surface polishing and gilding.^[179] Beijing's lacquerware is also well known for its sophisticated and intricate patterns and images carved into its surface, and the various decoration techniques of lacquer include "carved lacquer" and "engraved gold".

Younger residents of Beijing have become more attracted to the nightlife, which has flourished in recent decades, breaking prior cultural traditions that had practically restricted it to the upper class.^[180] Today, Houhai, Sanlitun and Wudaokou are Beijing's nightlife hotspots.

In 2012 Beijing was named as City of Design and became part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.^[181]

Places of interest

...the city remains an epicenter of tradition with the treasures of nearly 2,000 years as the imperial capital still on view—in the famed Forbidden City and in the city's lush pavilions and gardens...

— National Geographic^[182]

Qianmen Avenue, a traditional commercial street outside Qianmen Gate along the southern Central Axis

At the historical heart of Beijing lies the Forbidden City, the enormous palace compound that was the home of the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties;^[183] the Forbidden City hosts the Palace Museum, which contains imperial collections of Chinese art. Surrounding the Forbidden City are several former imperial gardens, parks and scenic areas, notably Beihai, Shichahai, Zhongnanhai, Jingshan and Zhongshan. These places, particularly Beihai Park, are described as masterpieces of Chinese gardening art,^[184] and are tourist destinations of historical importance;^[185] in the modern era, Zhongnanhai has also been the political heart of various Chinese governments and regimes and is now the headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council. From Tiananmen Square, right across from the Forbidden City, there are several notable sites, such as the Tiananmen, Qianmen, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, the Monument to the People's Heroes, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. The Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace both lie at the western part of the city; the former, a UNESCO World Heritage Site,^[186] contains a comprehensive collection of imperial gardens and palaces that served as the summer retreats for the Qing imperial family.

Among the best known religious sites in the city is the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan), located in southeastern Beijing, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site,^[187] where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties made visits for annual ceremonies of prayers to Heaven for good harvest. In the north of the city is the Temple of Earth (Ditan), while the Temple of the Sun (Ritan) and the Temple of the Moon (Yuetan) lie in the eastern and western urban areas respectively. Other well-known temple sites include the Dongyue Temple, Tanzhe Temple, Miaoying Temple, White Cloud Temple, Yonghe Temple, Fayuan Temple, Wanshou Temple and Big Bell Temple. The city also has its own Confucius Temple, and a Guozijian or Imperial Academy. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, built in 1605, is the oldest Catholic church in Beijing. The Niujie Mosque is the oldest mosque in Beijing, with a history stretching back over a thousand years.

Inside the Forbidden City

Beijing contains several well-preserved pagodas and stone pagodas, such as the towering Pagoda of Tianning Temple, which was built during the Liao dynasty from 1100 to 1120, and the Pagoda of Cishou Temple, which was built in 1576 during the Ming dynasty. Historically noteworthy stone bridges include the 12th-century Lugou Bridge, the 17th-century Baliqiao bridge, and the 18th-century Jade Belt Bridge. The Beijing Ancient Observatory displays pre-telescopic spheres dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Fragrant Hills (Xiangshan) is a public park that consists of natural landscaped areas as well as traditional and cultural relics. The Beijing Botanical Garden exhibits over 6,000 species of plants, including a variety of trees, bushes and flowers, and an extensive peony garden. The Taoranting, Longtan, Chaoyang, Haidian, Milu Yuan and Zizhu Yuan parks are some of the notable recreational parks in the city. The Beijing Zoo is a center of zoological research that also contains rare animals from various continents, including the Chinese giant panda.

There are 144 museums and galleries (as of June 2008^[update]) in the city.^{[188][189][190]} In addition to the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City and the National Museum of China, other major museums include the National Art Museum of China, the Capital Museum, the Beijing Art Museum, the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution, the Geological Museum of China, the Beijing Museum of Natural History and the Paleozoological Museum of China.^[190]

Located at the outskirts of urban Beijing, but within its municipality are the Thirteen Tombs of the Ming dynasty, the lavish and elaborate burial sites of thirteen Ming emperors, which have been designated as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.^[191] The archaeological Peking Man site at Zhoukoudian is another World Heritage Site within the municipality,^[192] containing a wealth of discoveries, among them one of the first specimens of Homo erectus and an assemblage of bones of the gigantic hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris. There are several sections of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Great Wall of China,^[193] most notably Badaling, Jinshanling, Simatai and Mutianyu. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), Beijing is the second highest earning tourist city in the world after Shanghai.^[194]

Intangible cultural heritage

Beijing Acrobatic Performance (10553642935)

The cultural heritage of Beijing is rich and diverse. Starting 2006, the Beijing government started the process of selecting and preserving cultural heritages. Five cultural heritage lists have been published over the years. 288 distinct practices are categorized as cultural heritage. These 288 cultural heritages are further divided into ten categories, namely folk music, folk dance, traditional opera, melodious art, juggling and game, folk art, traditional handicraft, traditional medicine, folk literature and folklore.^{[195][196][197][198][199][200]}

Religion

A Temple of the Goddess in Gubeikou

Fire God Temple in Di'anmen

The religious heritage of Beijing is rich and diverse as Chinese folk religion, Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam and Christianity all have significant historical presence in the city. As the national capital, the city also hosts the State Administration for Religious Affairs and various state-sponsored institutions of the leading religions.^[201] In recent decades, foreign residents have brought other religions to the city.^[201] According to Wang Zhiyun of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 2010 there were 2.2 million Buddhists in the city, equal to 11.2% of the total population.^[202] According to the Chinese General Social Survey of 2009, Christians constitute 0.78% of the city's population.^[203] According to a 2010 survey, Muslims constitute 1.76% of the population of Beijing.^[204]

Chinese folk religion and Taoism

Beijing has many temples dedicated to folk religious and communal deities, many of which are being reconstructed or refurbished in the 2000s and 2010s. Yearly sacrifices to the God of Heaven (祭天; jìtiān) at the Temple of Heaven have been resumed by Confucian groups in the 2010s.

There are temples dedicated to the worship of the Goddess (娘娘; Niángniáng) in the city, one of them near the Olympic Village, and they revolve around a major cult center at Mount Miaofeng. There are also many temples consecrated to the Dragon God, to the Medicine Master (药王; Yàowáng), to Divus Guan (Guan Yu), to the Fire God (火神; Huǒshén), to the Wealth God, temples of the City God, and at least one temple consecrated to the Yellow Deity of the Chariot Shaft (轩辕黄帝; Xuānyuán Huángdì) in Pinggu District. Many of these temples are governed by the Beijing Taoist Association, such as the Fire God Temple of the Shicha Lake, while many others are not and are governed by popular committees and locals. A great Temple of Xuanyuan Huangdi will be built in Pinggu (possibly as an expansion of the already existing shrine) within 2020, and the temple will feature a statue of the deity which will be amongst the tallest in the world.^[205][206]

The national Chinese Taoist Association and Chinese Taoist College have their headquarters at the White Cloud Temple of Quanzhen Taoism, which was founded in 741 and rebuilt numerous times. The Beijing Dongyue Temple outside Chaoyangmen is the largest temple of Zhengyi Taoism in the city. The local Beijing Taoist Association has its headquarters at the Lüzu Temple near Fuxingmen.^[207]

Buddhism

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The tomb pagodas at Tanzhe Temple

Yonghe Temple of Tibetan Buddhism

11% of the population of Beijing practices East Asian Buddhism. The Buddhist Association of China, the state's supervisory organ overseeing all Buddhist institutions in mainland China, is headquartered in the Guangji Temple, a temple founded over 800 years ago during the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) in what is now Fuchengmennei (阜成门内). The Beijing Buddhist Association along with the Buddhist Choir and Orchestra are based in the Guanghua Temple, which dates to the Yuan dynasty over 700 years ago. The Buddhist Academy of China and its library are housed in the Fayuan Temple near Caishikou. The Fayuan Temple, which dates to the Tang dynasty 1300 years ago, is the oldest temple in urban Beijing. The Tongjiao Temple inside Dongzhimen is the city's only Buddhist nunnery.

