History of Beijing

The city of Beijing has a long and rich history that dates back over 3,000 years. Before China was united under the First Emperor in 221 BC, Beijing was the capital of the ancient states of Ji and Yan. It was an important local center even in the early unified empires of China, the Qin and Han.

Because it sat near the northern border, Beijing often saw attacks from nomadic tribes. Over time, this made the city a key strategic location. In the 10th to 13th centuries, groups like the Khitan and Jurchen made Beijing a capital for their dynasties, the Liao and Jin.

When Kublai Khan chose Dadu as the capital of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, Beijing became the center of all China for the first time. From 1279 until today, with just a few exceptions, Beijing has been the capital of China. It served as the seat of power for many dynasties, including the Ming dynasty and the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and it remains the capital of the People's Republic of China today.

Prehistory

The earliest signs of people living in the area now known as Beijing Municipality were found in caves at Dragon Bone Hill near Zhoukoudian in Fangshan District. Here, ancient humans called Homo erectus, known as the Peking Man, lived between 770,000 to 230,000 years ago. Later, from around 27,000 to 10,000 years ago, early humans called homo sapiens also lived in these caves.

In 1996, workers found over 2,000 tools and bone pieces from the Stone Age at a site in downtown Beijing, near Wangfujing in Dongcheng District. These items are now kept in a special museum. Archaeologists have found more than 40 places where people lived long ago across the area. These discoveries show that farming was common here 6,000 to 7,000 years ago. The pottery and beautiful carved stones from these places look similar to items from a culture far to the north called the Hongshan Culture.

Pre-imperial history

The history of Beijing stretches back over 3,000 years, rooted in ancient legends and early settlements. According to old stories, important battles such as the Battle of Banquan may have happened near modern-day Beijing, involving figures like the Yellow Emperor and the Yan Emperor. These tales describe how early tribes united and settled in the region.

Archaeological evidence shows that by the 11th century BC, Beijing was an important area for the ancient states of Ji and Yan. The city of Ji, believed to be located in what is now southern Beijing, served as a key stop for traders traveling along ancient routes. The nearby state of Yan later became a major power, building walls to protect against northern invaders. These early settlements laid the groundwork for Beijing's long and rich history.

Main article: Pre-imperial history of Beijing

Early imperial history

See also: Youzhou, Guangyang Commandery, Yuyang Commandery, and Yan Kingdom (Han dynasty)

During the early years of ancient China, Beijing was a city far north of the main country areas. Leaders in central China used it to connect with people from the north and northeast.

When the Qin dynasty took control, they divided China into parts called commanderies. Beijing became part of two of these, Guangyang Commandery and Yuyang Commandery. The Qin dynasty also built roads to link different parts of the country and started building the Great Wall to protect against northern groups.

Later, during the Han dynasty, Beijing was an important city where leaders managed lands far to the north. Many people lived there, and it stayed significant even as new rulers came and went over many centuries.

Liao, Song and Jin dynasties

Though Beijing was far from the centers of Chinese dynasties based in Luoyang and Xi'an, it served as an important gateway for northern tribes entering China. Its importance grew from the 10th century as invasions by the Khitans, Jurchens, and Mongols—founders of the Liao dynasty, Jin dynasty, and Yuan dynasty—brought new rulers to the area.

The Liao dynasty made Beijing one of its secondary capitals, naming it Nanjing, or "Southern Capital." They kept the city's layout with eight gates and added important buildings. The Niujie Mosque, Beijing's oldest mosque, was built during this time. Later, the Song dynasty tried to reclaim the city but faced strong resistance. Eventually, the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) took control and renamed it Zhongdu, or "Central Capital," making it their political center for the first time. The Jin expanded the city and built notable structures, including Taiye Lake and Beihai Park. The city's population grew significantly under their rule.

Main article: Nanjing (Liao dynasty)

Main article: Zhongdu

Yuan dynasty

Main article: Khanbaliq

Kublai Khan made Beijing the capital of the Yuan dynasty. He chose the city because of its strategic location between the North China Plain and the steppes to the north. Construction of the new capital, named Dadu, began in 1267 and was mostly finished by 1285. Dadu was much larger than the older city of Zhongdu and had many lakes created from rivers, which are still part of Beijing today.

The city was designed with wide streets and narrow alleys called hutongs, and it included many buildings with different styles from across the empire. Famous travelers like Marco Polo visited Dadu, leaving accounts of life in this grand capital.

Ming dynasty

The Yongle Emperor moved the capital of the Ming dynasty from Nanjing to Beijing in 1421. He built the Forbidden City between 1406 and 1420, which became a major part of the city's history.

