History of Beijing
Encyclopedia
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 was for centuries the capital of the ancient state of Yan
. 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 Jurchen peoples from the steppes 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 this time onward, with the exception of two interludes from 1368 to 1421 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).
in Fangshan District
, where the Homo erectus
Peking Man
(Sinanthropus pekinensis) lived from 770,000 to 230,000 years ago. Paleolithic
homo sapiens also lived in the caves from about 27,000 to 10,000 years ago.
In 1996, over 2,000 Stone Age
tools and bone fragments were discovered at a construction site at Wangfujing
in the heart of downtown Beijing in Dongcheng District
. The artifacts date to 24,000 to 25,000 years ago and are preserved in the Wangfujing Paleolithic Museum in the lower level of the New Oriental Plaza.
Archaeologists have found Neolithic
settlements throughout the plains of Beijing from Xiaoniantou and Shangzhai Village in Pinggu County in the east to Xueshan Village in Changping District
in the north, and Zhenjiangying in Fangshan District in the southwest. These sites indicate that farming was widespread in the area 6,000 to 7,000 years ago.
's conquest of the Shang Dynasty
in the 11th century BC. According to Sima Qian
's Records of the Grand Historian
, King Wu of Zhou
, in the 11th year of his reign, deposed the last Shang king
and conferred titles to nobles within his domain, including the rulers of the city states Ji (蓟/薊) and Yan (燕). The walled City of Ji or Jicheng (蓟城/薊城) was located in the southwestern part of present-day Beijing, just south of Guang'anmen in Xicheng
and Fengtai District
s. According to Confucius
, the rulers of Ji were descendants of the Yellow Emperor
. Some time during the late Western Zhou
or early Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Ji was absorbed by neighboring Yan, which made the City of Ji, its capital.
Yan's capital was previously based to the south of Ji, in the village of Dongjialin in Liulihe Township of Fangshan District, where a large walled settlement and over 200 tombs of nobility have been unearthed. Among the most significant artifacts from the Liulihe site is a bronze ding
with inscriptions that recount the journey of the eldest son of the Duke of Yan who delivered offerings to the King of Zhou in present-day Xi'an
, and was awarded a position in the king's court.
Both Yan and Ji were located along an important north-south trade route along the eastern flank of the Taihang Mountains
from the Central Plain
to the northern steppes. Ji, located just north of the Yongding River
, was a convenient resting stop for trade caravans. Here, the route to the northwest through the mountain passes diverged from the road to the Northeast
. Ji also had a steady water supply from the nearby Lotus Pond, which still exists south of the Beijing West Railway Station
. Yan's old capital relied on the more seasonal flow of the Liuli River. Perhaps for these reasons, Yan chose to move its capital to Ji, which remains to be known as Jicheng or the City of Ji. Due to its historical association with the State of Yan, the city of Beijing is also called Yanjing (燕京) or "Yan Capital".
The State of Yan would continue to expand until it became one of the seven major powers
during the Warring States Period
(473-221 BC). It stretched from the Yellow River
to the Yalu
. Historical records show that the Yan capital was a wealthy city with at least two palaces. In 284 BC, the victorious Yan general Yue Yi
, having conquered 70 cities of neighboring Qi
, wrote to Duke of Yan to report that he had enough booty to fill two palaces and planned to bring home a new tree species to plant on the Hill of Ji, north of the city. The hill mentioned in the letter is believed to be the mound at the White Cloud Abbey, outside Xibianmen in Xicheng District
. Like subsequent rulers of Beijing, the Yan also faced the threat of invasions by steppe nomads
, and built walled fortifications across its northern frontier. Remnants of the Yan walls in Changping County date to 283 BC. They predate Beijing's better known Ming
Great Wall by more than 1,500 years.
In 226 BC, the City of Ji fell to the invading State of Qin
and the State of Yan was forced to move its capital to Liaodong. The Qin eventually ended Yan in 222 BC. The following year, the ruler of Qin, having conquered all the other states, declared himself to be the First Emperor
.
During the first one thousand years of Chinese imperial history, Beijing was a provincial city on the northern periphery of China proper
. The Qin Dynasty
built a highly centralized state and divided the country into 48 commandaries (jun), two of which are located in present-day Beijing. The City of Ji became the seat of Guangyang Commandary (广阳郡/廣陽郡). To the north, in present-day Miyun County
, was Yuyang Commandary.
The Han Dynasty
, which followed the short-lived Qin in 206 BC, initially restored some local autonomy. Founding Emperor Liu Bang recognized a number of regional kingdoms
including Yan. In 106 BC, under Han Emperor Wudi
, the country was reorganized into 13 prefectural-provinces (zhou 州), and the City of Ji served as the prefectural capital for Youzhou
(幽州). The tomb of Liu Jian, the Prince of Guangyang who ruled Youzhou from 73 to 45 BC. was discovered in 1974 in Fengtai District and has been preserved in the Dabaotai Western Han Dynasty Mausoleum. In 1999, another royal tomb was found in Laoshan in Shijingshan District
but the prince formerly buried there has not been identified.
During the Three Kingdoms
, the Kingdom of Wei
controlled ten of the Han Dynasty's prefectures including Youzhou and its capital Ji. Ji was demoted to a mere county-seat in the Western Jin Dynasty (晋), which made neighboring Zhuo County
, in present day Hebei Province, the prefectural capital of Youzhou. After 304 AD, the Western Jin Dynasty was overthrown
by steppe peoples who had settled in northern China
and established about sixteen short-lived kingdoms
. During this period, Beijing was controlled successively by the Di
-led Former Qin
, the Jie
-led Later Zhao
, the Xianbei
-led Former Yan
and Later Yan
. The Tanzhe Temple
in the Western Hills
of Beijing was built in 307 AD. The Northern Wei
, another Xianbei regime, eventually united northern China in 386 AD, and restored Ji as the capital of Youzhou. With the creation of a separate prefecture called Jizhou (蓟州) in present-day Tianjin
in 370 AD, however, the name Ji was transplanted from Beijing to Tianjin, where a Ji County
(蓟县) still exists today. In Beijing, the City of Ji gradually became known as Youzhou. This designation continued through the Eastern Wei
, Northern Qi
, Sui
and Tang Dynasties
.
After the Sui dynasty reunited China in 589 AD, the Emperor Yang of Sui
built a network of canals from the Central Plain to Youzhou to carry troops and food for the massive military campaigns
against Goguryeo
(Korea). Though the campaigns proved to be ruinous, they were continued by the Tang Dynasty. In 645 AD, the Tang Emperor Taizong
built the Fayuan Temple
3 km southeast of Youzhou to remember the war dead from the Korean Campaigns
. The Fayuan Temple, now within Xicheng District, is one of the oldest temples in urban Beijing.
The Tang Dynasty reduced the size of a prefecture as an administrative division from a province to a commandary. Youzhou was one of over 300 Tang Prefectures. In 742, Youzhou was briefly renamed Fanyang Commandary
(范阳郡), but reverted back to Youzhou in 758. To guard against barbarian invasions, the imperial court arranged six frontier military commands in 711 AD, and Youzhou became the headquarter of the Fanyang
Jiedushi
, who was tasked to monitor the Khitan
and Xi
nomads just north of present-day Hebei Province. In 755, the local commander An Lushan
, launched a rebellion from Youzhou after losing a power struggle in the imperial court. He declared himself the emperor of the Great Yan Dynasty and went on to conquer Luoyang and Xi'an. The An Shi Rebellion
lasted ten years and severely weakened the Tang dynasty. It also paved the way for Khitan expansion into northern China, which prompted the rise of Beijing in Chinese history.
After the demise of the Tang Dynasty fell in 907, China was divided into ten kingdoms
, mostly in the south, and five short-lived dynasties in the north. One of these dynasties, Later Jin Dynasty
(936-947), a weak regime led by Shatuo Turk Shi Jingtang, ceded a large part
of the northern frontier across present-day Hebei and Shanxi
Provinces, including Youzhou (modern Beijing) to the Khitan
in exchange for military support.
and Xi'an
, it was to the nomad
s, an important entryway into China. The city's stature grew from the 10th century with successive invasions of China by Khitan, Jurchen and Mongols. In 938, the ascendant Khitan having unified the steppes founded the Liao Dynasty
. It elevated Youzhou to be one of its four secondary capitals, renaming it Nanjing (南京) or the "Southern Capital". Thus, the City of Ji, ceded to the Liao as Youzhou, continued as Nanjing in what is today the southwest part of urban Beijing. Some of the oldest landmarks in southern Xicheng (formerly Xuanwu) and Fengtai Districts date to the Liao era. They include Sanmiao Road, one of the oldest streets in Beijing and the Niujie Mosque, founded in 996, and the Tianning Temple
, built from 1100-1119.
The Song Dynasty
, after unifying the rest of China in 960, sought to recapture the lost northern territories. In 979, Song Emperor Taizong
personally led a military expedition that reached and laid siege to Nanjing (Youzhou
) but was defeated in the decisive Battle of Gaoliang River
, just northwest of present-day Xizhimen
. In 1122, the Song entered the Alliance on the Sea
with the Jurchens, a nomadic people living northeast of the Liao in modern-day Manchuria
. The two nations agreed to jointly invade the Liao and if successful, cede the Sixteen Prefectures to the Song. The Song faltered in their campaigns but the Jurchens were victorious and drove the Liao to Central Asia. The Jurchens captured Nanjing, looted the city and handed it to the Song, in exchange for tribute. Song rule of the city, renamed Yanshan (燕山), was short-lived.
The Jurchens founded Jin (金) Dynasty, and sensing Song weakness, invaded the Central Plains in 1125. They quick retook Beijing and renamed it Yanjing. In 1153, Jin Emperor Wanyan Liang
moved his capital from Shangjing
(near present-day Harbin
) to the city, which was renamed Zhongdu (中都) or the "Central Capital." For the first time in its history, the city of Beijing became a political capital of a major dynasty.
The Jin expanded the city to the west, east, and south, doubling its size. On today's map of urban Beijing, Zhongdu would extend from Xuanwumen in the northeast to the Beijing West Railway Station to the west, and south to beyond the southern 2nd Ring Road. The walled city had 13 gates, four in the north and three openings in each of the other sides. Remnants of Zhongdu city walls are preserved in Fengtai District. The Jin emphasized the centrality of the regime by placing the walled palace complex near the center of Zhongdu. The palace was situated south of present-day Guang'anmen and north of the Grand View Garden
. Paper money was first issued in Beijing during the Jin. The Lugou Bridge
, over the Yongding River southwest of the city, was built in 1189. Zhongdu served as the Jin capital for more than 60 years, until the onslaught of the Mongols forced the Jin court to move south to Kaifeng
in 1214.
, Mongol forces sacked Zhongdu
, which was again named Yanjing. Just as the Jurchens had risen from the steppes and displaced the Khitan Liao, so too had the Mongols who emerged out of southern Siberia and destroyed the Jurchen Jin in 1234. Much of the old Zhongdu, including the imperial palace, lay in ruin when Kublai Khan visited the city for the first time in 1261. He stayed in the Taining Palace located on Qionghua Island in the Gaoliang River northeast of Zhongdu. The palace was built by the Jin in 1179 as a country retreat, much like the later Summer Palace
of the Qing
. Unlike other Mongol leaders who wanted to retain the traditional tribal confederation based in Karakorum
, Kublai Khan was eager to become the emperor of a cosmopolitan empire. He spent the next four years waging and winning a civil war against rival Mongol chieftains, and in 1264 ordered advisor Liu Bingzhong
to build his new capital at Yanjing. In 1260, he had already begun construction of his capital at Xanadu
, some 275 km due north of Beijing on the Luan River
in present-day Inner Mongolia
, but he preferred the location of Beijing. With the North China Plain
opening to the south and the steppes just beyond the mountain passes to the north, Beijing was an ideal midway point for Kublai Khan's new seat of power. In 1271, he declared the creation of the Yuan Dynasty
and named his capital Dadu
(大都, Chinese
for "Grand Capital", or Daidu to the Mongols). It is also known by the Mongol name Khanbaliq (汗八里), spelled Cambuluc in Marco Polo
's accounts. After the construction of Dadu, Xanadu, also known as Shangdu, became Kublai Khan's summer capital
.
Rather than continuing on the foundation of Zhongdu, the new capital Dadu was shifted to the northeast and built around the old Taining Palace on Qionghua Island in the middle of the Gaoliang River. This move set in place Beijing's current north-south central axis. Dadu was nearly twice the size of Zhongdu. It stretched from present-day Chang'an Avenue
in the south to the earthen Dadu city walls that still stand in northern and northeastern Beijing, between the 3rd and 4th Ring Roads. The city had earthen walls 24 m thick and 11 city gates, two in the north and three each in the other cardinal directions. Later, the Ming Dynasty lined portions of Dadu's eastern and western walls with brick and reused four of their gates. Thus, Dadu had the same width as the Beijing of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The geographic center of the Dadu was marked with a pavilion, which is now the Drum Tower.
The most striking physical feature of Dadu is the string of lakes in the heart of the city. These lakes were created from the Gaoliang River inside the city. They are now known as the six seas ("hai") of central Beijing: Houhai, Qianhai and Xihai (the Rear, Front, and West Seas) which are collectively known as Shichahai
, Beihai (North Sea) Park
, and the Zhongnanhai (South Central Seas) compound
. Qionghua Island is now the island in Beihai Park on which the White Dagoba stands. Like today's Chinese leaders, the Yuan imperial family lived west of the lakes in the Xingsheng and Longfu Palaces. A third palace east of the lakes, called the Danei, in the location of the Forbidden City
, housed the imperial offices. The city's construction drew builders from all over the Mongols' Asian empire, including local Chinese as well as those from places such as Nepal and Central Asia. Liu Bingzhong
was appointed as the supervisor of the construction of the imperial city and a chief architect was Yeheidie'erding
. The pavilions of the palaces took on various architectural styles from across the empire. The entire palace complex occupied the south central portion of Dadu. Following Chinese tradition, the temples for ancestral rites and harvest rites were built, respectfully, to west and east of the palace.