The Xihuang Temple originally dates to the Liao dynasty. In 1651, the temple was commissioned by the Qing Emperor Shunzhi to host the visit of the Fifth Dalai Lama to Beijing. Since then, this temple has hosted the 13th Dalai Lama as well as the Sixth, Ninth and Tenth Panchen Lamas.

The largest Tibetan Buddhist Temple in Beijing is the Yonghe Temple, which was decreed by the Qing Emperor Qianlong in 1744 to serve as the residence and research facility for his Buddhist preceptor of Rölpé Dorjé the third Changkya (or living Buddha of Inner Mongolia). The Yonghe Temple is so-named because it was the childhood residence of the Yongzheng Emperor, and retains the glazed tiles reserved for imperial palaces. While the "High-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China", China's highest institution college of Tibetan Buddhism, situated near the Yonghe Temple. The Lingguang Temple of Badachu in the Western Hills also dates to the Tang dynasty. The temple's Zhaoxian Pagoda (招仙塔) was first built in 1071 during the Liao dynasty to hold a tooth relic of the Buddha. The pagoda was destroyed during the Boxer Rebellion and the tooth was discovered from its foundation. A new pagoda was built in 1964. The six aforementioned temples: Guangji, Guanghua, Tongjiao, Xihuang, Yonghe and Lingguang have been designated National Key Buddhist Temples in Han Chinese Area.

In addition, other notable temples in Beijing include the Tanzhe Temple (founded in the Jin dynasty (266–420) is the oldest in the municipality), the Tianning Temple (oldest pagoda in the city), the Miaoying Temple (famed for Yuan-era white pagoda), the Wanshou Temple (home to the Beijing Art Museum) and the Big Bell Temple (Dazhong Temple).

Islam

Niujie Mosque

Beijing has about 70 mosques recognized by the Islamic Association of China, whose headquarters are located next to the Niujie Mosque, the oldest mosque in the city.^[208][209] The Niujie Mosque was founded in 996 during the Liao dynasty and is frequently visited by Muslim dignitaries. The Chinese Muslim community reportedly celebrated Ramadan and made Eid prayers at the mosque on 2021.^[210][211]

The largest mosque^[212] in Beijing is ChangYing mosque, located in ChaoYang district, with an area of 8,400 square meters.

Other notable mosques in the old city include the Dongsi Mosque, founded in 1346; the Huashi Mosque, founded in 1415; Nan Douya Mosque, near Chaoyangmen; Jinshifang Street Mosque, in Xicheng District; and the Dongzhimen Mosque.^[213] There are large mosques in outlying Muslim communities in Haidian, Madian, Tongzhou, Changping, Changying, Shijingshan and Miyun. The China Islamic Institute is located in the Niujie neighborhood in Xicheng District.

Christianity

Church of the Saviour, also known as the Xishiku Church, built in 1703

Catholicism

In 1289, John of Montecorvino came to Beijing as a Franciscan missionary with the order from the Pope. After meeting and receiving the support of Kublai Khan in 1293, he built the first Catholic church in Beijing in 1305. The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA), based in Houhai is the government oversight body for Catholics in mainland China. Notable Catholic churches in Beijing include:

• the Nantang or Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception also known as the Xuanwumen Church, which was founded in 1605 and whose current archbishop, Joseph Li Shan, is one of the few bishops in China to have the support of both the Vatican and the CPCA.
• the Dongtang or St. Joseph's Church, better known as the Wangfujing Church, founded in 1653.
• the Beitang or Church of the Saviour, also known as the Xishiku Church, founded in 1703.
• the Xitang or Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel also known as the Xizhimen Church, founded in 1723.

The National Seminary of Catholic Church in China is located in Daxing District.

Protestantism

The earliest Protestant churches in Beijing were founded by British and American missionaries in the second half of the 19th century. Protestant missionaries also opened schools, universities and hospitals which have become important civic institutions. Most of Beijing's Protestant churches were destroyed during the Boxer Rebellion and afterwards rebuilt. In 1958, the 64 Protestant churches in the city are reorganized into four and overseen by the state through the Three-Self Patriotic Movement.

Eastern Orthodox

There was a significant amount of Orthodox Christians in Beijing. Orthodoxy came to Beijing with Russian prisoners from the Sino-Russian border conflicts of the 17th century.^[214] In 1956, Viktor, the bishop of Beijing returned to the Soviet Union, and the Soviet embassy took over the old cathedral and demolished it. In 2007, the Russian embassy built a new church in its garden to serve the Russian Orthodox Christians in Beijing.

Media

Television and radio

The China Central Television Headquarters building in CBD

Beijing Television broadcasts on channels 1 through 10, and China Central Television, China's largest television network, maintains its headquarters in Beijing. Three radio stations feature programmes in English: Hit FM on FM 88.7, Easy FM by China Radio International on FM 91.5, and the newly launched Radio 774 on AM 774. Beijing Radio Stations is the family of radio stations serving the city.

Press

The well-known Beijing Evening News, covering news about Beijing in Chinese, is distributed every afternoon. Other newspapers include Beijing Daily, The Beijing News, the Beijing Star Daily, the Beijing Morning News, and the Beijing Youth Daily, as well as English-language weeklies Beijing Weekend and Beijing Today. The People's Daily, Global Times and the China Daily (English) are published in Beijing as well.

Publications primarily aimed at international visitors and the expatriate community include the English-language periodicals Time Out Beijing, City Weekend, Beijing This Month, Beijing Talk, That's Beijing, and The Beijinger.

Beijing rock

Beijing rock (Chinese:  北京摇滚) is a wide variety of rock and roll music made by rock bands and solo artists from Beijing. The first rock band in Beijing is Peking All-Stars, which was formed in 1979 by foreigners.

Famous rock bands and solo artists from Beijing include Cui Jian, Dou Wei, He Yong, Pu Shu, Tang Dynasty, Black Panther, The Flowers, 43 Baojia Street, etc.^[215]

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Beijing Ancient Observatory

Beijing Ancient Observatory

The Beijing Ancient Observatory is a pretelescopic observatory located in Beijing, China. The observatory was built in 1442 during the Ming dynasty, and expanded during the Qing. It received major reorganization and many new, more accurate instruments from Europeans (Jesuits) in 1644.

Beijing dialect

Beijing dialect

The Beijing dialect, also known as Pekingese and Beijingese, is the prestige dialect of Mandarin spoken in the urban area of Beijing, China. It is the phonological basis of Standard Chinese, the official language in the People's Republic of China and Republic of China (Taiwan) and one of the official languages in Singapore. Despite the similarity to Standard Chinese, it is characterized by some "iconic" differences, including the addition of a final rhotic -r / 儿 to some words. During the Ming, southern dialectal influences were also introduced into the dialect.

Jilu Mandarin

Jilu Mandarin

Jilu or Ji–Lu Mandarin, formerly known as Beifang Mandarin "Northern Mandarin", is a dialect of Mandarin Chinese spoken in the Chinese provinces of Hebei (Jì) and the western part of Shandong (Lǔ) and Xunke, Tangwang & Jiayin counties of Heilongjiang. Its name is a combination of the abbreviated names of the two provinces, which derive from ancient local provinces. The names are combined as Ji–Lu Mandarin.

Peking opera

Peking opera

Peking opera, or Beijing opera, is the most dominant form of Chinese opera, which combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. It arose in Beijing in the mid-Qing dynasty (1644–1912) and became fully developed and recognized by the mid-19th century. The form was extremely popular in the Qing court and has come to be regarded as one of the cultural treasures of China. Major performance troupes are based in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. The art form is also preserved in Taiwan, where it is also known as Guójù. It has also spread to other regions such as the United States and Japan.

Chinese culture

Chinese culture

Chinese culture is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia and is extremely diverse, with customs and traditions varying greatly between provinces, cities, and even towns. The terms 'China' and the geographical landmass of 'China' have shifted across the centuries, with the last name being the Great Qing, before the name 'China' became commonplace in modernity.