Before this, in 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming dynasty in Nanjing on the Yangtze River. The city of Beijing, then called Beiping, was given to Zhu Yuanzhang's son, Zhu Di. After a civil war, Zhu Di became the Yongle Emperor and made Beijing the capital in 1403. He renamed the city Beijing, meaning "Northern Capital," and built many important buildings, including the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven.

From 1421, Beijing was the main capital of the Ming dynasty. The city grew very large and became one of the biggest cities in the world. Many important structures, like parts of the Great Wall, were built during this time. Even today, some parts of the old city walls and gates can still be seen.

Qing dynasty

Prince regent Dorgon led the Manchus to take control of Beijing in 1644. He made Beijing the capital of the new Qing dynasty, preserving many imperial traditions and structures. The city's population grew again after a decline during earlier conflicts.

The Qing rulers kept Beijing's layout mostly as it was, assigning different groups to live near the city's gates. They built grand gardens northwest of the city, including the famous Yuanmingyuan and Yiheyuan. The Beijing dialect became the official language of the country, influencing speech patterns nationwide for years to come.

During this time, Beijing became a center for culture and trade. Famous businesses like Tongrentang, a herbal medicine shop, and Quanjude, known for Peking Duck, opened their doors. The city also saw the rise of Peking Opera, blending different styles of performance.

Foreign powers became more involved in Beijing following conflicts like the Second Opium War, leading to changes in the city's governance and economy. New schools, banks, and transportation systems began to take shape, setting the stage for future developments.

Republic of China

See also: History of the Republic of China

The Qing dynasty ended with the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, but Beijing stayed the capital of the new Republic of China. Former Qing general Yuan Shikai took control and ruled from Beijing until 1928. Then the Chinese Nationalists reunified the country and moved the capital to Nanjing, renaming Beijing to Beiping.

In 1937, a clash between Chinese and Japanese troops near Beiping started the Second Sino-Japanese War. Japanese forces occupied the city and renamed it Beijing again. After Japan surrendered in 1945, the city returned to Chinese control and was renamed Beiping once more. During the civil war between Nationalists and Communists, Beijing was peacefully taken by Communist forces in 1949 and renamed Beijing, becoming the capital of the People’s Republic of China.

Xinhai Revolution

See also: Xinhai Revolution

Yuan Shikai ended the Qing dynasty and became the first president of the Republic of China in Beijing in 1912. He kept the capital there despite efforts to move it to Nanjing. The city remained a key political center through these changes.

World War I and the May 4th Movement

See also: May 4th Movement

After Yuan Shikai's death, new leaders faced decisions about joining World War I. Protests erupted in 1919 when the Treaty of Versailles gave former German territories in Shandong to Japan instead of China. Students and others in Beijing led widespread demonstrations known as the May Fourth Movement, which pushed for change and new ideas in Chinese society.

Beiyang regime

See also: Beiyang government and Warlord Era

Military leaders competed for power in Beijing during the 1920s. Student protests and political changes marked this time. In 1928, the Nationalists took control and renamed the city Beiping after moving the capital to Nanjing.

City planning in the 1920s

During this period, Beijing changed from an imperial capital to a modern city. The population grew, and new transportation like trams were added. Parks were developed from old imperial gardens, opening them to the public for the first time.

Second Sino-Japanese War

Main articles: Marco Polo Bridge Incident and Battle of Beiping–Tianjin

Japan’s expansion into northern China threatened Beiping. In 1937, conflict at the Marco Polo Bridge started the Second Sino-Japanese War. Japanese forces captured Beiping, renaming it Beijing. The city avoided heavy fighting, but life changed under occupation. After Japan’s surrender in 1945, Beiping was restored to Chinese control.

Chinese Civil War

The Nationalists and Communists, allies during the war with Japan, resumed their conflict afterward. Beiping was a key location for negotiations and military operations. In 1949, Communist forces entered the city peacefully, renaming it Beijing and making it the capital of the new People’s Republic of China.

People's Republic of China

**Left:**From atop Tiananmen Gate, Mao Zedong, proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949, and Beijing again became the capital of China. Right: Beijing middle school students attended the ceremony in Tiananmen Square.

See also: Politics of Beijing and History of the People's Republic of China

On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong stood atop the rostrum of Tiananmen Gate, proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China. The city's name was restored to Beijing, which again served as the national capital. At the time, the city limits contained 707 km² (273 sq mi) of territory and had just over 2.03 million residents. Over the next sixty years, the city would reach unprecedented size in both territory (expanding 23-fold) and population (growing ten-fold) as well as political stature and importance. As the political center of a highly centralized government, Beijing witnessed and its residents took part in many of the political events and developments that shaped modern China.