The inclusion of the Gaoliang River in the city gave Dadu a larger supply of water than the Lotus Pool which had nourished Ji, Youzhou and Nanjing for the previous two thousand years. To boost water supply even more, Yuan hydrologist Guo Shoujing
built channels to draw spring water from the Yuquan Mountain in the northwest through what is today the Kunming Lake
of the Summer Palace through the Purple Bamboo Park
to Jishuitan, which was a large reservoir inside Dadu. The expansion and extension of the Grand Canal from Dadu to Hangzhou
enabled the city to import greater volumes of grain to sustain a larger population.
The city's residential districts were laid out in a checkerboard pattern divided by avenues 25 m in width and narrow alleyways, called hutongs, 6–7 m wide. One of the best surviving examples of such a district is Dongsi, which has 12 parallel hutongs, called the 12 tiao of Dongsi. The name hutong is unique to Yuan-era city. In older neighborhoods that date to the Liao and Jin eras, narrow lanes are still called jie or streets. Each of the large avenues had underground sewers which carried rain and refuse to the south of the city. The main markets were located in Dongsi, Xisi and the north shore of Jishuitan.
Construction of Dadu began in 1267 and the first palace was finished the next year. The entire palace complex was completed in 1274 and the rest of the city by 1285. In 1279, when Mongol armies finished off
the last of the Song Dynasty in southern China, Beijing became for the first time, the capital of the whole of China.
As Kublai Khan had intended, the city was a showcase of the cosmopolitan Yuan Empire. A number of foreign travelers including Giovanni di Monte Corvino, Odoric of Pordenone
, Marco Polo
and Ibn Battuta
left written accounts of their visits to the city. Some of the most famous writers of the Yuan era including Ma Zhiyuan
, Guan Hanqing
, and Wang Shifu
, lived in Dadu. The Mongols commissioned the building of an Islamic observatory and Islamic academy. The White Stupa Temple
near Fuchengmen was commissioned by Kublai Khan in 1271. Its famous white stupa was designed by Nepali architect Araniko, and remains one of the biggest stupa
s in China. The Confucius Temple and Guozijian
were founded during the reign of Emperor Chengzong, Kublai's successor.
in Nanjing
and his general Xu Da
captured Dadu. The last Yuan court fled to the steppes. Dadu's imperial palace was razed and the city was renamed Beiping (北平 or "Northern Peace"). Nanjing, also known as Yingtian Fu became the Jingshi or the capital of the new dynasty.
Two years later, the founding Hongwu Emperor
, conferred Beiping to his fourth son, Zhu Di, who at the age of ten became the Prince of Yan. Zhu Di did not move to Beiping until 1370 but quickly built up his military power in defense of the northern frontier. The Hongwu Emperor was predeceased by his three eldest sons, and when he died in 1398, the throne was passed down to Zhu Yunwen, the heir of his crown prince. The new emperor sought to curtail his uncle's power in Beiping, and a bitter power struggle ensued. In 1402, after a four-year civil war
, Zhu Di seized Nanjing and declared himself the Yongle Emperor
. As the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he was not content to stay in Nanjing. He executed hundreds in Nanjing for remaining loyal to his predecessor, who was reportedly killed in a palace fire but was rumored to have escaped. The Yongle Emperor sent his eunuch Zheng He
on the famed voyages overseas in part to investigate the rumors of the Jianwen Emperor
abroad.
In 1403, the Yongle Emperor renamed his home base, Beijing, (北京, or the "Northern Capital") and elevated the city to the status of centrally-administered city, on par with Nanjing. For the first time, Beijing took on its modern name, though it was also known as Shuntian Fu (顺天府). From 1403 to 1421, Yongle prepared Beijing to be his new capital with a massive reconstruction program. Some of Beijing's most iconic historical buildings, including the Forbidden City
and the Temple of Heaven
, were built for Yongle's capital. In 1421, Yongle moved the Jingshi of the Ming to Beijing, which made Beijing the main capital of the Ming dynasty. The move to the north also enabled the Ming regime to pay closer heed to the defense of the north against the Mongols. Most of the Great Wall in northern Beijing Municipality were built during the Ming Dynasty. The Temple of the Sun
, Earth
and Moon
were later added by the Taoist Emperor Jiajing
in 1530.
During the early Ming dynasty, the northern part of old Dadu was depopulated and abandoned. The northern wall of the Ming city was built 2.5 km to the south. The southern wall of the city was moved half a kilometer to the south. These changes completed the Inner City of Beijing, which had 12 gates (two to the north, four to the south and three each to the east and west). These walls withstood a major test following the Tumu Crisis
of 1449 when the Zhengtong Emperor
was captured by Oirat Mongols
during a military campaign near Huailai.
The Oirat chieftain, Esen Tayisi
, then drove through the Great Wall and marched on the Ming capital with the captive emperor in hand. Defense Minister Yu Qian
rejected Esen's demands for ransom despite the emperor's pleadings. Yu said the responsibility to protect the country took precedence over the emperor's life. He rejected calls by other officials to move the capital to the South. Instead, Zhengtong's younger half-brother
was elevated to the throne, and 220,000 troops were assembled to defend the city. Ming forces with firearms and artillery ambushed the Mongol cavalry outside Deshengmen
, killing Esen's brother in the barrage, and repelled another attack on Xizhimen. Esen retreated to Mongolia and three years later, returned the captive emperor, with no ransom paid. In 1457, the Zhengtong Emperor reclaimed the throne and had Yu Qian executed for treason. Yu Qian's home near Dongdan was later made into a temple in his honor.
In 1550, Altan Khan
led a Khalkha Mongol
raid on Beijing that pillaged the northern suburbs but did not attempt to take the city. To protect the city's southern suburbs, including neighborhoods from the Liao and Jin-eras and the Temple of Heaven, the Outer City wall was built in 1553. The Outer City wall had five gates, three to the south and one each to the east and west. The Inner and Outer Ming city walls
stood until in the 1960s when they were pulled down to build the Beijing Subway
and the 2nd Ring Road.
Jesuit missions
reached Beijing at the turn of the 16th century. In 1601, Matteo Ricci
became an advisor to the Ming Court of Emperor Wanli
and became the first Westerner to have access to the Forbidden City. He established the Nantang Cathedral
in 1605, the oldest Catholic church
in the city. Other Jesuits later became directors of Beijing's Imperial Observatory
.
It is believed that Beijing was the largest city in the world from 1425 to 1650 and from 1710 to 1825. To feed the growing population, Ming authorities built granaries known as the Jingtong storehouses near the terminus of the Grand Canal. The government administered the granaries, which fed a growing population and sustained the military. The granaries helped to control prices and prevent inflation, but as the population grew and demand for food exceeded supply, price controls became less effective.
Before the mid-15th century, Beijing residents relied on wood for heating and cooking. However, a population boom quickly led to a massive logging of the forests around the city, and by the mid-15th century the forests had largely disappeared. As a substitute, residents began to use coal, which was mined in the Western Hills
. The use of coal caused many environmental problems and changed the ecological system around the city.
During the Ming dynasty, 15 epidemic outbreaks occurred in the city of Beijing, including smallpox, "pimple plague," and "vomit blood plague" - the latter two were possibly bubonic plague and pneumonic plague. In most cases, the public health system functioned well in gaining control of the outbreaks, except in 1643. That year, epidemics claimed 200,000 lives in Beijing, thus compromising the defense of the city from the attacks of the peasant rebels and contributing to the downfall of the Ming dynasty.
During the 15th and 16th centuries, banditry was common near Beijing despite the presence of imperial government. Due to inadequate supervision and economic privation, imperial troops in the capital region to protect the throne would often turn to brigandage
. Officials responsible for eradicating banditry often had ties to brigands and other marginal elements of Ming society.
In 1629, Li Zicheng launched a peasant rebellion in northwest China and captured Beijing in March 1644. The last Ming Emperor Chongzhen committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree
in Jingshan
. Li proclaimed himself emperor of the Shun Dynasty
, but he was defeated shortly thereafter at Shanhaiguan
by Ming general Wu Sangui
and the Manchu
Prince Dorgon
. Wu defected to the Manchus, a semi-nomadic people from Northeast China
, and allowed them inside the Great Wall. They drove Li Zicheng from Beijing in late April.
into the Forbidden City and made Beijing the new seat of the Qing Dynasty
. In the following decades, the Manchus would conquer the rest of the country and ruled China for nearly three centuries from the city. During this era, Beijing was also known as Jingshi which corresponds with the Manchu name Gemun Hecen.
The Qing largely retained the physical configuration of Beijing inside the city walls. Each of the Eight Manchu Banners
was assigned to guard and live near the eight gates of the Inner City. Outside the city, the Qing Court seized large tracts of land for Manchu noble estates. Northwest of the city, Qing emperors built several large palatial gardens. In 1684, Kangxi Emperor
built the Shangchun Garden on the site of the Ming Dynasty's Qinghua (or Tsinghua) Garden. In the early 18th century, he began building the Yuanmingyuan
, also known as the "Old Summer Palace", which the Qianlong Emperor
expanded with European Baroque
-style garden pavilions. In 1750, Qianlong built the Yiheyuan
, commonly referred to as the "Summer Palace". The two summer palaces represent both the culmination of Qing imperial splendor and its decline. Both were ransacked and razed by invading Western powers in the late Qing.
The Qing Dynasty maintained a relatively stable supply of food for the population of the capital during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The government's grain tribute system brought food from the provinces and kept grain prices stable. Soup kitchens provided relief to the needy. The secure food supply helped the Qing court maintain a degree of political stability. Temple fairs such as the Huguo Fair, which are like monthly bazaars held around temples, added to the commercial vibrance of the city.
In 1790, the Qing Court's Nanfu office, which was in charge of organizing entertainment for the emperor, invited the dramatic opera troupes from Anhui
to perform for Qianlong. Under Qianlong, the Nanfu had up to a thousand employees, including actors, musicians, and court eunuchs. In 1827, Emperor Daoguang, Qianlong's grandson, changed the name from Nanfu to Shengpingshu, and reduced the number of performances. Nevertheless, the court invited opera troupes from Hubei
came to perform. The Anhui and Hubei operatic styles eventually blended together in the mid-19th century to form Peking Opera.
In 1813, some 200 adherents of the White Lotus
sect launched a surprise siege on the Forbidden City but were repelled. In response, authorities imposed the baojia system of social surveillance and control.
Lord Macartney's
mission to China
arrived in Beijing in 1792, but failed to persuade the Qianlong Emperor to ease trade restrictions or to permit a permanent British Embassy in the city. Nevertheless, Macartney observed weaknesses within the Qing regime, which informed later, more forceful British efforts to enter China.
In 1860, during the Second Opium War
, Anglo-French forces annihilated the Qing army at Baliqiao east of Beijing. They captured the city and looted the Summer Palace
and Old Summer Palace
. The British consul Lord Elgin ordered the burning of the Old Summer Palace in retaliation of Qing mistreatment of Western prisoners. He spared the Forbidden City, saving it as a venue for the treaty-signing ceremony. Under the Convention of Peking
that ended the war, the Qing government was forced to allow Western powers to establish permanent diplomatic presence in the city. The foreign embassies were based southeast of the Forbidden City in the Beijing Legation Quarter
.
In 1886, the Empress Dowager
had Summer Palace
rebuilt using funds originally designated for the imperial navy. After the Qing government was defeated by Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War
and forced to sign the humiliating Treaty of Shimonoseki
, Kang Yuwei assembled 1,300 scholars outside Xuanwumen to protest the treaty and drafted a 10,000 character appeal to the Guangxu Emperor
. In June 1898, Guangxu adopted the proposals of Kang Yuwei, Liang Qichao
and other scholars and launched the Hundred Days' Reform
. The reforms alarmed the Empress Dowager who, with the help of her cousin Ronglu
and Beiyang
military commander Yuan Shikai
, launched a coup. Guangxu was imprisoned, Kang and Liang fled abroad, and Tan Sitong
and five other scholar reformers were publicly beheaded at Caishikou outside Xuanwumen. One legacy of the short-lived reform era was the founding of Peking University
in 1898. The university would have a profound impact on the intellectual and political history of the city.
In 1898, a millenarian group called the Righteous Harmony Society Movement
rebelled in Shandong
Province in reaction to Western imperialist expansion into China. They attacked Westerners especially missionaries and converted Chinese, and were called the "Boxers" by Westerners. The Qing court initially suppressed the Boxers but the Empress Dowager attempted to use them to curtail foreign influence and permitted them to gather in Beijing. In June 1900, they tried to storm the Legation Quarter
, which sheltered several hundred foreign civilians and soldiers and about 3,200 Chinese Christians. An international army of the Eight-Nation Alliance
eventually defeated the Boxers and Qing troops
and lifted the siege. The foreign armies looted the city and occupied northern China. The Empress Dowager fled to Xian and did not return until after the Qing government had signed the Boxer Protocol
which compelled it to pay reparations
of 450 million taels of silver with interest at 4 percent. The Boxer indemnities stripped the Qing government of much of its tax revenues and further weakened the state.
The United States used its portion of the proceeds to fund scholarships for Chinese students studying in America
. In 1911, the Boxer Indemnity Scholar Program established the American Indemnity College in the Qinghua Gardens northwest of Beijing as a preparatory school for students planning to study abroad. In 1912, the school was renamed Tsinghua University
, and remains to this day, one of the finest institutions of higher learning in China.