Beijing cuisine

Beijing cuisine

Beijing cuisine, also known as Jing cuisine, Mandarin cuisine and Peking cuisine and formerly as Beiping cuisine, is the local cuisine of Beijing, the national capital of China.

Peking duck

Peking duck

Peking duck is a dish from Beijing (Peking) that has been prepared since the Imperial era. The meat is characterized by its thin, crispy skin, with authentic versions of the dish serving mostly the skin and little meat, sliced in front of the diners by the cook. Ducks bred especially for the dish are slaughtered after 65 days and seasoned before being roasted in a closed or hung oven. The meat is often eaten with spring onion, cucumber and sweet bean sauce with pancakes rolled around the fillings. Sometimes pickled radish is also inside. Crispy aromatic duck is a similar dish to Peking duck and is popular in the United Kingdom.

Fuling jiabing

Fuling jiabing

Fuling jiabing, also known Fu Ling Bing or Tuckahoe Pie, is a traditional snack food of Beijing and is an integral part of the city's culture. It is a pancake-like snack made from flour, sugar, and fuling (Poria), rolled around nuts, honey, and other ingredients. The flour can be mixed with fuling, a kind of Chinese medicine from Yunnan province that is used to rid the spleen of dampness. Different ingredients are rolled into the pancakes making a variety of Fuling jiabing. The pancakes can be carved into beautiful patterns, too.

Cloisonné

Cloisonné

Cloisonné is an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects with colored material held in place or separated by metal strips or wire, normally of gold. In recent centuries, vitreous enamel has been used, but inlays of cut gemstones, glass and other materials were also used during older periods; indeed cloisonné enamel very probably began as an easier imitation of cloisonné work using gems. The resulting objects can also be called cloisonné. The decoration is formed by first adding compartments to the metal object by soldering or affixing silver or gold as wires or thin strips placed on their edges. These remain visible in the finished piece, separating the different compartments of the enamel or inlays, which are often of several colors. Cloisonné enamel objects are worked on with enamel powder made into a paste, which then needs to be fired in a kiln. If gemstones or colored glass are used, the pieces need to be cut or ground into the shape of each cloison.

Jingtai Emperor

Jingtai Emperor

The Jingtai Emperor, born Zhu Qiyu, was the seventh Emperor of the Ming dynasty, and reigned from 1449 to 1457. The second son of the Xuande Emperor, he was selected in 1449 to succeed his elder brother Emperor Yingzong, when the latter was captured by Mongols following the Tumu Crisis. He ruled for eight years before being removed from the throne by his elder brother Yingzong. The Jingtai Emperor's era name, "Jingtai", means "exalted view". He was one of two Ming emperors who was not buried in either the Ming tombs in Beijing or the Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing.

Lacquerware

Lacquerware

Lacquerware are objects decoratively covered with lacquer. Lacquerware includes small or large containers, tableware, a variety of small objects carried by people, and larger objects such as furniture and even coffins painted with lacquer. Before lacquering, the surface is sometimes painted with pictures, inlaid with shell and other materials, or carved. The lacquer can be dusted with gold or silver and given further decorative treatments.

Houhai

Houhai

Houhai is a lake and its surrounding neighborhood in Xicheng District of central Beijing, China. Houhai is the largest of the three lakes, along with Qianhai 'Front Lake' and Xihai 'Western Lake', that comprise Shichahai, the collective name for the three northernmost lakes in central Beijing. Since the early 2000s, the hutong neighborhood around Houhai has become known for its nightlife as many residences along the lake shore have been converted into restaurants, bars, and cafes. The area is especially popular with foreign tourists visiting Beijing and is also often visited by the expatriate community and the younger generations of locals.

Mei Lanfang (22 October 1894 – 8 August 1961) is a Beijing opera singer.^[216] At age 15, he became an orphan and was adopted by his uncle's family. He started stage life in 1905 and became famous at 25 years old during performances in Japan. He was a pre-modern superstar, and famous for his portrayal of the Dan role, the elegant female archetype. After the Communist revolution, he served as an opera and performing art counselor in China.^[217] In November 2007, a theater namely Mei Lanfang Grand Theater opened in Xicheng District, Beijing to memorize him.^[218]

Yuan Longping (7 September 1930- 22 May 2021) is a Chinese agronomist.^[219] He studied at Southwest Agricultural University. He encountered national famine at the beginning of his career. This made him determined to solve the food shortage in China. He worked as a pioneer on hybrid rice back in 1960. His research on cross breeding wild abortive rice with mutated male-sterile rice was later involve a lot of research around the globe. In 2004, Yuan Longping was awarded the World Food Prize because he conducted pioneer research that helped transform China from food deficiency to food security within three decades.^[220]

Cui Jian (August 1960 – present) is a Chinese rock singer. Various media praised him as the father of China's rock music.^{[221][222][223]} He introduces western Rock to China in 1986 and mixed it with Chinese traditional music. Some of his songs are associated with movements in Chinese society such as "Nothing to My Name" and "Rock 'n' Roll on the New Long March". He also directed one movie called "Blue Sky Bones" at age 52.^[223]

Yang Jiang (17 July 1911- 25 May 2016) is a Chinese writer and translator. She was educated at a Chinese university and Oxford University. Ms. Yang was known for her fiction, plays, essay, and nonfiction. She is the first person who translates "Don Quixote" into Chinese. Later, she taught at Tsinghua University for many years and retired in 1980. Some of her representative works are the essay collection "We three" and the novel "Baptism". She died on 25 May 2016, at a hospital in Beijing.^[224]

Shu Qingchun (3 Feb 1899 – 24 August 1966), pen name Lao She, is a Chinese writer, linguist, and artist. He wrote eight million Chinese characters in entire life, is famous for long novels and scripts. In his iconic works, there are two long novels, two novellas, six short stories, and three scripts. Most of his works are depicting the poor life of Chinese citizens in the late Qing dynasty.^[225] He has been living in Britain, Singapore, and United States. During the Chinese Culture Revolution, he committed suicide by drowning in Taiping Lake.^[226]

Food Culture

Nine Gate Snacks

Nine Gate Snacks is a food court. It is from the Qing Dynasty that brings together about half of Beijing's most famous specialties. It is situated in a nearly 3,000 square meter old courtyard on the northern perimeter of Shichahai, a scenic area in Beijing. Its location is to the west of Song Qingling's former residence, and it consists of 12 vintage snack bars.^[227]

Traditional Beijing Snacks

Beside of Nine Gate Snacks, there are lots of other traditional Beijing snacks. For example, Ludagun, Aiwowo, Douzhi, Jiaoquan, Chao gan, and Wandouhuang.

Traditional Beijing Hot Pot

In Beijing traditional hot pot, copper pots are utilized, and carbon is inserted in the center to generate heat. The broth served in this type of hot pot is solely clear soup, without any other flavor options. The dipping sauce is sesame sauce.

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Mei Lanfang

Mei Lanfang

Mei Lan, better known by his stage name Mei Lanfang, was a notable Peking opera artist in modern Chinese theater. Mei was known as "Queen of Peking Opera". Mei was exclusively known for his female lead roles (dan) and particularly his "verdant-robed girls" (qingyi), young or middle-aged women of grace and refinement. He was considered one of the "Four Great Dan", along with Shang Xiaoyun, Cheng Yanqiu, and Xun Huisheng.

Cui Jian

Cui Jian

Cui Jian is a Beijing-based Chinese singer-songwriter, trumpeter and guitarist. Affectionately called "Old Cui", he pioneered Chinese rock music. For this distinction Cui Jian is often labeled "The Father of Chinese Rock".

Yang Jiang

Yang Jiang

Yang Jiang was a Chinese playwright, author, and translator. She wrote several successful comedies, and was the first Chinese person to produce a complete Chinese version of Miguel de Cervantes' novel Don Quixote.

