Beijing, capital and second largest city (after
Shanghai) of
China, situated north of
Yellow River (
Huang He or
Hwang Ho) in the
north eastern part of the country. The name means "
The Northern
Capital", as opposed to
Nanjing ("The Southern Capital") which used to be the southern
capital. The city itself has a population of about 6.6 million, but recent
urbanization in China has led to a population of over 11 million people in the
greater Beijing area. Over 96% of the population is of the
Han ethnic group,
but all of China's over 50 ethnic groups are represented in Beijing. The
greater Beijing area is its own administrative district, governed directly by
the federal government, and it consists of ten districts and eight counties.
Several cities have been founded in the location of today's Beijing during
the centuries, and it's been the capital for many of the Chinese dynasties at
different times. The first written records of a city is from 350 B.C., but
archeological discoveries show that people have lived in the area for hundreds
of thousands years. Finally in 1272 the city became capital of a larger
unified country under the Yuan dynasty who named it Dadu. This was soon
after the first time that Europe had heard about the city, in form of the
stories told by Marco Polo. He reported about its splendor and beauty
under the rule of Kublai Kahn, who made it his winter residence in 1260. In
the 1300:s, the Ming dynasty moved the capital to Nanjing, but they returned
to Beijing in 1420, and they gave it the name "Beiping" and later
"Beijing". When the Ming dynasty fell in 1644 and the Manchu
dynasty/Qing dynasty took over, the city remained their capital under the
name Beijing all the way up until 1912, when the Nationalist Party
(Kuomintang) overthrew the over a thousand years old rule of the dynasties .
They moved the capital to Nanjing in 1928, but Mao later returned it to Beijing
in 1949.
The older parts of the city consists of "the inner city" in the
north, and "the outer city" in the south. They were both surrounded by
high walls, and the inner city was like a fortress with a 23 km long and 11
meter high wall and nine magnificent gates. This was torn down in 1949 when
Mao gained power and China became communist. The inner city were where the
royal court lived, and it has many palaces and artificial lakes and parks.
Within the inner city lies The Forbidden City, where the rulers
themselves lived. For almost 500 years, 24 emperors ruled China from the
Forbidden City. The whole Forbidden City is a palace (said to have 9999 rooms)
surrounded by a moat and a wall. Here, the emperor lived with thousands of eunuchs
as slaves, with his consort and concubines, in complete isolation from the
people. Today, it is the biggest tourist attraction in Beijing, together
with the nearby Great Wall of China. Today, the actual center of the
city lies around the Tiananmen square ("Heavenly Peace
square").
Beijing has been the political and cultural center for thousands of years,
and more recently it has also become an important financial and industrial
district. Traditionally a city of arts and agriculture, heavy industries were
brought to the city in the 1950's. The industries, the use of coal for energy
and the sand from the Gobi desert has caused the city to have problems with pollution
of both air and water. Until fairly recently, the only high buildings were the
palaces but now skyscrapers are built in several places. Even though 6 millions
bicyclists are out on the streets in rush hour, cars are getting more and more
space and there are now four major ring roads circling the cities to handle
the increasing traffic. There are many large universities in Beijing, the most
important being Beijing university that was founded in 1898.
Reference: bonnier lexicon