After the Boxer Rebellion, the struggling Qing Dynasty accelerated the pace of reform and became more receptive to foreign influence. The centuries-old imperial civil service examination
was abolished in 1905, and replaced with a Western-style curriculum and degree system. Public education for women received greater emphasis and even drew support from reactionaries like the Empress Dowager. Beijing's school for girls in the late Qing period made unbound feet an entrance requirement. The Beijing Police Academy, founded in 1901 as China's first modern institution for police training, used Japanese instructors became a model for police academies in other cities. The Peking Union Medical College
, founded by missionaries in 1906 and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation
from 1915, set the standard for the training of nurses. The Metropolitan University Library in Beijing, founded in 1898, was China's first modern academic library with a clear goal of serving public higher education.
Also in 1905, the Board of Revenue and private investors founded the Hubu Bank, China’s first central bank and largest modern bank. This bank was renamed the Bank of China
after the Xinhai Revolution, and began Beijing’s tradition as the center of state banks in China. Large foreign banks including the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC), National City Bank (Citibank), Deutsch-Asiatische Bank
and Yokohama Specie Bank
opened branches in the Legation Quarter. The building of railroads was capital intensive and required large-scale financing and foreign expertise. Beijing’s earliest railroads were designed, financed and built under the supervision of foreign concerns.
The city's first commercial railway, Tianjin-Lugouqiao Railway, was built from 1895 to 1897 with British financing. It ran from the Marco Polo Bridge to Tianjin. The rail terminus was extended closer to the city to Fengtai
and then to Majiapu, just outside of Yongdingmen
, a gate along the Outer City wall. The Qing court resisted the extension of railways inside city walls. To secure the support of the Empress Dowager for railway construction, Viceroy
Li Hongzhang
had imported a small train set from Germany and built a narrow-gauge railway from her residence in Zhongnanhai to her dining hall in Beihai. The Empress, concerned that the locomotive's noise would disturb the geomancy
or fengshui of the imperial city, required the train be pulled by eunuchs instead of steam engine. Foreign powers who seized the city during the Boxer Rebellion extended the railway inside the outer city wall to Yongdingmen in 1900 and then further north to Zhengyangmen (Qianmen) just outside the Inner City wall in 1903. They built an eastern spur to Tongzhou to carry grain shipped from the south on the Grand Canal. This extension breached the city wall at Dongbianmen. The Lugouqiao-Hankou Railway, financed by French-Belgian capital and built from 1896 to 1905, was renamed Beijing-Hankou Railway after it was routed to Qianmen from the west. This required the partial demotion of the Xuanwumen barbican
. The completion of the Beijing-Fengtian Railway in 1907 required a similar break in Chongwenmen
’s fortification. Thus, began the tearing down of city gates and walls to make way for rail transportation. Imperial Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, built from 1905 to 1909, terminated just outside Xizhimen. This line, designed by Jeme Tien Yow was the first railway in China to be built without foreign assistance. By the late Qing Dynasty, Beijing with rail connection to Hankou
(Wuhan), Pukou (Nanjing), Fengtian (Shenyang)
and Datong
, was a major railway hub in North China.
of 1911 but capital of the newly-founded Republic of China
remained in Beijing as former Qing general Yuan Shikai
took control of the new government from revolutionaries in the south. Yuan and successors from his Beiyang Army
ruled the republic from Beijing until 1928 when Chinese Nationalists
reunified the country through the Northern Expedition and moved the capital to Nanjing. Beijing was renamed Beiping. In 1937, a clash between Chinese and Japanese troops at the Marco Polo Bridge
outside Beiping triggered the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War
. Japanese occupiers created a collaborationist government in northern China and reverted the city’s name to Beijing to serve as capital for the puppet regime. After Japan's surrender in 1945, the city returned to Chinese rule and was again renamed Beiping. During the subsequent civil war
between the Chinese Nationalists and Communists, the city was peacefully transferred to Communist control in 1949 and renamed Beijing to become the capital of the People's Republic of China.
erupted in October 1911, the Qing court summoned Yuan Shikai and his powerful Beiyang Army
to suppress the insurrection. As he fought revolutionaries
in the south, Yuan also negotiated with them. On January 1, 1912, Dr. Sun Yat-sen
, who returned from exile, founded the Republic of China
in Nanjing and was elected provisional president
. The new government was not recognized any foreign powers, and Sun agreed to cede leadership to Yuan Shikai in exchange for the latter's assistance in ending the Qing Dynasty. On February 12, Yuan compelled the Qing court, under the regency
of Prince Chun, Zaifeng
, to abdicate. Empress Dowager Longyu
signed the abdication agreement on behalf of the five-year old Last Emperor Puyi
. The following day Sun resigned from the provisional presidency and recommended Yuan for the position. Under the terms of the imperial abdication, the Puyi would retain his dignitary title and staff and receive an annual stipend from the republic of 4 million Mexican silver dollars. He could continue to reside in the Forbidden City for a time but must eventually move to the Summer Palace. His tomb and rituals were to be maintained at the expense of the republic. The abdication ended the Qing Dynasty and averted further bloodshed in the revolution.
As a condition of his resignation, Sun insisted that the provisional government must remain in Nanjing, but on February 14, the Provisional Senate voted 20-5 in favor of Beijing over Nanjing, with two votes going for Wuhan and one for Tianjin. The majority wanted to secure the peace agreement by taking power in Beijing. Zhang Jian
and others added that having the capital in Beijing would check against Manchu restoration and Mongol secession. But Sun and Huang Xing
argued in favor of Nanjing to balance against Yuan's power base in the north. Li Yuanhong
presented Wuhan as a compromise. On February 15, the provisional senate voted 19-6 in favor of Nanjing with two votes for Wuhan. Sun sent a delegation led by Cai Yuanpei
and Wang Jingwei
to persuade Yuan to move to Nanjing. Yuan welcomed the delegation and said he would accompanying them back south. Then on the evening February 29, riots and fires broke out in all over the city. They were allegedly started by disobedient troops of Cao Kun
, a loyal officer of Yuan. Disorder among military ranks spread to Tongzhou, Tianjin and Baoding. These events gave Yuan the pretext to stay in the north to guard against unrest. On March 10, Yuan was inaugurated in Beijing as the provisional president of the Republic of China. Yuan based the executive office and residence in Zhongnanhai
, next to the Forbidden City. On April 5, the provisional senate in Nanjing voted to make Beijing the capital of the Republic and convened in Beijing at the end of the month.
In August, Sun Yat-sen traveled to Beijing where he was welcomed by Yuan Shikai and a crowd of thousands. At the Huguang Guild Hall
, the Revolutionary Alliance (Tongmenghui) led by Sun, Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren
joined several smaller parties to form the Chinese Nationalist Party (Guomindang)
. The first national assembly elections were held from December 1912 to January 1913. Adult males over the age of 21 who were educated or owned property and paid taxes and who could prove two-year residency in a particular county could vote. An estimated 4-6% of China's population were registered for the election. The Nationalist Party won a majority in both houses of the National Assembly, which convened in Beijing in April 1913.
As the assembly set out to ratify the constitution, Yuan resisted efforts to share power. Without the assembly’s knowledge, he arranged for the large and expensive Reorganization Loan from a consortium of foreign lenders to fund his military. The loan, signed into effect at the HSBC Bank in the legation quarter, effectively surrendered the government's collection of salt tax revenues to foreign control. His agents assassinated Nationalist leader Song Jiaoren in Shanghai. In response, Sun Yat-sen launched a Second Revolution in July 1913, which failed and forced him into exile. Yuan then forced the National Assembly to elect him as the president, and expelled Nationalist members. In early 1914, he dissolved the National Assembly and abolished the provisional constitution in May. On December 23, 1915, Yuan declared himself emperor, and his regime, the Empire of China (1915–1916). This declaration provoked the National Protection War
as provinces in the south rebelled. Yuan was forced to step down from emperor to president in March 1916. He died in Beijing in June 1916, leaving military men from the Beiyang Army to vie for control of the government. Over the next 12 years, the Beiyang Government in Beijing had no fewer than eight presidents, five parliaments, 24 cabinets, at least four constitutions and one brief restoration of the Manchu Monarchy.
After Yuan's death, Li Yuanhong became president and Duan Qirui
, the Prime Minister, and the National Assembly was reconvened. The government soon faced a crisis over whether to enter World War I
on the side of the allies. Li dismissed Duan, who favored entry into the war, and invited warlord Zhang Xun
to the capital to mediate. Zhang and his pig-tailed loyalist army marched into Beijing, dissolved the National Assembly and restored Puyi
as Qing emperor on July 1. Li fled to the Japanese Embassy in the legation. The imperial restoration lasted just 12 days as Duan Qirui's army reclaimed the capital, and sent Zhang seeking refuge in the Dutch Embassy. Under Duan's command, China declared war on the axis powers and sent 140,000 Chinese laborers
to work on the Western Front
. With financial backing from Japan
, Duan then engineered the election of a new parliament in 1918 that was stacked with supporters. The so-called Anfu Parliament was named after Anfu Hutong, near Zhongnanhai where Duan's Anhui-based supporters congregated.
In the spring of 1919, the Republic of China, as a victor nation sent a delegation to the Paris Peace Conference
seeking the return of German concession in Shandong Province to China. Instead, the treaty gave those possessions to Japan. News of the treaty sparked outrage in the Chinese capital. On May 4, 3,000 students from 13 universities in Beijing gathered in Tiananmen Square
to protest the betrayal of China by the other Western powers and the corruption of the Anfu government by Japanese financial support. They marched toward the foreign legation but were blocked and proceeded to the home of deputy foreign minister Cao Rulin
, who had attended the Peace Conference and was known to be friendly to Japanese interests. They razed Cao's residence and beat up Zhang Zongxiang, another pro-Japanese diplomat. The police arrested 32 students, which provoked further protests and arrests. Within weeks, the movement had spread to 200 cities and towns in 22 provinces. Workers in Shanghai struck and merchants closed shops in support of the protests. By late June, the government pledged not to sign the treaty, removed Cao and Zhang from office and released students from jail.
The May Fourth Movement
began a tradition of student activism in Beijing and had a profound political and cultural impact on modern China. The movement encouraged the development of new culture
to replace the traditional order and heightened the appeal of Marxism-Leninism
to Chinese intellectuals. Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, prominent figures of May 4 in Beijing, became early leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. Among the many youth who flocked to the Chinese capital during this period was a student from Hunan named Mao Zedong
who worked as a library assistant under Li Dazhao at Peking University. Mao left the city for Shanghai in 1920 where he helped found the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. He did not return until almost 30 years later.
and Cao Kun
of the Zhili Clique in the Zhili-Anhui War
. Two years later, the Zhili Clique fought off a challenge by Zhang Zuolin
and his Manchuria-based Fengtian Clique
in the First Zhili-Fengtian War
. In 1924, the two sides squared off again
but this time, one of Wu's officers Feng Yuxiang
launched the Beijing Coup
. On October 23, Feng seized the capital, imprisoned President Cao Kun
, restored Duan Qirui as the head of state and invited Sun Yat-sen
to Beijing for peace talks. At that time, Sun was building a Nationalist regime in Guangzhou with the assistance of the Soviet Comintern
and support of the Chinese Communist Party. Sun was stricken with cancer when he arrived in Beijing in early 1925 for one last effort to heal the north-south divide. He was welcomed by 500 organizations and insisted in talks with Duan Qirui that political reconstruction efforts include broad segments of civil society. He died in Beijing on March 12, 1925 and was entombed at the Temple of Azure Clouds
.
Zhang Zuolin and Wu Peifu joined forces against Feng Yuxiang, who relied on support from the Soviet Union
. Feng took a generally accommodating stance toward the Nationalist and Communist parties which were active in spreading influence in the city. During this period, Beijing was a hotbed of student activism. In the May 30th Movement of 1925, 12,000 students from 90 schools marched through Wangfujing
to Tiananmen in support of protesters in Shanghai. With the opening of private colleges such as Yenching University
in 1919 and Furen Catholic University
in 1925, the student population in Beijing grew substantially in the early 1920s. Middle school students also joined the protests. In October, students protested against imperialism during an international conference on customs and tariffs held in the city. In November, Li Dazhao organized the "Capital Revolution" a protest by students and workers demanding Duan's resignation. The protest was more violent, burning down a major newspaper office, but was disbanded.
The alliance between the Nationalists and Communists was not without tension. In November 1925, a group of right-wing Nationalist leaders met in the Western Hills
and called for the expulsion of Communists from the Nationalist Party and severance of ties with the Comintern including advisor Mikhail Borodin
. This manifesto was denounced by the Nationalists' party center in Guangzhou led by Chiang Kai-shek
, Wang Jingwei, and Hu Hanmin
, and members of the Western Hills group were either expelled or left out of the party leadership. They moved to Shanghai and regained power during the rupture between the Nationalists and Communists in April 1927
.
On March 17, 1926, Feng Yuxiang's Guominjun
troops at Dagu Fort near Tianjin exchanged fire with Japanese warships carrying Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian troops. Japan accused the Chinese government of violating the Boxer Protocol
and, with the other seven Boxer Powers, issued an ultimatum demanding the removal of all defenses between Beijing and the sea as set forth under the Protocols. The ultimatum provoked student protests in Beijing that were jointly-organized by the left-wing Nationalists and Communists. Two thousand students marched on Duan Qirui's executive office and called for the abrogation of the unequal treaties
. Police opened fire and killed over 50 and wounded 200 in what became known as the March 18 Massacre
. The government issued warrants for the arrest of Nationalists and Communists including Li Dazhao, who fled to the Soviet Embassy in the legation quarters. Within weeks, Feng Yuxiang was defeated by Zhang Zuolin and Duan's government fell. After Zhang took power on May 1, 1926, both the Nationalists and Communists were driven underground. A year later, Zhang Zuolin raided the Soviet Embassy in the legation and seized Li Dazhao. Li and 19 others Communist and Nationalist activists were executed in Beijing on April 25, 1927.