Qing dynasty

Qing dynasty

The Qing dynasty, officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China (1636–1912) and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaking ethnic group who unified other Jurchen tribes to form a new "Manchu" ethnic identity. The dynasty was officially proclaimed in 1636 in Manchuria. It seized control of Beijing in 1644, then later expanded its rule over the whole of China proper and Taiwan, and finally expanded into Inner Asia. The dynasty lasted until 1912 when it was overthrown in the Xinhai Revolution. In orthodox Chinese historiography, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. The multiethnic Qing dynasty lasted for almost three centuries and assembled the territorial base for modern China. It was the largest imperial dynasty in the history of China and in 1790 the fourth-largest empire in world history in terms of territorial size. With 419,264,000 citizens in 1907, it was the most populous country in the world at the time.

Shichahai Subdistrict

Shichahai Subdistrict

Shichahai Subdistrict is a subdistrict on the northern portion of Xicheng District, Beijing, China. As of 2020, its total population was 75,447.

Soong Ching-ling

Soong Ching-ling

Rosamond Soong Ch'ing-ling was a Chinese political figure. As the third wife of Sun Yat-sen, then Premier of the Kuomintang and President of the Republic of China, she was often referred to as Madame Sun Yat-sen. She was a member of the Soong family and, together with her siblings, played a prominent role in China's politics prior to and after 1949.

Ludagun

Ludagun

Ludagun, also called as "doumiangao" or "fried chop rice cake", is a traditional Manchu snack in China. It has origins from Manchuria, and later became famous in Beijing. The yellow soybean flour sprinkled over the pastry makes it look like a donkey rolling on the loess, which gives its Chinese name "Lu Da Gun".

Aiwowo

Aiwowo

Aiwowo is a traditional dessert from Beijing, China.

Douzhi

Douzhi

Douzhi is a fermented dish from Beijing cuisine. It is similar to soy milk, but made from mung beans. It is a by-product of cellophane noodle production. It is generally slightly sour, with an egg-like smell.

Jiaoquan

Jiaoquan

Jiao quan is a dish from Beijing cuisine. It has a golden color, shaped like a bracelet. It feels crispy and crunchy when eaten. The unique taste of it is very popular in Beijing cuisine. People usually eat jiaoquan with shaobing and douzhi.

Chaogan

Chaogan

Chaogan is a Chinese dish which is especially famous in Beijing.

Wandouhuang

Wandouhuang

Wandouhuang, also called Wandouhuanger, is a traditional snack or dessert in China. It was popular among the Chinese Han population, and then spread into the Forbidden City during the Qing Dynasty. Wandouhuang has been famous in Beijing since the Ming Dynasty and became one of Beijing's traditional snacks.

Events

Fireworks above Olympic venues during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics

Tai chi (Taijiquan) practitioners at the Fragrant Hills Park

Beijing Workers' Stadium at night as viewed from Sanlitun

Beijing has hosted numerous international and national sporting events, the most notable was the 2008 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. Other multi-sport international events held in Beijing include the 2001 Universiade and the 1990 Asian Games. Single-sport international competitions include the Beijing Marathon (annually since 1981), China Open of Tennis (1993–97, annually since 2004), ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Cup of China (2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2010), WPBSA China Open for Snooker (annually since 2005), Union Cycliste Internationale Tour of Beijing (since 2011), 1961 World Table Tennis Championships, 1987 IBF Badminton World Championships, the 2004 AFC Asian Cup (football), and 2009 Barclays Asia Trophy (football). Beijing hosted the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Athletics.

Beijing's LeSports Center is one of the main venues for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.^[228]

The city hosted the second Chinese National Games in 1914 and the first four National Games of China in 1959, 1965, 1975, 1979, respectively, and co-hosted the 1993 National Games with Sichuan and Qingdao. Beijing also hosted the inaugural National Peasants' Games in 1988 and the sixth National Minority Games in 1999.

In November 2013, Beijing made a bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.^[33] On 31 July 2015, the International Olympic Committee awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics to the city becoming the first ever to host both Summer and Winter Olympics also for the 2022 Winter Paralympics becoming the first ever to host both Summer and Winter Paralympics.^[34]

Venues

Major sporting venues in the city include the National Stadium, also known as the "Birds' Nest",^[229][230] National Aquatics Center, also known as the "Water Cube", National Indoor Stadium, all in the Olympic Green to the north of downtown; the MasterCard Center at Wukesong west of downtown; the Workers' Stadium and Workers' Arena in Sanlitun just east of downtown and the Capital Arena in Baishiqiao, northeast of downtown. In addition, many universities in the city have their own sport facilities.

In Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, Beijing divided the competition into three competition zones. They are Beijing, Yanqing (the suburb of Beijing), and Zhangjiakou. The government built a high-speed railway between Beijing and Zhangjiakou. It takes 20 minutes to travel from Beijing to Yanqing and 50 minutes from Beijing to Zhangjiakou by high-speed rail.^[231]

The "Birds' Nest" not hosted for any competition events, except for the opening and closing ceremonies. Beijing National Aquatics Center, also called "Water Cube", changed to "Ice Cube". This is called the “Water Cube” because he was built in the 2008 Summer Olympics to serve as a swimming competition venue. In the 2022 Winter Olympics, it was used as a competition venue for ice events, so it was renamed the “Ice Cube”. Specifically, it host for curling competition. Capital Indoor Stadium was responsible for short track speed skating and Figure skating.

^[232]

For the 2022 Winter Olympics, the government has also built two new venues. National Speed Skating Stadium, also called "ice ribbon", hosted speed skating. Another new stadium built in Shougang, "Shougang Ski Jump," and held the events of Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding.^[233]

Clubs

Professional sports teams based in Beijing include:

The Beijing Olympians of the American Basketball Association, formerly a Chinese Basketball Association team, kept their name and maintained a roster of primarily Chinese players after moving to Maywood, California in 2005.

China Bandy Federation is based in Beijing, one of several cities in which the potential for bandy development is explored.^[234]

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2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony

2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony

The 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. It began at 20:00 China Standard Time (UTC+08:00) on Friday, 8 August 2008, as the number 8 is considered to be auspicious. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture. The artistic part of the ceremony comprised two parts titled "Brilliant Civilization" and "Glorious Era" respectively. The first part highlighted the Chinese civilization and the second part exhibited modern China and its dream of harmony between the people of the world. The stadium was full to its 91,000 capacity according to organizers.

2008 Summer Olympics

2008 Summer Olympics

The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad and also known as Beijing 2008, were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) competed in 28 sports and 302 events, one event more than those scheduled for the 2004 Summer Olympics. This was the first time China had hosted the Olympic Games, and the third time the Summer Olympic Games had been held in East Asia, following the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, and the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. These were also the second Summer Olympic Games to be held in a communist state, the first being the 1980 Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union.

Fragrant Hills

Fragrant Hills

Fragrant Hills Park or Xiangshan Park (香山公园) is a public park and former imperial garden at the foot of the Western Hills in the Haidian District, Beijing, China. It was also formerly known as Jingyi Garden or "Jingyiyuan" (靜宜園). It covers 160 ha and consists of a natural pine-cypress forest, hills with maple trees, smoke trees and persimmon trees, as well as landscaped areas with traditional architecture and cultural relics. The name derives from the highest peak of Fragrant Hills, Xianglu Feng, a 557-meter (1,827 ft) hill with two large stones resembling incense burners at the top.

Sanlitun

Sanlitun

Sanlitun is an area of the Chaoyang District, Beijing containing many bars, restaurants, and stores. It is a popular destination for shopping, dining, and entertainment. The area has been under almost constant regeneration since the late 20th century as part of a citywide project of economic regrowth. It currently houses many bars and clubs popular with both locals and foreigners as well as international brand-name stores such as Uniqlo, Apple, Nike and Adidas. It is notable for housing the largest Adidas store in the world.

2008 Summer Paralympics

2008 Summer Paralympics

The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games, the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was first time the new Paralympic logo featured in the Summer Paralympics since its rebranding after the 2004 Summer Paralympics.