1949–1958

The Communist leadership moved swiftly to establish a new order in Beijing. With the abolition of the unequal treaties, the foreign powers were deprived of special rights to station military units and consular offices in the Legation Quarter. The United States, France and Netherlands, which refused to recognize the new government, were forced to abandon their consulates and military offices by 1950. The Soviet Union negotiated a move to a new embassy in the northeast corner of the old city. The United Kingdom, which recognized the PRC, was among the last countries to leave the legation quarters in 1954. A new embassy district emerged east of the city walls in Sanlitun where allies in the Eastern Bloc and Third World opened diplomatic missions.

As the seat of power for the People's Republic, Beijing was transformed to reflect the ideals of socialist state. Tiananmen Square was expanded to accommodate large public rallies and parades. Landmark buildings and monuments, influenced by the socialist-realist style from the Soviet Union, including the Monument to the People's Heroes, Great Hall of the People, and the National Museum of China, were completed by 1959, in time for the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic. Many neighborhoods in the old city were razed to make room for factories, government bureaus and apartment buildings. Many palaces and gardens were converted to residences, schools and offices. Large factories were built in the western and eastern suburbs. The national leadership took residence in the Zhongnanhai, to the west of the Forbidden City, where the Ming dynasty royal garden and palace stood. The city wall fell into disrepair and was demolished in the 1960s during the construction of the Beijing Subway and replaced by what is now the 2nd Ring Road.

The city became the most concentrated center for higher education and academic research in China. Though foreign-funded universities were closed or converted to public institutions—the Yenching University merged into Peking University, which moved from the city centre to the Yenching campus in the northwest suburbs and Fu Jen Catholic University merged into Beijing Normal University—the number of universities in Beijing swelled with the relocation of institutions from guerilla areas such as Renmin University, BIT, Central Party School, Central Nationalities Institute, and Beijing Foreign Studies University, and the opening of national academies and institutes by various ministries.

From 1949 to 1958, the city steadily acquired land from neighboring Hebei Province. The last major additions occurred in 1958 with the incorporation of nine counties: Tong County (now Tongzhou District), Shunyi, Daxing, Liangxiang (now part of Fangshan District), Fangshan, Pinggu, Miyun, Huairou and Yanqing, adding 11,988 km² (4,629 sq mi) for a total of 16,800 km² (6,500 sq mi). In 1958, the municipal population reached 6,318,497, of which 31.5% resided in the walled city, 29% in the immediate suburbs and the remainder in outlying towns and rural areas. City planners set a target population of 10 million for Beijing.

Great Leap Forward

See also: Great Leap Forward

In January 1958, Mao kicked off the second Five Year Plan with an ambitious campaign to accelerate economic development. The Great Leap Forward sought to overcome China's shortage of capital through mass mobilization, using large-scale collectivized farms to boost agricultural output and the food surplus to free up labor for industrial development. In urban Beijing, as in other cities, new apartment buildings were constructed without kitchens. Instead, residents dined in communal mess halls, which served free meals. Residents were mobilized to produce steel in homemade backyard furnaces using personal metal possessions (such as pots and cutlery, which they were presumed to no longer need as cooking was done centrally by the mess halls). The campaign hastened the demolition of city walls, whose bricks were used to build the furnaces. The low grade pig iron produced from these furnaces were ill-suited for industrial use. The policy was a complete failure and the misallocation of resources halted the city's reconstruction plans for years.^{[citation needed]}

Cultural Revolution

See also: Cultural Revolution

The Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao's campaign to change the social and cultural fabric of Chinese society, was launched from and ultimately halted in Beijing, with profound consequences for the city and country.

Having halted classes and toppled school administrations, the Red Guards then turned to enemies of the revolution in broader society. They ransacked homes of class enemies in search of incriminating evidence, smashed cultural relics deemed to be remnants of feudal culture, and struggled against political and cultural luminaries who were accused of following the capitalist road. Within one month of Mao's first rally on August 18, they ransacked 114,000 homes in the city, seizing 3.3 million items and ¥75.2 million in cash. By 1967, with schools closed and authority figures toppled, Red Guard factions began to compete with each other for control of institutions they had seized. The clashes grew violent, and some groups turned to challenge Jiang Qing. In 1968, Mao ordered the military to take control of government, universities and factories and had the Red Guards disband and leave the city for the countryside where they would "undergo reeducation from the peasants".

1976–1989

Residential architecture in Beijing

traditional courtyard residence

Socialist walk-up apartment blocks built in Hepingli in the 1960s

Jianguomen Diplomatic Residences built in 1971

Apartment blocks built in Xibahe in the 1980s

Apartment blocks built in Tiantongyuan in the 1990s and 2000s

Apartment blocks in Beijing Municipal Administrative Center (Tongzhou district)

1990s

In 1990, Beijing's long-term residential population reached 10.32 million, of which 61% were in urban areas. In addition, the city had 1.27 million non-resident migrants, for a total population of 11.59 million.