Zhang Zuolin controlled the Beiyang Government until June 1928 when the Nationalists on the Northern Expedition led by Chiang Kai-shek and allies Yan Xishan
and Feng Yuxiang jointly advanced on Beijing. Zhang left the city for Manchuria and was assassinated enroute
by the Japanese Kwantung Army. Beijing was handed over peacefully to the victorious Nationalists. They moved the national capital and Sun Yat-sen's tomb to Nanjing. For the first time since 1421, Beijing was renamed Beiping 北平 (Wade-Giles
: Peip'ing), or "Northern Peace". The city was made the provincial capital of Hebei Province, but lost that status to Tianjin in 1930. During the Central Plains War
in 1930, Shanxi warlord Yan Xishan briefly seized Beiping and tried to establish a rival national government but Chiang Kai-shek
's ally Zhang Xueliang
retook the city.
The modernist transformation was driven by a mix of Western and traditional influences, by the state's increasing role in urban affairs, and by new technologies transmitted from the West. Urban development also reflected changes in political attitudes as the republican form of government prevailed over the monarchy and attempts to reintroduce imperial rule.
One example of the new found emphasis on civic rights over imperial tradition is the development of city parks in Beijing. The idea of the public park as a place where common people could relax in a pastoral setting came to China from the West via Japan. The Beijing municipal government, local gentry and merchants all promoted the development of public parks in Beijing. The Beijing municipal council argued that parks would provide wholesome entertainment and reduce alcoholism, gambling, and prostitution. Public parks in Beijing were almost all converted from imperial gardens and temples, which had previously been off-limits to most commoners. Now they were being opened for the good health and morals of all citizens. After the Beijing Coup of 1924, Feng Yuxiang evicted Puyi from the Forbidden City
, which was opened to the public as the Palace Museum. Parks also provided places for commercial activities and the open exchange of political and social ideas for the middle and upper classes.
The demotion of Beijing from national capital to a mere provincial city greatly constrained urban planners' initiatives to modernize the city. Along with political stature, Beiping also lost government revenue, jobs and jurisdiction. In 1921, large banks headquartered in Beijing accounted for 51.9% of bank capital held by the 23 most important banks in China. That proportion fell to just 2.8% in 1928 and 0% in 1935, as wealth followed political power out of the city. The city's jurisdiction also shrank as surrounding counties were redrawn into Hebei. For the first time since the Ming Dynasty, city no longer had control over agricultural regions and watershed. Even the power plant for the city's trolley system in Tong County fell outside the city's jurisdiction. Appeals to Nanjing for the recovery of towns like Wanping and Daxing were denied. The city, anchored by its historical relics and universities, remained a center for tourism and higher education and became known as "China's Boston."
in 1931, Beiping was threatened by steady Japanese encroachment into northern China. The Tanggu Truce
of 1933 gave control of the Great Wall to the Japanese and imposed a 100-km demilitarized zone south of the wall. This deprived Beiping of its northern defenses. The secret He-Umezu Agreement
of May 1935 required the Chinese government to remove Central Army
units from Hebei Province and suppress anti-Japanese activities by the Chinese public. The Qin-Doihara Agreement
of June 1935 compelled the Nationalist 29th Army, a former unit of Feng Yuxiang
's Guominjun
, to evacuate from Chahar Province. This army was relocated and confined to an area south of the Beiping near Nanyuan. In November 1935, the Japanese created a puppet regime based in Tongzhou called the East Hebei Autonomous Council
, which declared its independence from the Republic of China and controlled 22 counties east of Beiping, including Tongzhou and Pinggu in modern-day Beijing Municipality.
In response to the growing threat, the Palace Museum's art collection was removed to Nanjing in 1934 and air defense shelters were built in Zhongnanhai. The influx of refugees from Manchuria and presence of university campuses made Beiping a hotbed for anti-Japanese sentiment. On December 9, 1935, the university students in Beiping launched the December 9th Movement
to protest the creation of another puppet regime in north China and called for national salvation.
On July 7, 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
that triggered the Second Sino-Japanese War
, World War II
as it is known in China. In late July, Japanese reinforcements with air support launched a full-scale offensive against Beiping and Tianjin. In fighting south of the city, deputy commander of the 29th Army Tong Lin'ge
and division commander Zhao Dengyu
were both killed in action. They along with Zhang Zizhong
, another 29th Army commander who died later in the war, are the only three modern personages after whom city streets named in Beijing. The collaborationist militia of the East Hebei Council
refused to attack the 29th Army and mounted a mutiny in Tongzhou
, but the Chinese forces had retreated to the south. The city itself was spared of urban fighting and destruction that many other Chinese cities suffered in the war.
The Japanese created another puppet regime, the Provisional Government of the Republic of China, to manage occupied territories in northern China and designated Beiping, renamed Beijing, as its capital. This government was later merged with Wang Jingwei
’s Reorganized National Government of China, a collaborationist government based in Nanjing, though effective control remained with the Japanese military. During the war, Peking and Tsinghua Universities relocated to unoccupied areas and formed the National Southwestern Associated University
. Furen University was protected by the Holy See’s neutrality with the Axis Powers. After the outbreak of the Pacific War
with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
in December 1941, the Japanese shut down Yenching University and imprisoned its American staff. Some were rescued by Communist partisans that waged guerrilla warfare in rural outlying areas. The village of Jiaozhuanghu in Shunyi District
still has a labyrinth of tunnels with underground command posts, meeting rooms, and camouflaged entrances from the war.
After the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II, the city reverted to Chinese Nationalist control and was renamed back to Beiping. The official surrender of Japanese forces in Beiping took place on October 10, 1945 at the Forbidden City.
were allies during the Sino-Japanese War, but their domestic rivalry resumed after the defeat of Japan. To prevent the resumption of civil war
, the U.S. government sent George C. Marshall to China to mediate. Marshall’s Mission
was headquartered in Beiping where a truce was brokered on January 10, 1946 and a three-person committee, consisting of a Nationalist, a Communist and an American representative, was created to investigate breaches in the ceasefire in North China and Manchuria. The truce began to unravel in June 1946 and the Marshall Mission ultimately failed to create a coalition government. After Marshall’s departure in February 1947, full-scale civil war erupted.
Beiping was the headquarters of the Nationalists’ North China military operations led by Fu Zuoyi
who commanded 550,000 troops. On November 29, 1948, the Chinese Communists' People's Liberation Army (PLA)
, fresh off a decisive victory in Manchuria
, launched the Pingjin Campaign
. They captured Zhangjiakou
to the northwest on December 24 and Tianjin to the southeast on January 15, 1949. With the defeat of the Nationalists in the Huaihai Campaign
further south, Fu Zuoyi and over 200,000 Nationalist defenders were surrounded in Beiping. After weeks of intensive negotiations, Fu agreed on January 22, 1949 to pull his troops out of the city for “reorganization by the PLA.” His defection spared the city and its historical architecture from imminent destruction. On February 3, the PLA marched into Beiping.
In the spring of 1949, Nationalist leader Li Zongren
attempted a last ditch effort to secure a truce. Peace talks were held at the Six Nations Hotel in Beiping from April 1–12, but the Communists could not be persuaded to halt their advance at the Yangtze River
and concede southern China to the Nationalists. On April 23, the PLA resumed the offensive across the Yangtze and captured the Nanjing on the following day.
As the PLA continued to gain control over the rest of the country, Communist leaders, friendly Nationalists and third party supporters convened the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
at Zhongnanhai in Beiping on September 21. In preparation for establishment of a new regime, they agreed to a new name, flag
, emblem, anthem
and capital for the nation.
proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China
at the gates of Tiananmen
. The name of Beiping was restored to Beijing, and the city was again designated as the capital of China.
As the capital of the new Communist state, the Communists began a major building campaign to modernize the city. The old city wall encircling the city was demolished and replaced by what is now the 2nd Ring Road
. Some older neighborhoods were also demolished and replaced by modern apartment buildings. Several modern monuments, including the Monument to the People's Heroes
, the Great Hall of the People
, and the National Museum of China
were completed by 1959. The Mausoleum of Mao Zedong
was built much later in 1979.
's ambivalence, first supporting one faction and then the other, has long puzzled scholars.
China's Red Guard movement of 1966-68 shows that rapid shifts in the properties of political institutions can alter choices and actors' interests, rapidly transforming the political landscape. New evidence about the origins of the movement in Beijing's universities indicates that factions emerged when activists in similar structural positions made opposed choices in ambiguous contexts. Activists subsequently mobilized to defend earlier choices, binding them to antagonistic factions. Rapid shifts in the contexts for political choice can alter prior connections between social position and interests, generating new motives and novel identities.
Andreas (2006) argues that factional contention was being institutionalized, creating a system that pitted administrators against rebels: veteran cadres were put in charge of the political and economic bureaucracies, while radicals were given institutional means to mobilize political campaigns against these officials, pressing Mao's radical agenda. Andreas examines in detail the system of governance implemented at Qinghua University in Beijing. Power was divided between veteran university officials and a "workers' propaganda team," composed of workers and soldiers drawn from outside the school, and the propaganda team was charged with mobilizing students and workers to criticize their teachers, supervisors, and university officials. The result was a tumultuous system very much at odds with the conventional practice of ruling Communist parties (including the Chinese Party before the Cultural Revolution), which had been guided by ideals of monolithic unity and a clear hierarchy of authority.
Beijing was the center of Red Guard
activity during the Cultural Revolution
. Following the death of the popular Zhou Enlai
, frustration with the excesses of the Cultural Revolution precipitated into a spontaneous protest at the Monument to the People's Heroes on 1976 April 5, known as the Tiananmen Incident
. From 1977 until 1979, Beijing was also the site of the Beijing Spring
and Democracy Wall Movement
, a short-lived easing of political censorship in the city.
The Beijing democracy movement (1978–81) constructed a progressive Marxist identity, and its individual participants used it to prove the movement's historical necessity and justify its democratic agenda. Combined with the related identity of socialist citizens, the proponents defended the movement against adversaries from without and the right-wing minority within. The way the movement activists defined their collective identity offered them a progressive Marxist platform to champion their cause. This collective identity not only precluded confrontational opposition to the Communist Party, it enabled a more constructive use of both classical Marxist and Western democratic thinking in the movement's agenda.
, an ambitious political reformer and the former Secretary-General of the Chinese Communist Party. Over the next few days, the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989
would attract many thousands of protesters from throughout Beijing society. The protests were dispersed by force by the People's Liberation Army
on June 4, 1989 .
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.
by restricting development to two semicircular bands to the west and east of the city center, instead of the concentric rings of suburbs that had been built in the past.
The rapid growth of population, motor vehicles and factories has created high polluation levels. Days with gray, acrid skies, with an eye-reddening pollution score over 400, are common, as health officials advise wearing masks and staying indoors. Heavy trucks are allowed in only at night but their diesel fuels create much of the problem. By 2008 for the city’s 12 million residents, pollution was not only an inescapable health and quality-of-life issue, but a political issue tied in with the Summer Olympics scheduled for August 2008. The city's bid for the 2000 Olympics in 1993 failed partly because of high pollution levels, and in response the city began a massive cleanup campaign. That campaign has been successful in terms of 2000 standards, but the city's economy is 2.5 times larger now, with millions more people. Over 3 million cars and trucks clog the streets, and 400,000 more are added annually as the wealth shoots up rapidly. Old dirty, coal-burning furnaces have been replaced, lowering the city’s sulfur dioxide emissions. Factories and power plants were changed to burn cleaner, low-sulfur coal; sulfur dioxide emissions fell by 25% 2001-2007, even though much more coal is burned, reaching 30 million tons in 2006. Furthermore, fine-particle pollution has been exacerbated by a staggering citywide construction program which saw more than 160 million square meters (1.7 billion square feet) of new construction begun 2002-2007. Athletes may have some breathing problems, but in the long-run air quality is expected to remain a critical issue as the city grows to a projected population of 20 million.
in August 2008. Several landmark sports venues, such as the Beijing National Stadium
or the "Bird's Nest", were built for these games.
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
has a long and rich history that dates back over 3,000 years. Prior to the unification of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
by the First Emperor
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang , personal name Ying Zheng , was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 246 BC to 221 BC during the Warring States Period. He became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BC...
in 221 BC, Beijing was for centuries the capital of the ancient state of Yan
Yan (state)
Yān was a state during the Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods of Chinese history. Its capital was Ji...
. 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
Khitan people
thumb|250px|Khitans [[Eagle hunting|using eagles to hunt]], painted during the Chinese [[Song Dynasty]].The Khitan people , or Khitai, Kitan, or Kidan, were a nomadic Mongolic people, originally located at Mongolia and Manchuria from the 4th century...
and Jurchen peoples from the steppes expanded southward, and made the city a capital of their dynasties, the Liao
Liao Dynasty
The Liao Dynasty , also known as the Khitan Empire was an empire in East Asia that ruled over the regions of Manchuria, Mongolia, and parts of northern China proper between 9071125...
and Jin. When Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan , born Kublai and also known by the temple name Shizu , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China...
made Dadu
Khanbaliq
Khanbaliq or Dadu refers to a city which is now Beijing, the current capital of the People's Republic of China...
the capital of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
(1279–1368), all of China was ruled from Beijing for the first time. From this time onward, with the exception of two interludes from 1368 to 1421 and 1928 to 1949, Beijing would remain as China's capital, serving as the seat of power for the Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
(1421–1644), the Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
-led Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
(1644–1912), the early Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
(1912–1928) and now the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
(1949–present).
Prehistory
The earliest remains of hominid habitation in Beijing Municipality were found in the caves of Dragon Bone Hill near the village of ZhoukoudianZhoukoudian
Zhoukoudian or Choukoutien is a cave system in Beijing, China. It has yielded many archaeological discoveries, including one of the first specimens of Homo erectus, dubbed Peking Man, and a fine assemblage of bones of the gigantic hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris...
in Fangshan District
Fangshan District
Fangshan District is situated in the southwest of Beijing, 38 km away from the downtown Beijing. It has an area of 2,019 square kilometers and a population of 814,367...