Multi-sport event

Multi-sport event

A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of international significance was the Olympic Games, first held in modern times in 1896 in Athens, Greece, and inspired by the Ancient Olympic Games, one of a number of such events held in antiquity. Most modern multi-sport events have the same basic structure. Games are held over the course of several days in and around a "host city", which changes for each competition. Countries send national teams to each competition, consisting of individual athletes and teams that compete in a wide variety of sports. Athletes or teams are awarded gold, silver or bronze medals for first, second and third place respectively. Each game is generally held every four years, though some are annual competitions.

Asian Games

Asian Games

The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until the 1978 Games. Since the 1982 Games, they have been organized by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), after the breakup of the Asian Games Federation. The Games are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and are described as the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympic Games.

Beijing Marathon

Beijing Marathon

The Beijing Marathon is an annual marathon race held around October in Beijing, People's Republic of China, since 1981. The race begins at Tiananmen Square and finishes in Celebration Square in Olympic Green. The full marathon is the only distance offered.

China Open (tennis)

China Open (tennis)

The China Open is an annual men's and women's professional tennis tournament held in Beijing, China. The women's event is a WTA 1000 event on the WTA Tour, while the men's is an ATP Tour 500 event on the ATP Tour. The tournament was first held in its current iteration in 2004 as a back-to-back event for 4 years, though followed on from a Beijing event in 1993 to 1997. In 2008, it became a combined event for the first time.

ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating

ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating is a series of senior international figure skating competitions organized by the International Skating Union. The invitational series was inaugurated in 1995, incorporating several previously existing events. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. The junior-level equivalent is the ISU Junior Grand Prix.

Cup of China

Cup of China

The Cup of China was one of the series of six senior-level, international figure skating competitions held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. The Cup of China joined the series in 2003, and was cancelled in 2022 as China enforces strict preventive measures for overseas competitors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The competitors are selected by invitation only. Organized by the Chinese Skating Association, the Cup of China has been held in Beijing, Harbin, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Chongqing, usually in early November. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.

China Open (snooker)

China Open (snooker)

The China Open is a professional snooker tournament. It is one of a number of ranking tournaments and began in 1997. The reigning champion is Neil Robertson.

Beijing railway station, one of several rail stations in the city

Beijing is an important transport hub in North China with six ring roads, 1167 km (725 miles) of expressways,^[235] 15 National Highways, nine conventional railways, and six high-speed railways converging on the city.

Rail and high-speed rail

Beijing serves as a large rail hub in China's railway network. Ten conventional rail lines radiate from the city to: Shanghai (Jinghu Line), Guangzhou (Jingguang Line), Kowloon (Jingjiu Line), Harbin (Jingha Line) (including Qinhuangdao (Jingqin Line)), Baotou (Jingbao Line), Chengde (Jingcheng Line), Tongliao, Inner Mongolia (Jingtong Line), Yuanping, Shanxi (Jingyuan Line) and Shacheng, Hebei (Fengsha Line). In addition, the Datong–Qinhuangdao railway passes through the municipality to the north of the city.

Beijing also has six high-speed rail lines: the Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway, which opened in 2008; the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway, which opened in 2011; the Beijing–Guangzhou high-speed railway, which opened in 2012; and the Beijing–Xiong'an intercity railway and the Beijing–Zhangjiakou intercity railway, both of which opened in 2019. The Beijing–Shenyang high-speed railway was completed in 2021.

The city's main railway stations are the Beijing railway station, which opened in 1959; the Beijing West railway station, which opened in 1996; and the Beijing South railway station, which was rebuilt into the city's high-speed railway station in 2008; The Beijing North railway station, was first built in 1905 and expanded in 2009; The Qinghe railway station, was first built in 1905 and expanded in 2019; The Beijing Chaoyang railway station opened in 2021; The Beijing Fengtai railway station opened in 2022; and the Beijing Sub-Center railway station is under construction.

Smaller stations in the city including Beijing East railway station and Daxing Airport station handle mainly commuter passenger traffic. In outlying suburbs and counties of Beijing, there are over 40 railway stations.^[236]

From Beijing, direct passenger train service is available to most large cities in China. International train service is available to Mongolia, Russia, Vietnam and North Korea. Passenger trains in China are numbered according to their direction in relation to Beijing.

Roads and expressways

Badaling Expressway overpass near the Great Wall

Beijing, traffic in the city in 1987

Typical Beijing traffic signage found at intersections

Beijing is connected by road links to all parts of China as part of the National Trunk Road Network. Many expressways of China serve Beijing, as do 15 China National Highways. Beijing's urban transport is dependent upon the "ring roads" that concentrically surround the city, with the Forbidden City area marked as the geographical center for the ring roads. The ring roads appear more rectangular than ring-shaped. There is no official "1st Ring Road". The 2nd Ring Road is located in the inner city. Ring roads tend to resemble expressways progressively as they extend outwards, with the 5th and 6th Ring Roads being full-standard national expressways, linked to other roads only by interchanges. Expressways to other regions of China are generally accessible from the 3rd Ring Road outward. A final outer orbital, the Capital Area Loop Expressway (G95), was fully opened in 2018 and will extend into neighboring Tianjin and Hebei.

Within the urban core, city streets generally follow the checkerboard pattern of the ancient capital. Many of Beijing's boulevards and streets with "inner" and "outer" are still named in relation to gates in the city wall, though most gates no longer stand. Traffic jams are a major concern. Even outside of rush hour, several roads still remain clogged with traffic.

Traffic jam in the Beijing CBD

Beijing's urban design layout further exacerbates transportation problems.^[237] The authorities have introduced several bus lanes, which only public buses can use during rush hour. In the beginning of 2010, Beijing had 4 million registered automobiles.^[238] By the end of 2010, the government forecast 5 million. In 2010, new car registrations in Beijing averaged 15,500 per week.^[239]

Towards the end of 2010, the city government announced a series of drastic measures to tackle traffic jams, including limiting the number of new license plates issued to passenger cars to 20,000 a month and barring cars with non-Beijing plates from entering areas within the Fifth Ring Road during rush hour.^[240] More restrictive measures are also reserved during major events or heavily polluted weather.

Road signs began to be standardized with both Chinese and English names displayed, with location names using pinyin, in 2008.^[241]

Air

Beijing Capital International Airport

Terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital International Airport

Beijing has two of the world's largest airports. The Beijing Capital International Airport (IATA: PEK) located 32 kilometres (20 mi) northeast of the city center in Chaoyang District bordering Shunyi District, is the second busiest airport in the world after Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.^[19] Capital Airport's Terminal 3, built during the expansion for the 2008 Olympics, is one of the largest in the world. Capital Airport is the main hub for Air China and Hainan Airlines. The Airport Expressway and Second Airport Expressway, connect to Capital Airport from the northeast and east of the city center, respectively. Driving time from city center is about 40 minutes under normal traffic conditions. The Capital Airport Express line of Beijing Subway and the Capital Airport Bus serves the Capital Airport.

Beijing Daxing International Airport

Beijing Daxing International Airport

The Beijing Daxing International Airport (IATA: PKX) located 46 kilometres (29 mi) south of the city in Daxing District bordering the city of Langfang, Hebei Province, opened on 25 September 2019.^{[242][243][244]} The Daxing Airport has one of the world's largest terminal buildings and is expected to be a major airport serving Beijing, Tianjin and northern Hebei Province. Daxing Airport is connected to the city via the Beijing–Xiong'an intercity railway, the Daxing Airport Express line of the Beijing Subway and two expressways.

Other airports

With the opening of the Daxing Airport in September 2019, the Beijing Nanyuan Airport (IATA:NAY), located 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) south of center in Fengtai District, has been closed to civilian airline service. Other airports in the city at Liangxiang, Xijiao, Shahe and Badaling are primarily for military use.