From September 22 to October 7, 1990, Beijing hosted the 11th Asian Games, which were held in China for the first time and attended by 6,122 athletes from 37 countries competing in 29 sports. The city was awarded the games in 1984 over Osaka. The Asian Games Village was built north of the city center beyond the Third Ring Road. The Worker Stadium served as the Games' main venue. The city's bid for the 2000 Summer Olympic Games ended in September 1993 with a narrow loss by a vote of 43–45 in the final round to Sydney.

The 2nd Ring Road, under construction since the 1960s and built on the foundation of the outer Ming city wall, was finally completed in 1992. Where city gates once stood are now overpass exits. The 3rd Ring Road followed in 1993. Construction of the city's three other ring roads began in the 1990s and were completed in 2001 (4th Ring), 2003 (5th Ring) and 2009 (6th Ring).

The 1990s and the start of the new millennium were a period of rapid economic growth in Beijing. Following the reform and opening up of Deng Xiaoping, what was once farmland surrounding the city was developed into new residential and commercial districts. Modern expressways and high-rise buildings were built throughout the city to accommodate the growing and increasingly affluent population of the city. Foreign investment transformed Beijing into one of the most cosmopolitan and prosperous cities in the world. In September 1995, the city hosted the United Nation's Fourth World Conference on Women and a parallel gathering of non-government organizations in Huairou District.

2000s

In 2000, the city's total population reached 13.56 million, including 2.49 million temporary migrants. The city's population has continued to grow, largely through inbound migration, reaching 15.38 million in 2005 (including 3.57 million temporary migrants) and exceeding 20 million in 2011. Of the 20.18 million total population in 2011, 12.77 million were long-term residents with temporary migrants making up 7.4 million (36.7%).

From 2001 to 2008, a clock on the east side of Tiananmen Square, counted down to the opening of the XXIX Olympiad. The Dancing Beijing features Beijing's "jing (京)" character styled to resemble a man running. Nearly all Olympic venues are located in the northern half of the city.

On July 13, 2001, at the 112th meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Moscow, Beijing was awarded the right to host the 2008 Summer Olympic and Paralympics Games. Under the motto "New Beijing, Great Olympics", the city pledged that holding the Games in China for the first time would promote not only the city's economy but also education, health and human rights of its residents. Beijing prevailed over Paris, Toronto, Istanbul and Osaka with an absolute majority of votes in the second round of balloting.

Over the next seven years, the city spent nearly ¥300 billion (about US$36 billion in 2005 exchange rate) in preparation. The city built 12 permanent athletic venues and 8 temporary venues, expanded 11 existing venues, and renovated 45 practice facilities. The bulk of the new venues was concentrated in the Olympic Green directly north of Tiananmen and the Forbidden City. Venues accounted for less than 5% of overall Olympic spending, the lion's share of which went to building infrastructure, including 578 km (359 mi) of express highways, six subway lines, Terminal 3 of the Capital Airport and the Beijing South railway station, and a high-speed high-speed railway to Tianjin. To improve environmental quality, the city added nine sewage treatment plants, dredged 290 km (180 mi) of waterways and built waste incineration and wind power generation facilities. From 2001 to 2007, the city's economy doubled in size and per capita income rose from $3,262 to $7,654.

2010s

In the five years after the Olympics, Beijing's economy continued to grow rapidly, and the government's massive economic stimulus program in response to the global recession added enormous wealth to the city. By the end of 2012, the city's economy was 1.8 times bigger than in 2008 and triple the size of 2004. 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. It also ranked No. 4 in the number of billionaire residents after Moscow, New York and Hong Kong.

The rapid economic growth and expansionary monetary policy, which caused property prices to rise throughout China, made Beijing one of the most expensive cities in the country. By 2010, new apartments inside the Third Ring Road cost Y30,000 per m² (US$360 per sq. ft.), about ten times the average monthly wages. In response, the city government pledged to build low-income housing and imposed stringent limitations on home ownership. In February 2011, Beijing couples who already owned two or more homes and single residents with at least one home were barred from buying additional properties in the city. Individuals without resident permits, who can own only one property in the city, must pay local income tax for five consecutive years before they are eligible to buy it. In March 2013, the state imposed capital gains taxes on real estate transactions and raised down payment requirements for mortgages, but prices continued to climb. By August 2013, the average price of apartments inside the Fourth Ring Road reached Y42,259 per m² (US$634 per sq. ft.), nearly twice as high as in 2009, leading to concerns of a property bubble.

The 22nd annual meeting of leaders from countries in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum was held in Beijing on November 10–12, 2014. An international convention center was built by Yanqi Lake in Huairou District for the occasion. On September 3, 2015, a massive military parade was held to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory in World War II with leaders from over two dozen countries attending and honor guards from 17 countries joining the People's Liberation Army in the procession.