, where the Homo erectus
Homo erectus
Homo erectus is an extinct species of hominid that lived from the end of the Pliocene epoch to the later Pleistocene, about . The species originated in Africa and spread as far as India, China and Java. There is still disagreement on the subject of the classification, ancestry, and progeny of H...
Peking Man
Peking Man
Peking Man , Homo erectus pekinensis, is an example of Homo erectus. A group of fossil specimens was discovered in 1923-27 during excavations at Zhoukoudian near Beijing , China...
(Sinanthropus pekinensis) lived from 770,000 to 230,000 years ago. Paleolithic
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
homo sapiens also lived in the caves from about 27,000 to 10,000 years ago.
In 1996, over 2,000 Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
tools and bone fragments were discovered at a construction site at Wangfujing
Wangfujing
Wángfǔjǐng , located in Dongcheng District, Beijing, is one of the Chinese capital's most famous shopping streets. Much of the road is off-limits to cars and other motor vehicles, and it is not rare to see the entire street full of people. Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty there have been...
in the heart of downtown Beijing in Dongcheng District
Dongcheng District, Beijing
Dongcheng District is an urban district in Beijing covering the eastern half of Beijing's urban core. It is 24.7 square kilometres in area and has a population of 535,558 . Dongcheng District covers several important parts of Beijing...
. The artifacts date to 24,000 to 25,000 years ago and are preserved in the Wangfujing Paleolithic Museum in the lower level of the New Oriental Plaza.
Archaeologists have found Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
settlements throughout the plains of Beijing from Xiaoniantou and Shangzhai Village in Pinggu County in the east to Xueshan Village in Changping District
Changping District
Changping District , formerly Changping County , is situated in the suburbs of northwest Beijing.Changping District, covering an area of 1,430 square kilometers, has 2 subdistricts of the city of Changping and 15 towns with total population of 614,821...
in the north, and Zhenjiangying in Fangshan District in the southwest. These sites indicate that farming was widespread in the area 6,000 to 7,000 years ago.
Pre-Imperial History
Beijing is first mentioned in history in the chronicles of the Zhou DynastyZhou Dynasty
The Zhou Dynasty was a Chinese dynasty that followed the Shang Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty. Although the Zhou Dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history, the actual political and military control of China by the Ji family lasted only until 771 BC, a period known as...
's conquest of the Shang Dynasty
Shang Dynasty
The Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty was, according to traditional sources, the second Chinese dynasty, after the Xia. They ruled in the northeastern regions of the area known as "China proper" in the Yellow River valley...
in the 11th century BC. According to Sima Qian
Sima Qian
Sima Qian was a Prefect of the Grand Scribes of the Han Dynasty. He is regarded as the father of Chinese historiography for his highly praised work, Records of the Grand Historian , a "Jizhuanti"-style general history of China, covering more than two thousand years from the Yellow Emperor to...
's Records of the Grand Historian
Records of the Grand Historian
The Records of the Grand Historian, also known in English by the Chinese name Shiji , written from 109 BC to 91 BC, was the Magnum opus of Sima Qian, in which he recounted Chinese history from the time of the Yellow Emperor until his own time...
, King Wu of Zhou
King Wu of Zhou
King Wu of Zhōu or King Wu of Chou was the first sovereign, or ruler of the Chinese Zhou Dynasty. The dates of his reign are 1046-1043 BCE or 1049/45-1043. Various sources quoted that he died at the age of 93, 54 or 43. He was considered a just and able leader. Zhou Gong Dan was one of his...
, in the 11th year of his reign, deposed the last Shang king
King Zhou of Shang
Emperor Xin of Shang was the last king of the Shang Dynasty. He was later given the pejorative posthumous name Zhòu . He is also called Zhou Xin or King Zhou . He may also be referred to by adding "Shang" in front of any of his names...
and conferred titles to nobles within his domain, including the rulers of the city states Ji (蓟/薊) and Yan (燕). The walled City of Ji or Jicheng (蓟城/薊城) was located in the southwestern part of present-day Beijing, just south of Guang'anmen in Xicheng
Xicheng District
Xicheng District is a district in Beijing, China. Xicheng District spans 32 square kilometres, making it the largest portion of the old city , and has 706,691 inhabitants . Its postal code is 100032. Xicheng is subdivided into 15 subdistricts of the city proper of Beijing...
and Fengtai District
Fengtai District
Fengtai District is a suburban district of the municipality of Beijing. It lies to the southwest of the urban core of the city.-History:In Qing Dynasty times, Fengtai was where the Imperial Manchu Army had its camps, trained, and held parades on festive occasions.It is 304.2 square kilometers in...
s. According to Confucius
Confucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
, the rulers of Ji were descendants of the Yellow Emperor
Yellow Emperor
The Yellow Emperor or Huangdi1 is a legendary Chinese sovereign and culture hero, included among the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he reigned from 2697–2597 or 2696–2598 BC...
. Some time during the late Western Zhou
Western Zhou
The Western Zhōu period was the first half of the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang Dynasty at the Battle of Muye. C.H...
or early Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Ji was absorbed by neighboring Yan, which made the City of Ji, its capital.
Yan's capital was previously based to the south of Ji, in the village of Dongjialin in Liulihe Township of Fangshan District, where a large walled settlement and over 200 tombs of nobility have been unearthed. Among the most significant artifacts from the Liulihe site is a bronze ding
Ding (vessel)
A ding is an ancient Chinese cauldron with legs, a lid and two handles opposite each other. They were made in two shapes with round vessels having three legs and rectangular ones four....
with inscriptions that recount the journey of the eldest son of the Duke of Yan who delivered offerings to the King of Zhou in present-day Xi'an
Xi'an
Xi'an is the capital of the Shaanxi province, and a sub-provincial city in the People's Republic of China. One of the oldest cities in China, with more than 3,100 years of history, the city was known as Chang'an before the Ming Dynasty...
, and was awarded a position in the king's court.
Both Yan and Ji were located along an important north-south trade route along the eastern flank of the Taihang Mountains
Taihang Mountains
The Taihang Mountains are a Chinese mountain range running down the eastern edge of the Loess Plateau in Henan, Shanxi and Hebei provinces. The range extends over 400 km from north to south and has an average elevation of 1,500 to 2,000 meters. The principal peak is Xiao Wutaishan...
from the Central Plain
Central Plain (China)
Zhongyuan or the Central Plain of China refers to the area on the lower reaches of the Yellow River which formed the cradle of Chinese civilization. It forms part of the North China Plain....
to the northern steppes. Ji, located just north of the Yongding River
Yongding River
The Yongding River is a river in northern China. It is one of the main tributaries in the Hai River system and is best known as the largest river to flow through Beijing Municipality.-Geography:...
, was a convenient resting stop for trade caravans. Here, the route to the northwest through the mountain passes diverged from the road to the Northeast
Northeast China
Northeast China, historically known in English as Manchuria, is a geographical region of China, consisting of the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The region is sometimes called the Three Northeast Provinces...
. Ji also had a steady water supply from the nearby Lotus Pond, which still exists south of the Beijing West Railway Station
Beijing west railway station
Beijing West Railway Station, also known as Beijing West or West Passenger Station is located in western Beijing's Fengtai District. Opened in early 1996 after three years of construction, it was the largest railway station in Asia with 510,000m². The station serves in average 150,000–180,000...
. Yan's old capital relied on the more seasonal flow of the Liuli River. Perhaps for these reasons, Yan chose to move its capital to Ji, which remains to be known as Jicheng or the City of Ji. Due to its historical association with the State of Yan, the city of Beijing is also called Yanjing (燕京) or "Yan Capital".
The State of Yan would continue to expand until it became one of the seven major powers
Seven Warring States
The Seven Warring States or Seven Kingdoms refers to the seven warring states in China during the Warring States period of Chinese history...
during the Warring States Period
Warring States Period
The Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, or the Warring Kingdoms period, covers the Iron Age period from about 475 BC to the reunification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC...
(473-221 BC). It stretched from the Yellow River
Yellow River
The Yellow River or Huang He, formerly known as the Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into...
to the Yalu
Yalu River
The Yalu River or the Amnok River is a river on the border between North Korea and the People's Republic of China....
. Historical records show that the Yan capital was a wealthy city with at least two palaces. In 284 BC, the victorious Yan general Yue Yi
Yue Yi
Yue Yi was an officer of the State of Yan during the Warring State period, also known as Lord Guojun. He was the son of the prime minister of the small nation of Zhongshan, but when Zhongshan was destroyed by Zhao's King Wuling, he was forced to wander from country to country...
, having conquered 70 cities of neighboring Qi
Qi (state)
Qi was a powerful state during the Spring and Autumn Period and Period of the Warring States in ancient China. Its capital was Linzi, now part of the modern day city of Zibo in Shandong Province....
, wrote to Duke of Yan to report that he had enough booty to fill two palaces and planned to bring home a new tree species to plant on the Hill of Ji, north of the city. The hill mentioned in the letter is believed to be the mound at the White Cloud Abbey, outside Xibianmen in Xicheng District
Xicheng District
Xicheng District is a district in Beijing, China. Xicheng District spans 32 square kilometres, making it the largest portion of the old city , and has 706,691 inhabitants . Its postal code is 100032. Xicheng is subdivided into 15 subdistricts of the city proper of Beijing...
. Like subsequent rulers of Beijing, the Yan also faced the threat of invasions by steppe nomads
Eurasian nomads
Eurasian nomads are a large group of peoples of the Eurasian Steppe. This generic title encompasses the ethnic groups inhabiting the steppes of Central Asia, Mongolia, and Eastern Europe. They domesticated the horse, and their economy and culture emphasizes horse breeding, horse riding, and a...
, and built walled fortifications across its northern frontier. Remnants of the Yan walls in Changping County date to 283 BC. They predate Beijing's better known Ming
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
Great Wall by more than 1,500 years.
In 226 BC, the City of Ji fell to the invading State of Qin
Qin (state)
The State of Qin was a Chinese feudal state that existed during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods of Chinese history...
and the State of Yan was forced to move its capital to Liaodong. The Qin eventually ended Yan in 222 BC. The following year, the ruler of Qin, having conquered all the other states, declared himself to be the First Emperor
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang , personal name Ying Zheng , was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 246 BC to 221 BC during the Warring States Period. He became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BC...
.
Early Imperial History
China proper
China proper or Eighteen Provinces was a term used by Western writers on the Qing Dynasty to express a distinction between the core and frontier regions of China. There is no fixed extent for China proper, as many administrative, cultural, and linguistic shifts have occurred in Chinese history...
. The Qin Dynasty
Qin Dynasty
The Qin Dynasty was the first imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 221 to 207 BC. The Qin state derived its name from its heartland of Qin, in modern-day Shaanxi. The strength of the Qin state was greatly increased by the legalist reforms of Shang Yang in the 4th century BC, during the Warring...
built a highly centralized state and divided the country into 48 commandaries (jun), two of which are located in present-day Beijing. The City of Ji became the seat of Guangyang Commandary (广阳郡/廣陽郡). To the north, in present-day Miyun County
Miyun County
Miyun County is situated at northeast Beijing. It has an area of 2,227 square kilometers and a population of 420,019...
, was Yuyang Commandary.
The Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
, which followed the short-lived Qin in 206 BC, initially restored some local autonomy. Founding Emperor Liu Bang recognized a number of regional kingdoms
Kingdoms of Han Dynasty
Wang or Kings of the Han Dynasty can be divided into two categories: Yixing Wang （異姓王） or Kings and Tongxing Wang or Princes. Yixing Wang literally means "Wangs with a different family name than the emperors" while Tongxing Wang means "Wangs with the same family name as the emperors"...
including Yan. In 106 BC, under Han Emperor Wudi
Emperor Wu of Han
Emperor Wu of Han , , personal name Liu Che , was the seventh emperor of the Han Dynasty of China, ruling from 141 BC to 87 BC. Emperor Wu is best remembered for the vast territorial expansion that occurred under his reign, as well as the strong and centralized Confucian state he organized...
, the country was reorganized into 13 prefectural-provinces (zhou 州), and the City of Ji served as the prefectural capital for Youzhou
Youzhou
Youzhou is a historical place name in northern China. From the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty in 106 BC to the Five Dynasties period in the 10th century AD, Youzhou generally referred to the prefecture around modern-day Beijing and parts of Hebei Province...
(幽州). The tomb of Liu Jian, the Prince of Guangyang who ruled Youzhou from 73 to 45 BC. was discovered in 1974 in Fengtai District and has been preserved in the Dabaotai Western Han Dynasty Mausoleum. In 1999, another royal tomb was found in Laoshan in Shijingshan District
Shijingshan District
Shijingshan District is an urban district of the municipality of Beijing. It lies to the west of the urban core of Beijing, and is part of the Western Hills area...
but the prince formerly buried there has not been identified.
During the Three Kingdoms
Three Kingdoms
The Three Kingdoms period was a period in Chinese history, part of an era of disunity called the "Six Dynasties" following immediately the loss of de facto power of the Han Dynasty rulers. In a strict academic sense it refers to the period between the foundation of the state of Wei in 220 and the...
, the Kingdom of Wei
Cao Wei
Cao Wei was one of the states that competed for control of China during the Three Kingdoms period. With the capital at Luoyang, the state was established by Cao Pi in 220, based upon the foundations that his father Cao Cao laid...
controlled ten of the Han Dynasty's prefectures including Youzhou and its capital Ji. Ji was demoted to a mere county-seat in the Western Jin Dynasty (晋), which made neighboring Zhuo County
Zhuozhou
Zhuozhou is a county-level city with 628,000 inhabitants in Hebei province of China. It is administered by Baoding prefecture. Zhuozhou has 3 subdistricts, 6 towns, 5 townships, and 1 development zone.-Administrative Divisions:Subdistricts:...