Visa requirements for air passengers

As of 1 January 2013^[update], tourists from 45 countries are permitted a 72-hour visa-free stay in Beijing. The 45 countries include Singapore, Japan, the United States, Canada, all EU and EEA countries (except Norway and Liechtenstein), Switzerland, Brazil, Argentina and Australia. The programme benefits transit and business travellers^[245] with the 72 hours calculated starting from the moment visitors receive their transit stay permits rather than the time of their plane's arrival. Foreign visitors are not permitted to leave Beijing for other Chinese cities during the 72 hours.^[246]

Public transit

Two Line 1 trains on the Beijing Subway, which is among the longest and busiest rapid transit systems in the world

An articulated Beijing bus

The Beijing Subway, which began operating in 1969, now has 25 lines, 459 stations, and 783 km (487 mi) of lines. It is the longest subway system in the world and first in annual ridership with 3.66 billion rides delivered in 2016. In 2013, with a flat fare of ¥2.00 (US$0.31) per ride with unlimited transfers on all lines except the Airport Express, the subway was also the most affordable rapid transit system in China. The subway is undergoing rapid expansion and is expected to reach 30 lines, 450 stations, 1,050 kilometres (650 mi) in length by 2022. When fully implemented, 95% of residents inside the Fourth Ring Road will be able to walk to a station in 15 minutes.^[247] The Beijing Suburban Railway provides commuter rail service to outlying suburbs of the municipality.

On 28 December 2014, the Beijing Subway switched to a distance-based fare system from a fixed fare for all lines except the Airport Express.^[248] Under the new system a trip under 6 km (3+1⁄2 mi) will cost ¥3.00(US$0.49), an additional ¥1.00 will be added for the next 6 km (3+1⁄2 mi) and the next 10 km (6 mi) until the distance for the trip reaches 32 km (20 mi).^[248] For every 20 kilometres (12 miles) after the original 32 kilometres (20 miles) an additional ¥1.00 is added.^[248] For example, a 50-kilometre (31-mile) trip would cost ¥ 8.00.

There are nearly 1,000 public bus and trolleybus lines in the city, including four bus rapid transit lines. Standard bus fares are as low as ¥1.00 when purchased with the Yikatong metrocard.

Taxi

Metered taxi in Beijing start at ¥13 for the first 3 kilometres (1.9 mi), ¥2.3 Renminbi per additional 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) and ¥1 per ride fuel surcharge, not counting idling fees which are ¥2.3 (¥4.6 during rush hours of 7–9 am and 5–7 pm) per 5 minutes of standing or running at speeds lower than 12 kilometres per hour (7.5 mph). Most taxis are Hyundai Elantras, Hyundai Sonatas, Peugeots, Citroëns and Volkswagen Jettas. After 15 kilometres (9.3 mi), the base fare increases by 50% (but is only applied to the portion over that distance). Different companies have special colours combinations painted on their vehicles. Usually registered taxis have yellowish brown as basic hue, with another color of Prussian blue, hunter green, white, umber, tyrian purple, rufous, or sea green. Between 11 pm and 5 am, there is also a 20% fee increase. Rides over 15 km (9 mi) and between 23:00 and 06:00 incur both charges, for a total increase of 80%. Tolls during trip should be covered by customers and the costs of trips beyond Beijing city limits should be negotiated with the driver. The cost of unregistered taxis is also subject to negotiation with the driver.

Bicycles

Bicyclists during rush hour at the Chang'an Avenue, 2009

Beijing has long been well known for the number of bicycles on its streets. Although the rise of motor traffic has created a great deal of congestion and bicycle use has declined, bicycles are still an important form of local transportation. Many cyclists can be seen on most roads in the city, and most of the main roads have dedicated bicycle lanes. Beijing is relatively flat, which makes cycling convenient. The rise of electric bicycles and electric scooters, which have similar speeds and use the same cycle lanes, may have brought about a revival in bicycle-speed two-wheeled transport. It is possible to cycle to most parts of the city. Because of the growing traffic congestion, the authorities have indicated more than once that they wish to encourage cycling, but it is not clear whether there is sufficient will to translate that into action on a significant scale.^[249] On 30 March 2019, a 6.5 km (4 mile) bicycle-dedicated lane was opened, easing the traffic congestion between Huilongguan and Shangdi where there are many high-tech companies.^[250] Cycling has seen a resurgence in popularity spurred by the emergence of a large number of dockless app based bikeshares such as Mobike, Bluegogo and Ofo since 2016.^[251]

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Beijing railway station

Beijing railway station

Beijing railway station, or simply Beijing station, is a passenger railway station in Dongcheng District, Beijing. The station is located just southeast of the city centre inside the Second Ring Road with Beijing Station Street to the north and the remnants of the city wall between Chongwenmen and Dongbianmen to the south. The Beijing railway station opened in 1959 and was the largest train station in China at the time. Though superseded by the larger Beijing West and Beijing South stations, this station remains the only one located inside the old walled city. Trains entering and leaving the station pass by the Dongbianmen corner tower. With gilded eaves and soaring clock towers, the architecture of the railway blends traditional Chinese and socialist realist influence.

Beijing–Shanghai railway

Beijing–Shanghai railway

The Beijing–Shanghai railway or Jinghu railway is a railway line between Beijing and Shanghai.

Beijing–Guangzhou railway

Beijing–Guangzhou railway

The Beijing–Guangzhou railway or Jingguang railway is a major trunk railway that connects Beijing in the north with Guangzhou in the south. This double-track electrified line has a total length of 2,324 kilometres and spans five provinces through north, central and south China. The line passes through the capitals of each of them: Shijiazhuang (Hebei), Zhengzhou (Henan), Wuhan (Hubei), Changsha (Hunan) and Guangzhou (Guangdong). The line's two terminals are the Beijing West railway station and the Guangzhou railway station.

Beijing–Kowloon railway

Beijing–Kowloon railway

The Beijing–Kowloon railway, also known as the Jingjiu railway is a railway connecting Beijing West railway station in Beijing to Shenzhen railway station in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. It is connected with Hong Kong's East Rail line across the border, which had its southern terminus in Hung Hom in southern Kowloon until 2022.

Beijing–Harbin railway

Beijing–Harbin railway

The Beijing–Harbin railway, or the Jingha Railway, is the railway that connects Beijing with Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province. It spans 1,249 km (776 mi). It is a very prominent route in the provinces of northeastern China.

Beijing–Qinhuangdao railway

Beijing–Qinhuangdao railway

The Beijing–Qinhuangdao railway, also known as the Jingqin Line is a branch railway which connects the capital of China, Beijing, with the coastal city of Qinhuangdao. The railway spans a total of 294 kilometres (183 mi) and has a total of nine stations in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei Province.

Beijing–Baotou railway

Beijing–Baotou railway

The Beijing–Baotou railway or Jingbao railway is an 833 km (518 mi) railway from Beijing to Baotou, Inner Mongolia, functioning as an important route in North China. It was the first railway in China designed and built by Chinese. It passes through a famous section of the Great Wall at Badaling. It is now largely paralleled by Beijing–Zhangjiakou intercity railway and Zhangjiakou–Hohhot high-speed railway.

Beijing–Chengde railway

Beijing–Chengde railway

The Beijing–Chengde railway or Jingcheng railway, is a railroad in northern China between Beijing, the national capital, and Chengde in Hebei Province. The line is 256 km (159 mi) long and runs northwest from Beijing Municipality to Chengde in northern Hebei.

Beijing–Tongliao railway

Beijing–Tongliao railway

The Beijing–Tongliao or Jingtong railway, also known as the Shahe–Tongliao or Shatong railway, is a railroad in northern China between Beijing, the national capital, and Tongliao in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The line is 804 km (500 mi) long and runs northwest from Beijing Municipality through Hebei Province to southeastern Inner Mongolia. The line was built between 1972 and 1977, and entered into operations in 1980. Major cities and counties along route include Beijing, Luanping, Longhua, Chifeng and Tongliao.

Beijing–Yuanping railway

Beijing–Yuanping railway

The Beijing–Yuanping or Jingyuan railway, is a railroad in northern China between Beijing, the national capital, and Yuanping in Shanxi Province. The line is 418 km (260 mi) in length, and traverses through Beijing Municipality, Hebei and Shanxi Province. The Beijing–Yuanping railway was built between 1965 and 1971, and entered into operation in 1973. At the time of its construction, the line was primarily intended to transport coal from Shanxi and move military assets in the event of a national defense emergency. The line runs almost entirely in mountainous terrain. Major cities and landmarks along the route include Beijing, Laiyuan, Lingqiu, Fanshi, Dai County and Yuanping.

Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway

Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway

The Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway is a Chinese high-speed railway that runs 117 kilometres (72.7 mi) line between Beijing and Tianjin. Designed for passenger traffic only, the Chinese government built the line to accommodate trains traveling at a maximum speed of 350 km/h (217 mph), and currently carries CRH high-speed trains running speeds up to 350 km/h (217 mph) since August 2018.

Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway

Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway

The Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway is a high-speed railway that connects two major economic zones in the People's Republic of China: the Bohai Economic Rim and the Yangtze River Delta. Construction began on April 18, 2008, with the line opened to the public for commercial service on June 30, 2011. The 1,318-kilometer (819 mi) long high-speed line is the world's longest high-speed line ever constructed in a single phase.

KJ-2000 and J-10s started the flypast formation on the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China.

The command headquarters of China's military forces are based in Beijing. The Central Military Commission, the political organ in charge of the military, is housed inside the Ministry of National Defense, located next to the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in western Beijing. The Second Artillery Corps, which controls the country's strategic missile and nuclear weapons, has its command in Qinghe, Haidian District. The headquarters of the Central Theater Command, one of five nationally, is based further west in Gaojing. The CTR oversees the Beijing Capital Garrison as well as the 27th, 38th and 65th Armies, which are based in Hebei.

Military institutions in Beijing also include academies and thinktanks such as the PLA National Defence University and Academy of Military Science, military hospitals such as the 301, 307 and the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, and army-affiliated cultural entities such as 1 August Film Studios and the PLA Song and Dance Troupe.

The China National Space Administration, which oversees country's space program, and several space-related state owned companies such as CASTC and CASIC are all based in Beijing. The Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center, in Haidian District tracks the country's crewed and uncrewed flight and other space exploration initiatives.

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KJ-2000

KJ-2000

The KJ-2000, NATO reporting name: Mainring is a Chinese Airborne early warning and control system comprising domestically designed electronics and radars installed on a modified Ilyushin Il-76 airframe.

Chengdu J-10

Chengdu J-10

The Chengdu J-10 Vigorous Dragon, is a medium-weight, single-engine, multirole combat aircraft capable of all-weather operations, configured with a delta wing and canard design, with fly-by-wire flight controls, and produced by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF), Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force (PLANAF). The J-10 is mainly designed for air-to-air combat, but can also perform strike missions.

70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China

70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China

The 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China was observed with a series of ceremonial events including a grand military parade as its spotlight to celebrate National Day of the People's Republic of China that took place on 1 October 2019 in Beijing. It was the largest military parade and mass pageant in Chinese history.

Central Military Commission (China)

Central Military Commission (China)

The Central Military Commission (CMC) is the highest national defense organization in the People's Republic of China, which heads the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the People's Armed Police (PAP), and the Militia of China.

Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China

Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China

The Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China, or the "National Defense Ministry" for short, is the second-ranked cabinet level executive department under the State Council. It is headed by the Minister of National Defense.

Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution

Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution

The Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution or China People's Revolution Military Museum is a museum located in Haidian District, Beijing, China that displays restored military equipment from the history of the People's Liberation Army, up to and including modern-day machinery.

Intercontinental ballistic missile

Intercontinental ballistic missile

An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than 5,500 kilometres (3,400 mi), primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery. Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness, but have never been deployed on ICBMs. Most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRVs), allowing a single missile to carry several warheads, each of which can strike a different target. Russia, the United States, China, France, India, the United Kingdom, Israel, and North Korea are the only countries known to have operational ICBMs.

Qinghe Subdistrict, Beijing

Qinghe Subdistrict, Beijing

Qinghe Subdistrict is a subdistrict of northeastern Haidian District, Beijing, located just outside the 5th Ring Road near that highway's interchange with G6 Beijing–Lhasa Expressway. As of 2020, it had a population of 147,395 under its administration. People's Liberation Army Rocket Force is headquartered in Qinghe Subdistrict.

Central Theater Command

Central Theater Command

The Central Theater Command is one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army of China, and was founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessors were the Beijing Military Region and Jinan Military Region.

307 Hospital

307 Hospital

The 307th Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, commonly called the 307 Hospital, is a hospital in China. It is in Fengtai District, Beijing. The hospital combines medical treatment, research, and educational studies into a comprehensive hospital, which is one of the first designated medical institutions with medical insurance coverage in Beijing. 307 Hospital of PLA is appointed as the National Clinical Hospital of Disease Control.

China National Space Administration

China National Space Administration

China National Space Administration is the government agency of the People's Republic of China that is responsible for civil space administration and international space cooperation, including organizing or leading foreign exchanges and cooperation in the aerospace field. An administrative agency under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, its headquarters are located in Haidian, Beijing.

Chinese space program

Chinese space program

The space program of the People's Republic of China is directed by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). China's space program has overseen the development and launch of ballistic missiles, thousands of artificial satellites, crewed spaceflight, an indigenous space station, and has stated plans to explore the Moon, Mars, and the broader Solar System.

Beijing Municipality has 20 nature reserves that have a total area of 1,339.7 km² (517.3 sq mi).^[252] The mountains to the west and north of the city are home to a number of protected wildlife species including leopard, leopard cat, wolf, red fox, wild boar, masked palm civet, raccoon dog, hog badger, Siberian weasel, Amur hedgehog, roe deer, and mandarin rat snake.^{[253][254][255]} The Beijing Aquatic Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center protects the Chinese giant salamander, Amur stickleback and mandarin duck on the Huaijiu and Huaisha Rivers in Huairou District.^[256] The Beijing Milu Park south of the city is home to one of the largest herds of Père David's deer, now extinct in the wild. The Beijing barbastelle, a species of vesper bat discovered in caves of Fangshan District in 2001 and identified as a distinct species in 2007, is endemic to Beijing. The mountains of Fangshan are also habitat for the more common Beijing mouse-eared bat, large myotis, greater horseshoe bat and Rickett's big-footed bat.^[257]

Each year, Beijing hosts 200–300 species of migratory birds including the common crane, black-headed gull, swan, mallard, common cuckoo and the endangered yellow-breasted bunting.^[258][259] In May 2016, Common cuckoos nesting in the wetlands of Cuihu (Haidian), Hanshiqiao (Shunyi), Yeyahu (Yanqing) were tagged and have been traced to far as India, Kenya and Mozambique.^[260][261] In the fall of 2016, the Beijing Forest Police undertook a month-long campaign to crack down on illegal hunting and trapping of migratory birds for sale in local bird markets.^[259] Over 1,000 rescued birds of protected species including streptopelia, Eurasian siskin, crested myna, coal tit and great tit were handed to the Beijing Wildlife Protection and Rescue Center for repatriation to the wild.^[259][262]

The city flowers are the Chinese rose and chrysanthemum.^[263] The city trees are the Chinese arborvitae, an evergreen in the cypress family and the pagoda tree, also called the Chinese scholar tree, a deciduous tree of the family Fabaceae.^[263] The oldest scholar tree in the city was planted in what is now Beihai Park during the Tang dynasty.^[264]

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Leopard

Leopard

The leopard is one of the five extant species in the genus Panthera, a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, and on the Indian subcontinent to Southeast and East Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because leopard populations are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, and are declining in large parts of the global range. The leopard is considered locally extinct in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Jordan, Morocco, Togo, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Kuwait, Syria, Libya, Tunisia and most likely in North Korea, Gambia, Laos, Lesotho, Tajikistan, Vietnam and Israel. Contemporary records suggest that the leopard occurs in only 25% of its historical global range.

Leopard cat

Leopard cat

The leopard cat is a small wild cat native to continental South, Southeast, and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely distributed although threatened by habitat loss and hunting in parts of its range.

Masked palm civet

Masked palm civet

The masked palm civet, also called the gem-faced civet or Himalayan palm civet, is a viverrid species native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008 as it occurs in many protected areas, is tolerant to some degree of habitat modification, and widely distributed with presumed large populations that are unlikely to be declining.