, in present day Hebei Province, the prefectural capital of Youzhou. After 304 AD, the Western Jin Dynasty was overthrown
Wu Hu uprising
Wu Hu forces rose up against the Jin Dynasty of China, who they had formerly served, in 304 CE, and by 316 CE their victory was complete. The Jin Dynasty's control was thus limited to territory south of the Huai River.-Background:...
by steppe peoples who had settled in northern China
Wu Hu
Wu Hu was a Chinese term for the northern non-Chinese nomadic tribes which caused the Wu Hu uprising, and established the Sixteen Kingdoms from 304 to 439 AD.-Definition:...
and established about sixteen short-lived kingdoms
Sixteen Kingdoms
The Sixteen Kingdoms, or less commonly the Sixteen States, were a collection of numerous short-lived sovereign states in China proper and its neighboring areas from 304 to 439 AD after the retreat of the Jin Dynasty to South China and before the establishment of the Northern Dynasties...
. During this period, Beijing was controlled successively by the Di
Di (ethnic group)
The Di were an ethnic group in China from the 8th century BCE to approximately the middle of the 6th century CE. Note that the character Di is used to differentiate this group from the Beidi , a generic term for "northern barbarians". They lived in areas of the present-day provinces of Gansu,...
-led Former Qin
Former Qin
The Former Qin was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms in China. Founded by the Fu family of the Di ethnicity, it completed the unification of North China in 376. Its capital had been Xi'an up to the death of the ruler Fu Jiān. Despite its name, the Former Qin was much later and less powerful than...
, the Jie
Jie (ethnic group)
The Jié were members of a small tribe in Northern China in the 4th century CE. They established the Later Zhao state.According to the Book of Wei, their name derives from the Jiéshì area where they reside....
-led Later Zhao
Later Zhao
The Later Zhao was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms during the Jin Dynasty in China. It was founded by the Shi family of the Jie ethnicity...
, the Xianbei
Xianbei
The Xianbei were a significant Mongolic nomadic people residing in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia and eastern Mongolia. The title “Khan” was first used among the Xianbei.-Origins:...
-led Former Yan
Former Yan
The Former Yan was a state of Xianbei ethnicity during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms in China.Initially, Murong Huang and his son Murong Jun claimed the Jin Dynasty -created title "Prince of Yan," but subsequently, in 352, after seizing most of the former Later Zhao territory, Murong Juan would...
and Later Yan
Later Yan
The Later Yan was a Murong-Xianbei state, located in modern day northeast China, during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms in China.All rulers of the Later Yan declared themselves "emperors". Later Yan fell to the Goguryeo dynasty.-Rulers of the Later Yan:...
. The Tanzhe Temple
Tanzhe Temple
The Tanzhe Temple is a Buddhist temple situated in the Western Hills, a mountainous area in western Beijing. It is one of the most well-known temples in Beijing. At one time, it was one of the most important temples in the nation...
in the Western Hills
Western Hills
The Western Hills refers to the hills and mountains in the western part of Beijing.- Geography :Being an extension of the Taihang mountain range from Hebei Province, the Western Hills cover about 17% of Beijing municipality including most of Mentougou and Fangshan Districts as well as parts of...
of Beijing was built in 307 AD. The Northern Wei
Northern Wei
The Northern Wei Dynasty , also known as the Tuoba Wei , Later Wei , or Yuan Wei , was a dynasty which ruled northern China from 386 to 534 . It has been described as "part of an era of political turbulence and intense social and cultural change"...
, another Xianbei regime, eventually united northern China in 386 AD, and restored Ji as the capital of Youzhou. With the creation of a separate prefecture called Jizhou (蓟州) in present-day Tianjin
Tianjin
' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...
in 370 AD, however, the name Ji was transplanted from Beijing to Tianjin, where a Ji County
Ji County, Tianjin
Ji County is a county in the far north of Tianjin municipality, China of cultural and historical significance . The administration of the county was transferred from Hebei province to Tianjin in 1973...
(蓟县) still exists today. In Beijing, the City of Ji gradually became known as Youzhou. This designation continued through the Eastern Wei
Eastern Wei
The Eastern Wei Dynasty followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei, and ruled northern China from 534 to 550.In 534 Gao Huan, the potentate of the eastern half of what was Northern Wei territory following the disintegration of the Northern Wei dynasty installed Yuan Shanjian a descendant of...
, Northern Qi
Northern Qi
The Northern Qi Dynasty was one of the Northern dynasties of Chinese history and ruled northern China from 550 to 577.-History:The Chinese state of Northern Qi was the successor state of the Chinese/Xianbei state of Eastern Wei and was founded by Emperor Wenxuan...
, Sui
Sui Dynasty
The Sui Dynasty was a powerful, but short-lived Imperial Chinese dynasty. Preceded by the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it ended nearly four centuries of division between rival regimes. It was followed by the Tang Dynasty....
and Tang Dynasties
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
.
Emperor Yang of Sui
Emperor Yang of Sui , personal name Yang Guang , alternative name Ying , nickname Amo , known as Emperor Ming during the brief reign of his grandson Yang Tong), was the second son of Emperor Wen of Sui, and the second emperor of China's Sui Dynasty.Emperor Yang's original name was Yang Ying, but...
built a network of canals from the Central Plain to Youzhou to carry troops and food for the massive military campaigns
Goguryeo-Sui Wars
The Goguryeo–Sui Wars were a series of campaigns launched by the Sui Dynasty of China against the Goguryeo of Korea between 598 and 614. It resulted in the defeat of Sui and contributed to the eventual downfall of the dynasty in 618.-Background:...
against Goguryeo
Goguryeo
Goguryeo or Koguryŏ was an ancient Korean kingdom located in present day northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula, southern Manchuria, and southern Russian Maritime province....
(Korea). Though the campaigns proved to be ruinous, they were continued by the Tang Dynasty. In 645 AD, the Tang Emperor Taizong
Emperor Taizong of Tang
Emperor Taizong of Tang , personal name Lǐ Shìmín , was the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty of China, ruling from 626 to 649...
built the Fayuan Temple
Fayuan Temple
The Fayuan Temple , situated in the southwest quarter of central Beijing, is one of the city's most renowned Buddhist temples.- History :The temple was first built in 645 during the Tang Dynasty by Emperor Li Shimin, and later rebuilt in the Zhengtong Period of the Ming Dynasty. The temple...
3 km southeast of Youzhou to remember the war dead from the Korean Campaigns
Goguryeo-Tang Wars
The Goguryeo–Tang Wars occurred in the 7th century between Korean Goguryeo and an allied Chinese Tang Dynasty and Silla. Exhausted from numerous attacks by China, Goguryeo finally succumbed to a two front attack by Tang and Silla...
. The Fayuan Temple, now within Xicheng District, is one of the oldest temples in urban Beijing.
The Tang Dynasty reduced the size of a prefecture as an administrative division from a province to a commandary. Youzhou was one of over 300 Tang Prefectures. In 742, Youzhou was briefly renamed Fanyang Commandary
Fanyang
Yanjing for administrative purposes was an ancient city and capital of the State of Yan in northern China. It was located in modern Beijing.- History :...
(范阳郡), but reverted back to Youzhou in 758. To guard against barbarian invasions, the imperial court arranged six frontier military commands in 711 AD, and Youzhou became the headquarter of the Fanyang
Fanyang
Yanjing for administrative purposes was an ancient city and capital of the State of Yan in northern China. It was located in modern Beijing.- History :...
Jiedushi
Jiedushi
The Jiedushi were regional military governors in China during the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. Originally set up to counter external threats, the jiedushi were given enormous power, including the ability to maintain their own armies, collect taxes, and pass their...
, who was tasked to monitor the Khitan
Khitan people
thumb|250px|Khitans [[Eagle hunting|using eagles to hunt]], painted during the Chinese [[Song Dynasty]].The Khitan people , or Khitai, Kitan, or Kidan, were a nomadic Mongolic people, originally located at Mongolia and Manchuria from the 4th century...
and Xi
Xi
Xi is the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet. It is pronounced in Modern Greek, and generally or in English...
nomads just north of present-day Hebei Province. In 755, the local commander An Lushan
An Lushan
An Lushan was a general who rebelled against the Tang Dynasty in China.His name was also transcribed into Chinese as Āluòshān or Gáluòshān ,...
, launched a rebellion from Youzhou after losing a power struggle in the imperial court. He declared himself the emperor of the Great Yan Dynasty and went on to conquer Luoyang and Xi'an. The An Shi Rebellion
An Shi Rebellion
The An Lushan Rebellion took place in China during the Tang Dynasty from CE December 16, 755 to CE February 17, 763, beginning when general An Lushan declared himself emperor, establishing the rival Yan Dynasty in Northern China...
lasted ten years and severely weakened the Tang dynasty. It also paved the way for Khitan expansion into northern China, which prompted the rise of Beijing in Chinese history.
After the demise of the Tang Dynasty fell in 907, China was divided into ten kingdoms
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms was between 907–960/979 AD and an era of political upheaval in China, between the fall of the Tang Dynasty and the founding of the Song Dynasty. During this period, five dynasties quickly succeeded one another in the north, and more than 12 independent states were...
, mostly in the south, and five short-lived dynasties in the north. One of these dynasties, Later Jin Dynasty
Later Jin Dynasty (Five Dynasties)
Note that there are four periods of Chinese history using the name "Jin" The Later Jìn was one of the Five Dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period in China. It was founded by Shi Jingtang, posthumously known as Gaozu of Later Jin...
(936-947), a weak regime led by Shatuo Turk Shi Jingtang, ceded a large part
Sixteen Prefectures
The Sixteen Prefectures are a region in northern China stretching from present-day Beijing westward to Datong. In most areas, it is approximately seventy to one hundred miles in width...
of the northern frontier across present-day Hebei and Shanxi
Shanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
Provinces, including Youzhou (modern Beijing) to the Khitan
Khitan people
thumb|250px|Khitans [[Eagle hunting|using eagles to hunt]], painted during the Chinese [[Song Dynasty]].The Khitan people , or Khitai, Kitan, or Kidan, were a nomadic Mongolic people, originally located at Mongolia and Manchuria from the 4th century...
in exchange for military support.
Liao and Jin Dynasties
Though Beijing was but a peripheral city to Chinese dynasties centered in LuoyangLuoyang
Luoyang is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province of Central China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to the south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast.Situated on the central plain of...
and Xi'an
Xi'an
Xi'an is the capital of the Shaanxi province, and a sub-provincial city in the People's Republic of China. One of the oldest cities in China, with more than 3,100 years of history, the city was known as Chang'an before the Ming Dynasty...
, it was to the nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
s, an important entryway into China. The city's stature grew from the 10th century with successive invasions of China by Khitan, Jurchen and Mongols. In 938, the ascendant Khitan having unified the steppes founded the Liao Dynasty
Liao Dynasty
The Liao Dynasty , also known as the Khitan Empire was an empire in East Asia that ruled over the regions of Manchuria, Mongolia, and parts of northern China proper between 9071125...
. It elevated Youzhou to be one of its four secondary capitals, renaming it Nanjing (南京) or the "Southern Capital". Thus, the City of Ji, ceded to the Liao as Youzhou, continued as Nanjing in what is today the southwest part of urban Beijing. Some of the oldest landmarks in southern Xicheng (formerly Xuanwu) and Fengtai Districts date to the Liao era. They include Sanmiao Road, one of the oldest streets in Beijing and the Niujie Mosque, founded in 996, and the Tianning Temple
Pagoda of Tianning Temple (Beijing)
The Tianning Temple is located in the Guang'anmen district of Beijing, China. The temple contains the 12th-century Pagoda of Tianning Temple. The pagoda is a Liao Dynasty pagoda built from around 1100 to 1119 or 1120 CE, shortly before the Liao Dynasty was conquered by Song and Jin...
, built from 1100-1119.
The Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
, after unifying the rest of China in 960, sought to recapture the lost northern territories. In 979, Song Emperor Taizong
Emperor Taizong of Song
Emperor Taizong , born Zhao Kuangyi, was the second emperor of the Song Dynasty of China from 976 to 997. He was the younger brother of Emperor Taizu. His temple name Taizong means "Grand Ancestor".-Overview:...
personally led a military expedition that reached and laid siege to Nanjing (Youzhou
Youzhou
Youzhou is a historical place name in northern China. From the reign of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty in 106 BC to the Five Dynasties period in the 10th century AD, Youzhou generally referred to the prefecture around modern-day Beijing and parts of Hebei Province...
) but was defeated in the decisive Battle of Gaoliang River
Battle of Gaoliang River
The Battle of Gaoliang River was fought in 979 between the Liao Dynasty and Song Dynasty in what is today the city of Beijing. The Liao victory ended a Song campaign to recapture the Sixteen Prefectures in North China....
, just northwest of present-day Xizhimen
Xizhimen
Xizhimen was formerly a gate in the Beijing city wall and is now the name of a transportation node in Beijing. The gate formerly was the entrance of drinking water for the Emperor, coming from the Jade Spring Hills to the west of Beijing...
. In 1122, the Song entered the Alliance on the Sea
Alliance on the Sea
The Alliance on the Sea was a political alliance in Chinese history between the Song and Jin Dynasties in the early 12th century against the Liao Dynasty. The alliance was negotiated from 1115 to 1123 by envoys who crossed the Bohai Sea, and is also called the Alliance Conducted at Sea...
with the Jurchens, a nomadic people living northeast of the Liao in modern-day Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
. The two nations agreed to jointly invade the Liao and if successful, cede the Sixteen Prefectures to the Song. The Song faltered in their campaigns but the Jurchens were victorious and drove the Liao to Central Asia. The Jurchens captured Nanjing, looted the city and handed it to the Song, in exchange for tribute. Song rule of the city, renamed Yanshan (燕山), was short-lived.
The Jurchens founded Jin (金) Dynasty, and sensing Song weakness, invaded the Central Plains in 1125. They quick retook Beijing and renamed it Yanjing. In 1153, Jin Emperor Wanyan Liang
Emperor Hailingwang of Jin
Emperor Hailingwang of Jin was emperor of the Jin Dynasty, the Jurchen dynasty which ruled northern China. He reigned from January 9, 1150 to December 15, 1161....
moved his capital from Shangjing
Huining Fu
Huining Fu was a prefecture in the Shangjing region of Manchuria . It served as the first superior capital of the Jin Dynasty between 1122 to 1234 .- History :...
(near present-day Harbin
Harbin
Harbin ; Manchu language: , Harbin; Russian: Харби́н Kharbin ), is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, lying on the southern bank of the Songhua River...
) to the city, which was renamed Zhongdu (中都) or the "Central Capital." For the first time in its history, the city of Beijing became a political capital of a major dynasty.
The Jin expanded the city to the west, east, and south, doubling its size. On today's map of urban Beijing, Zhongdu would extend from Xuanwumen in the northeast to the Beijing West Railway Station to the west, and south to beyond the southern 2nd Ring Road. The walled city had 13 gates, four in the north and three openings in each of the other sides. Remnants of Zhongdu city walls are preserved in Fengtai District. The Jin emphasized the centrality of the regime by placing the walled palace complex near the center of Zhongdu. The palace was situated south of present-day Guang'anmen and north of the Grand View Garden
Grand View Garden
The Grand View Garden or Prospect Garden is a large landscaped interior garden in the classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber, built within the compounds of the Rongguo Mansion. It is the setting for much of the story....
. Paper money was first issued in Beijing during the Jin. The Lugou Bridge
Lugou Bridge
The Lugou Bridge , also known as the Marco Polo Bridge in English, is a famous stone bridge located 15 km southwest of the Beijing city center across the Yongding River—a main tributary of Hai River The Lugou Bridge (Simplified: 卢沟桥; Traditional: 盧溝橋; Pinyin: Lúgōu Qiáo), also known as...
, over the Yongding River southwest of the city, was built in 1189. Zhongdu served as the Jin capital for more than 60 years, until the onslaught of the Mongols forced the Jin court to move south to Kaifeng
Kaifeng
Kaifeng , known previously by several names , is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, Central China. Nearly 5 million people live in the metropolitan area...
in 1214.
Yuan Dynasty
In 1215, the tenth year of the reign of Genghis KhanGenghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
, Mongol forces sacked Zhongdu
Battle of Beijing
The Battle of Beijing was a battle in 1215 between the Mongols and the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, which controlled northern China. It saw the Mongols win and allowed them to continue their conquest of China....
, which was again named Yanjing. Just as the Jurchens had risen from the steppes and displaced the Khitan Liao, so too had the Mongols who emerged out of southern Siberia and destroyed the Jurchen Jin in 1234. Much of the old Zhongdu, including the imperial palace, lay in ruin when Kublai Khan visited the city for the first time in 1261. He stayed in the Taining Palace located on Qionghua Island in the Gaoliang River northeast of Zhongdu. The palace was built by the Jin in 1179 as a country retreat, much like the later Summer Palace
Summer Palace
The Summer Palace is a palace in Beijing, China. The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is water....
of the Qing
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
. Unlike other Mongol leaders who wanted to retain the traditional tribal confederation based in Karakorum
Karakorum
Karakorum was the capital of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century, and of the Northern Yuan in the 14-15th century. Its ruins lie in the northwestern corner of the Övörkhangai Province of Mongolia, near today's town of Kharkhorin, and adjacent to the Erdene Zuu monastery...
, Kublai Khan was eager to become the emperor of a cosmopolitan empire. He spent the next four years waging and winning a civil war against rival Mongol chieftains, and in 1264 ordered advisor Liu Bingzhong
Liu Bingzhong
Liu Bingzhong , or Liu Kan was a Yuan Dynasty court adviser and architect. He was born in Ruizhou , during the Jin Dynasty. In 1233, he entered the Jin's bureaucracy. He still was an officer after the Mongol-Yuan Dynasty replaced the Jin, but later he became a monk...
to build his new capital at Yanjing. In 1260, he had already begun construction of his capital at Xanadu
Xanadu
-Description of Xanadu by Toghon Temur :The lament of Toghon Temur Khan , concerning the loss of Daidu and Heibun Shanduu in 1368, is recorded in many Mongolian historical chronicles...
, some 275 km due north of Beijing on the Luan River
Luan River
The Luan River is a river in China. It flows northwards from its source in the province of Hebei into the province of Inner Mongolia, and then flows southeast back into Hebei to its mouth on the Bohai Sea. Its length is about 600 km. One subsidiary of the Luan River is the Yixun He, which...
in present-day Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the northern region of the country. Inner Mongolia shares an international border with the countries of Mongolia and the Russian Federation...
, but he preferred the location of Beijing. With the North China Plain
North China Plain
The North China Plain is based on the deposits of the Yellow River and is the largest alluvial plain of eastern Asia. The plain is bordered on the north by the Yanshan Mountains and on the west by the Taihang Mountains edge of the Shanxi plateau. To the south, it merges into the Yangtze Plain...
opening to the south and the steppes just beyond the mountain passes to the north, Beijing was an ideal midway point for Kublai Khan's new seat of power. In 1271, he declared the creation of the Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
and named his capital Dadu
Khanbaliq
Khanbaliq or Dadu refers to a city which is now Beijing, the current capital of the People's Republic of China...
(大都, Chinese
Chinese written language
Written Chinese comprises Chinese characters used to represent the Chinese language, and the rules about how they are arranged and punctuated. Chinese characters do not constitute an alphabet or a compact syllabary...
for "Grand Capital", or Daidu to the Mongols). It is also known by the Mongol name Khanbaliq (汗八里), spelled Cambuluc in Marco Polo
Marco Polo
Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently...
's accounts. After the construction of Dadu, Xanadu, also known as Shangdu, became Kublai Khan's summer capital
Summer capital
A summer capital is a city used as an administrative capital during extended periods of particularly hot summer weather. The term is mostly of relevance in a historical context as political systems with ruling classes that would migrate to a summer capital are less prevalent in modern times...
.
Rather than continuing on the foundation of Zhongdu, the new capital Dadu was shifted to the northeast and built around the old Taining Palace on Qionghua Island in the middle of the Gaoliang River. This move set in place Beijing's current north-south central axis. Dadu was nearly twice the size of Zhongdu. It stretched from present-day Chang'an Avenue
Chang'an Avenue
Chang'an Avenue , literally "Eternal Peace Street", is a major thoroughfare in Beijing, China.Chang'an is the old name for Xi'an which was the capital of China during the Tang Dynasty and other periods....
in the south to the earthen Dadu city walls that still stand in northern and northeastern Beijing, between the 3rd and 4th Ring Roads. The city had earthen walls 24 m thick and 11 city gates, two in the north and three each in the other cardinal directions. Later, the Ming Dynasty lined portions of Dadu's eastern and western walls with brick and reused four of their gates. Thus, Dadu had the same width as the Beijing of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The geographic center of the Dadu was marked with a pavilion, which is now the Drum Tower.
The most striking physical feature of Dadu is the string of lakes in the heart of the city. These lakes were created from the Gaoliang River inside the city. They are now known as the six seas ("hai") of central Beijing: Houhai, Qianhai and Xihai (the Rear, Front, and West Seas) which are collectively known as Shichahai
Shichahai
Shichahai is an historic scenic area consisting of three lakes in the north of central Beijing in China. They are located to the north-west of the Forbidden City and north-west of the Beihai Lake. Shichahai consists of the following three lakes: Qianhai , Xihai and Houhai...
, Beihai (North Sea) Park
Beihai Park
Beihai Park is an imperial garden to the northwest of the Forbidden City in Beijing. First built in the 10th century, it is amongst the largest of Chinese gardens, and contains numerous historically important structures, palaces and temples. Since 1925, the place has been open to the public as a...
, and the Zhongnanhai (South Central Seas) compound
Zhongnanhai
Zhongnanhai is an area in central Beijing, China adjacent to the Forbidden City which serves as the central headquarters for the Communist Party of China and the State Council of the People's Republic of China. The term Zhongnanhai is closely linked with the central government and senior Communist...
. Qionghua Island is now the island in Beihai Park on which the White Dagoba stands. Like today's Chinese leaders, the Yuan imperial family lived west of the lakes in the Xingsheng and Longfu Palaces. A third palace east of the lakes, called the Danei, in the location of the Forbidden City
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum...
, housed the imperial offices. The city's construction drew builders from all over the Mongols' Asian empire, including local Chinese as well as those from places such as Nepal and Central Asia. Liu Bingzhong
Liu Bingzhong
Liu Bingzhong , or Liu Kan was a Yuan Dynasty court adviser and architect. He was born in Ruizhou , during the Jin Dynasty. In 1233, he entered the Jin's bureaucracy. He still was an officer after the Mongol-Yuan Dynasty replaced the Jin, but later he became a monk...
was appointed as the supervisor of the construction of the imperial city and a chief architect was Yeheidie'erding
Yeheidie'erding
Yeheidie'erding , also known as Amir al-Din , was a Muslim architect who help designed and led the construction of the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, Khanbaliq, located in present-day Beijing, the current capital of the People's Republic of China.-Construction of Khanbaliq:Yeheidie'erding learned...
. The pavilions of the palaces took on various architectural styles from across the empire. The entire palace complex occupied the south central portion of Dadu. Following Chinese tradition, the temples for ancestral rites and harvest rites were built, respectfully, to west and east of the palace.
Guo Shoujing
Guo Shoujing , courtesy name Ruosi , was a Chinese astronomer, engineer, and mathematician born in Xingtai, Hebei who lived during the Yuan Dynasty...
built channels to draw spring water from the Yuquan Mountain in the northwest through what is today the Kunming Lake
Kunming Lake
Kunming Lake is the central lake on the grounds of the Summer Palace in Beijing, China. Together with the Longevity Hill, Kunming Lake forms the key landscape features of the Summer Palace gardens....
of the Summer Palace through the Purple Bamboo Park
Purple Bamboo Park
Purple Bamboo Park is one of the seven largest parks in Beijing, China. It is located in the Haidian District of northwestern Beijing....
to Jishuitan, which was a large reservoir inside Dadu. The expansion and extension of the Grand Canal from Dadu to Hangzhou
Hangzhou
Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
enabled the city to import greater volumes of grain to sustain a larger population.
The city's residential districts were laid out in a checkerboard pattern divided by avenues 25 m in width and narrow alleyways, called hutongs, 6–7 m wide. One of the best surviving examples of such a district is Dongsi, which has 12 parallel hutongs, called the 12 tiao of Dongsi. The name hutong is unique to Yuan-era city. In older neighborhoods that date to the Liao and Jin eras, narrow lanes are still called jie or streets. Each of the large avenues had underground sewers which carried rain and refuse to the south of the city. The main markets were located in Dongsi, Xisi and the north shore of Jishuitan.
Construction of Dadu began in 1267 and the first palace was finished the next year. The entire palace complex was completed in 1274 and the rest of the city by 1285. In 1279, when Mongol armies finished off
Mongol conquest of the Song Dynasty
The conquest of South China's Song Dynasty under Kublai Khan was the final step for the Mongols to rule the whole of China. It is also considered the Mongol Empire's last great military achievement.- Background :...
the last of the Song Dynasty in southern China, Beijing became for the first time, the capital of the whole of China.
As Kublai Khan had intended, the city was a showcase of the cosmopolitan Yuan Empire. A number of foreign travelers including Giovanni di Monte Corvino, Odoric of Pordenone
Odoric of Pordenone
Odoric of Pordenone was an Italian late-medieval traveler...
, Marco Polo
Marco Polo
Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant traveler from the Venetian Republic whose travels are recorded in Il Milione, a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, travelled through Asia and apparently...
and Ibn Battuta
Ibn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta , or simply Ibn Battuta, also known as Shams ad–Din , was a Muslim Moroccan Berber explorer, known for his extensive travels published in the Rihla...
left written accounts of their visits to the city. Some of the most famous writers of the Yuan era including Ma Zhiyuan
Ma Zhiyuan
Ma Zhiyuan , courtesy name Dongli , was a Chinese poet and celebrated playwright, a native of Dadu during the Yuan Dynasty.Among his achievements is the development and popularizing of the new sanqu lyric form of poetry...
, Guan Hanqing
Guan Hanqing
Guan Hanqing , sobriquet "the Oldman of the Studio" , was a notable Chinese playwright and poet in the Yuan Dynasty.-Biography:...
, and Wang Shifu
Wang Shifu
Wang Shifu was a successful Chinese dramatic playwright of the Yuan Dynasty.Born in Dadu, there is little known about him. There are 14 plays attributed to Wang and only three are extant. His Romance of the West Chamber is considered to be one of the most famous Chinese plays and is still popular...
, lived in Dadu. The Mongols commissioned the building of an Islamic observatory and Islamic academy. The White Stupa Temple
Miaoying Temple
The Miaoying Temple , also known as the "White Stupa Temple" , is a Chinese Buddhist temple on the north side of Fuchengmennei Street in Xicheng District of Beijing....
near Fuchengmen was commissioned by Kublai Khan in 1271. Its famous white stupa was designed by Nepali architect Araniko, and remains one of the biggest stupa
Stupa
A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, typically the remains of Buddha, used by Buddhists as a place of worship....
s in China. The Confucius Temple and Guozijian
Guozijian (Beijing)
The Beijing Guozijian , located at the Guozijian Street or Chengxian Street in Beijing, China, was the imperial college during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties and it was the last Guozijian of China and is an important national cultural heritage...
were founded during the reign of Emperor Chengzong, Kublai's successor.