Hog badger

Hog badger

Hog badgers are three species of mustelid in the genus Arctonyx. They represent one of the two genera in the subfamily Melinae, alongside the true badgers.

Amur hedgehog

Amur hedgehog

The Amur hedgehog, also called the Manchurian hedgehog, is a hedgehog similar to the European hedgehog in appearance and behaviour, although it is more lightly coloured. It is native to Amur Oblast and Primorye in Russia, Manchuria in China, and the Korean Peninsula. Like other hedgehogs, it uses scent and hearing while looking for prey, and the name "hedgehog" refers to the pig-like grunts it makes as it forages.

Mandarin rat snake

Mandarin rat snake

The Mandarin rat snake is a species of nonvenomous colubrid snake endemic to Asia. It is closely related to Euprepiophis conspicillata, the Japanese forest rat snake. Mandarin rat snakes are one of the most popular rat snakes found in the pet trade.

Chinese giant salamander

Chinese giant salamander

The Chinese giant salamander is one of the largest salamanders and one of the largest amphibians in the world. It is fully aquatic, and is endemic to rocky mountain streams and lakes in the Yangtze river basin of central China. Either it or a close relative has been introduced to Kyoto Prefecture in Japan and to Taiwan. It is considered critically endangered in the wild due to habitat loss, pollution, and overcollection, as it is considered a delicacy and used in traditional Chinese medicine. On farms in central China, it is extensively farmed and sometimes bred, although many of the salamanders on the farms are caught in the wild. It has been listed as one of the top-10 "focal species" in 2008 by the Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered project.

Amur stickleback

Amur stickleback

The Amur stickleback is a species of fish in the family Gasterosteidae. This freshwater, brackish water, or marine benthopelagic fish is usually 6.5 cm in length. It is widespread in East Asia: off the Korean peninsula, northeast and north China, Japan, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka peninsula, and the basin of the Amur River.

Mandarin duck

Mandarin duck

The mandarin duck is a perching duck species native to the East Palearctic. It is medium-sized, at 41–49 cm (16–19 in) long with a 65–75 cm (26–30 in) wingspan. It is closely related to the North American wood duck, the only other member of the genus Aix. 'Aix' is an Ancient Greek word which was used by Aristotle to refer to an unknown diving bird, and 'galericulata' is the Latin for a wig, derived from galerum, a cap or bonnet. Outside of its native range, the mandarin duck has a large introduced population in the British Isles and Western Europe, with additional smaller introductions in North America.

Huairou District

Huairou District

Huairou District is situated in northern Beijing about 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the city center.

Milu Yuan

Milu Yuan

The Milu Park, or Milu Yuan, is a large public park located in southern Beijing, China named after its captive breeding herd of milu or Père David's Deer. It was once called the Nanyuan Garden or Nanhaizi Garden, which was the imperial hunting grounds for Ming and Qing emperors. The gardens, palaces, forests, rivers, marshes and grasslands used to be enclosed by walls and gates.

Beijing barbastelle

Beijing barbastelle

The Beijing barbastelle, also known as the Beijing wide-eared bat, is a species of vesper bat endemic to Beijing Municipality, China. The species was discovered by Chinese zoology students in 2001 in caves of Fangshan District in southwestern Beijing and was identified as a distinct species by zoologists Zhang Shuyi, Gareth Jones, Zhang Jingshuo and Han Naijian in 2007.

The capital is the home of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a multilateral development bank that aims to improve economic and social outcomes in Asia^[265] and the Silk Road Fund, an investment fund of the Chinese government to foster increased investment and provide financial supports in countries along the One Belt, One Road.^[266] Beijing is also home to the headquarters of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO),^[267] making it an important city for international diplomacy.

Twin towns and sister cities

Beijing is twinned with the following regions, cities, and counties:^[268]

Foreign embassies and consulates

In 2019, China had the largest diplomatic network in the world.^[269] China hosts a large diplomatic community in its capital city of Beijing. At present, the capital of Beijing hosts 172 embassies, 1 consulate and 3 representatives, excluding Hong Kong and Macau trade office.^[270][271]

Representative offices and delegations

•  Haiti (Representative Office)
•  Faroe Islands (Representative Office)
•  European Union (Delegation of the European Union to China)

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Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is a multilateral development bank that aims to improve economic and social outcomes in Asia. It is the world's second largest multi-lateral development institution. The bank currently has 106 members, including 14 prospective members from around the world. The breakdown of the 106 members by continents are as follows: 42 in Asia, 26 in Europe, 21 in Africa, 8 in Oceania, 8 in South America, and 1 in North America. The bank started operation after the agreement entered into force on 25 December 2015, after ratifications were received from 10 member states holding a total number of 50% of the initial subscriptions of the Authorized Capital Stock.

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. In the 2007 census, the city's population was estimated to be 2,739,551 inhabitants. Addis Ababa is a highly developed and important cultural, artistic, financial and administrative centre of Ethiopia.

Ankara

Ankara

Ankara, historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and 5.7 million in Ankara Province, making it Turkey's second-largest city after Istanbul.

Astana

Astana

Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan.

Athens

Athens

Athens is a major coastal city in the Mediterranean and is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With its surrounding urban area’s population numbering over three million, it is also the seventh largest urban area in the European Union. Athens dominates and is the capital of the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years and its earliest human presence beginning somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia BCE.

Bangkok

Bangkok

Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies 1,568.7 square kilometres (605.7 sq mi) in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population of 10.539 million as of 2020, 15.3 percent of the country's population. Over 14 million people lived within the surrounding Bangkok Metropolitan Region at the 2010 census, making Bangkok an extreme primate city, dwarfing Thailand's other urban centres in both size and importance to the national economy.

Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituent states, Berlin is surrounded by the State of Brandenburg and contiguous with Potsdam, Brandenburg's capital. Berlin's urban area, which has a population of around 4.5 million, is the second most populous urban area in Germany after the Ruhr. The Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has around 6.2 million inhabitants and is Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions.

Brussels

Brussels

Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is located in the central portion of the country and is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region.

Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital and largest city of Romania. It is described as the cultural, financial, entertainment, and media center in the country with a significant influence in Eastern and Southeastern Europe as well. It is also a city with a significant influence in terms of education, tourism, research, technology, health care, art, fashion, sports, and politics. It is located in the south-east of Romania, on the banks of the Dâmbovița river, less than 60 km (37.3 mi) north of the Danube River and the border with Bulgaria. It is also one of the most populated cities of the European Union (EU) within city limits and the most populated capital in Southeastern Europe. It was the capital of Wallachia from 1659 to 1859 and the capital of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia from 1859 to 1881.

Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population of 1,752,286 over a land area of about 525 square kilometres. Budapest, which is both a city and county, forms the centre of the Budapest metropolitan area, which has an area of 7,626 square kilometres and a population of 3,303,786; it is a primate city, constituting 33% of the population of Hungary.

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires, officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South America's southeastern coast. "Buenos Aires" can be translated as "fair winds" or "good airs", but the former was the meaning intended by the founders in the 16th century, by the use of the original name "Real de Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Ayre", named after the Madonna of Bonaria in Sardinia, Italy. Buenos Aires is classified as an alpha global city, according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) 2020 ranking.

Cairo

Cairo

Cairo is the capital of Egypt and the city-state Cairo Governorate, and is the country's largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metropolitan area, with a population of 21.9 million, is the 12th-largest in the world by population. Cairo is associated with ancient Egypt, as the Giza pyramid complex and the ancient cities of Memphis and Heliopolis are located in its geographical area. Located near the Nile Delta, the city first developed as Fustat, a settlement founded after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 640 next to an existing ancient Roman fortress, Babylon. Under the Fatimid dynasty a new city, al-Qāhirah, was founded nearby in 969. It later superseded Fustat as the main urban centre during the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life, and is titled "the city of a thousand minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture. Cairo's historic center was awarded World Heritage Site status in 1979. Cairo is considered a World City with a "Beta +" classification according to GaWC.