Ming Dynasty
In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming DynastyMing Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
in Nanjing
Nanjing
' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...
and his general Xu Da
Xu Da
Xu Da was a Chinese military general who lived in the early Ming Dynasty and contributed to the founding of the dynasty. Apart from being a friend of the Hongwu Emperor, founding emperor of the dynasty, Xu was also the father of Empress Xu, who would marry the third ruler of the Ming, the Yongle...
captured Dadu. The last Yuan court fled to the steppes. Dadu's imperial palace was razed and the city was renamed Beiping (北平 or "Northern Peace"). Nanjing, also known as Yingtian Fu became the Jingshi or the capital of the new dynasty.
Two years later, the founding Hongwu Emperor
Hongwu Emperor
The Hongwu Emperor , known variably by his given name Zhu Yuanzhang and by his temple name Taizu of Ming , was the founder and first emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China...
, conferred Beiping to his fourth son, Zhu Di, who at the age of ten became the Prince of Yan. Zhu Di did not move to Beiping until 1370 but quickly built up his military power in defense of the northern frontier. The Hongwu Emperor was predeceased by his three eldest sons, and when he died in 1398, the throne was passed down to Zhu Yunwen, the heir of his crown prince. The new emperor sought to curtail his uncle's power in Beiping, and a bitter power struggle ensued. In 1402, after a four-year civil war
Jingnan Campaign
Jingnan Campaign or Jingnan Rebellion was a civil war in the early years of the Ming Dynasty of China. It started from 1399. After Jianwen Emperor assumed the throne, his uncle Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, raised an army to overthrow him. Finally in 1402, Zhu Di usurped Jianwen Emperor's throne...
, Zhu Di seized Nanjing and declared himself the Yongle Emperor
Yongle Emperor
The Yongle Emperor , born Zhu Di , was the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China from 1402 to 1424. His Chinese era name Yongle means "Perpetual Happiness".He was the Prince of Yan , possessing a heavy military base in Beiping...
. As the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty, he was not content to stay in Nanjing. He executed hundreds in Nanjing for remaining loyal to his predecessor, who was reportedly killed in a palace fire but was rumored to have escaped. The Yongle Emperor sent his eunuch Zheng He
Zheng He
Zheng He , also known as Ma Sanbao and Hajji Mahmud Shamsuddin was a Hui-Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who commanded voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa, collectively referred to as the Voyages of Zheng He or Voyages of Cheng Ho from...
on the famed voyages overseas in part to investigate the rumors of the Jianwen Emperor
Jianwen Emperor
The Jianwen Emperor , with the personal name Zhu Yunwen , reigned as the second Emperor of the Ming dynasty...
abroad.
In 1403, the Yongle Emperor renamed his home base, Beijing, (北京, or the "Northern Capital") and elevated the city to the status of centrally-administered city, on par with Nanjing. For the first time, Beijing took on its modern name, though it was also known as Shuntian Fu (顺天府). From 1403 to 1421, Yongle prepared Beijing to be his new capital with a massive reconstruction program. Some of Beijing's most iconic historical buildings, including the Forbidden City
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum...
and the Temple of Heaven
Temple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven, literally the Altar of Heaven is a complex of Taoist buildings situated in the southeastern part of central Beijing. The complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest...
, were built for Yongle's capital. In 1421, Yongle moved the Jingshi of the Ming to Beijing, which made Beijing the main capital of the Ming dynasty. The move to the north also enabled the Ming regime to pay closer heed to the defense of the north against the Mongols. Most of the Great Wall in northern Beijing Municipality were built during the Ming Dynasty. The Temple of the Sun
Temple of Sun
he Temple of the Sun is located in Chaoyang District, Beijing, China. It is within Ritan Park , in the Jianguomen area. The nearest Beijing Metro station is Yonganli on the Beijing subway Line 1....
, Earth
Temple of Earth
The Temple of the Earth in Beijing, China, is located in the northern part of central Beijing, around the Andingmen area and just outside of Beijing's second ring road. It is also located just a few hundred yards north of Yonghe Temple...
and Moon
Temple of the Moon (China)
The Temple of the Moon is an altar located in Fuchengmen, Xicheng District, in western Beijing, China. The altar was built in 1530 during the Ming Dynasty for use in ritual sacrifice to the Moon by the Emperor of China....
were later added by the Taoist Emperor Jiajing
Jiajing Emperor
The Jiajing Emperor was the 11th Ming Dynasty Emperor of China who ruled from 1521 to 1567. Born Zhu Houcong, he was the former Zhengde Emperor's cousin...
in 1530.
During the early Ming dynasty, the northern part of old Dadu was depopulated and abandoned. The northern wall of the Ming city was built 2.5 km to the south. The southern wall of the city was moved half a kilometer to the south. These changes completed the Inner City of Beijing, which had 12 gates (two to the north, four to the south and three each to the east and west). These walls withstood a major test following the Tumu Crisis
Tumu Crisis
The Tumu Crisis ; also called the Crisis of Tumubao or Battle of Tumu Fortress , was a frontier conflict between the Oirat Mongols and the Chinese Ming Dynasty which led to the capture of the Zhengtong Emperor on September 1, 1449 and the loss of an army of 500,000 men to a much smaller force....
of 1449 when the Zhengtong Emperor
Zhengtong Emperor
Zhu Qizhen was an emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He ruled as the Zhengtong Emperor from 1435 to 1449, and as the Tianshun Emperor from 1457 to 1464....
was captured by Oirat Mongols
Oirats
Oirats are the westernmost group of the Mongols who unified several tribes origin whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of western Mongolia. Although the Oirats originated in the eastern parts of Central Asia, the most prominent group today is located in the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal...
during a military campaign near Huailai.
The Oirat chieftain, Esen Tayisi
Esen Tayisi
Esen taishi was a powerful Oirat Khagan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia in the 15th century. He is best known for capturing the Zhengtong Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in 1450 after the Battle of Tumu Fortress and briefly reuniting the Mongols...
, then drove through the Great Wall and marched on the Ming capital with the captive emperor in hand. Defense Minister Yu Qian
Yu Qian
Yu Qian , a native of Qiantang , was a Chinese Defence Minister during the Ming dynasty.- Biography :...
rejected Esen's demands for ransom despite the emperor's pleadings. Yu said the responsibility to protect the country took precedence over the emperor's life. He rejected calls by other officials to move the capital to the South. Instead, Zhengtong's younger half-brother
Jingtai Emperor
The Jingtai Emperor was Emperor of China from 1449 to 1457. The second son of the Xuande Emperor, he was selected in 1449 to succeed his older brother, the Zhengtong Emperor, when the latter was captured by Mongols following the Tumu Crisis...
was elevated to the throne, and 220,000 troops were assembled to defend the city. Ming forces with firearms and artillery ambushed the Mongol cavalry outside Deshengmen
Deshengmen
Deshengmen is the name of a city gate that was once part of Beijing's northern city wall. It is one of Beijing's few preserved city gates and now stands as a landmark on the northern 2nd Ring Road....
, killing Esen's brother in the barrage, and repelled another attack on Xizhimen. Esen retreated to Mongolia and three years later, returned the captive emperor, with no ransom paid. In 1457, the Zhengtong Emperor reclaimed the throne and had Yu Qian executed for treason. Yu Qian's home near Dongdan was later made into a temple in his honor.
In 1550, Altan Khan
Altan Khan
Altan Khan , whose given name was Anda , was the ruler of the Tümet Mongols and de facto ruler of the Right Wing, or western tribes, of the Mongols...
led a Khalkha Mongol
Khalkha
Khalkha is the largest subgroup of Mongol people in Mongolia since 15th century. The Khalkha together with Tsahar, Ordos and Tumed, were directly ruled by the Altan Urag Khans until the 20th century; unlike the Oirat people who were ruled by the Dzungar nobles or the Khorchins who were ruled by...
raid on Beijing that pillaged the northern suburbs but did not attempt to take the city. To protect the city's southern suburbs, including neighborhoods from the Liao and Jin-eras and the Temple of Heaven, the Outer City wall was built in 1553. The Outer City wall had five gates, three to the south and one each to the east and west. The Inner and Outer Ming city walls
Beijing city wall
The city wall of Beijing was a fortification built around 1435. It was 23.5 km long. The thickness at ground level was 20m and the top 12m. The wall was 15m high, and it had nine gates. This wall stood for nearly 530 years, but in 1965 it was removed to give way to 2nd Ring Road and the loop...
stood until in the 1960s when they were pulled down to build the Beijing Subway
Beijing Subway
The Beijing Subway is a rapid transit rail network that serves the urban and suburban districts of Beijing municipality. It is owned by the city of Beijing and has two operators, the wholly state owned Beijing Mass Transit Railway Operation Corp., which operates 12 lines, and the Beijing MTR...
and the 2nd Ring Road.
Jesuit missions
Jesuit China missions
The history of the missions of the Jesuits in China is part of the history of relations between China and the Western world. The missionary efforts and other work of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, between the 16th and 17th century played a significant role in continuing the transmission of...
reached Beijing at the turn of the 16th century. In 1601, Matteo Ricci
Matteo Ricci
Matteo Ricci, SJ was an Italian Jesuit priest, and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China Mission, as it existed in the 17th-18th centuries. His current title is Servant of God....
became an advisor to the Ming Court of Emperor Wanli
Wanli Emperor
The Wanli Emperor was emperor of China between 1572 and 1620. His era name means "Ten thousand calendars". Born Zhu Yijun, he was the Longqing Emperor's third son...
and became the first Westerner to have access to the Forbidden City. He established the Nantang Cathedral
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing , also known as Nantang to the locals, is a historic Roman Catholic Church located in Beijing, China...
in 1605, the oldest Catholic church
Roman Catholicism in China
Roman Catholicism in China has a long and complicated history...
in the city. Other Jesuits later became directors of Beijing's Imperial Observatory
Beijing Ancient Observatory
The Beijing Ancient Observatory is a pretelescopic observatory located in Beijing, China. The revolutionary tools used within this ancient observatory were built in 1442 during the Ming Dynasty, and later amended during the Qing....
.
It is believed that Beijing was the largest city in the world from 1425 to 1650 and from 1710 to 1825. To feed the growing population, Ming authorities built granaries known as the Jingtong storehouses near the terminus of the Grand Canal. The government administered the granaries, which fed a growing population and sustained the military. The granaries helped to control prices and prevent inflation, but as the population grew and demand for food exceeded supply, price controls became less effective.
Before the mid-15th century, Beijing residents relied on wood for heating and cooking. However, a population boom quickly led to a massive logging of the forests around the city, and by the mid-15th century the forests had largely disappeared. As a substitute, residents began to use coal, which was mined in the Western Hills
Western Hills
The Western Hills refers to the hills and mountains in the western part of Beijing.- Geography :Being an extension of the Taihang mountain range from Hebei Province, the Western Hills cover about 17% of Beijing municipality including most of Mentougou and Fangshan Districts as well as parts of...
. The use of coal caused many environmental problems and changed the ecological system around the city.
During the Ming dynasty, 15 epidemic outbreaks occurred in the city of Beijing, including smallpox, "pimple plague," and "vomit blood plague" - the latter two were possibly bubonic plague and pneumonic plague. In most cases, the public health system functioned well in gaining control of the outbreaks, except in 1643. That year, epidemics claimed 200,000 lives in Beijing, thus compromising the defense of the city from the attacks of the peasant rebels and contributing to the downfall of the Ming dynasty.
During the 15th and 16th centuries, banditry was common near Beijing despite the presence of imperial government. Due to inadequate supervision and economic privation, imperial troops in the capital region to protect the throne would often turn to brigandage
Brigandage
Brigandage refers to the life and practice of brigands: highway robbery and plunder, and a brigand is a person who usually lives in a gang and lives by pillage and robbery....
. Officials responsible for eradicating banditry often had ties to brigands and other marginal elements of Ming society.
In 1629, Li Zicheng launched a peasant rebellion in northwest China and captured Beijing in March 1644. The last Ming Emperor Chongzhen committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree
Guilty Chinese Scholartree
The Guilty Chinese Scholartree , a specimen of Pagoda Tree located in Beijing's Jingshan park, is a famous tree and national landmark on which the last Ming Chongzhen Emperor hanged himself after a group of peasants successfully stormed the Forbidden City in 1644.The tree was uprooted during the...
in Jingshan
Jingshan Park
Jingshan is an artificial hill in Beijing, China. Covering an area of more than 230,000 m², Jingshan is immediately north of the Forbidden City on the central axis of Beijing. As a result, it is administratively part of both the Xicheng District and the Dongcheng District...
. Li proclaimed himself emperor of the Shun Dynasty
Shun Dynasty
The Shun Dynasty was an imperial dynasty created in the brief lapse from Ming to Qing rule in China. The dynasty was founded in Xi'an on 8 February 1644, the first day of the lunar year, by Li Zicheng, the leader of a large peasant rebellion. Li, however, only went by the title of King, not Emperor...
, but he was defeated shortly thereafter at Shanhaiguan
Shanhaiguan District
Shanhaiguan District is a district of the city of Qinhuangdao, Hebei province, People's Republic of China, named after the pass of the Great Wall within the district, Shanhai Pass...
by Ming general Wu Sangui
Wu Sangui
Wu Sangui was a Ming Chinese general who was instrumental in the succession of rule to the Qing Dynasty in 1644...
and the Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
Prince Dorgon
Dorgon
Dorgon , also known as Hošoi Mergen Cin Wang, the Prince Rui , was one of the most influential Manchu princes in the early Qing Dynasty. He laid the groundwork for the Manchu rule of China.-Early life:Dorgon was born in Yenden, Manchuria , China...
. Wu defected to the Manchus, a semi-nomadic people from Northeast China
Northeast China
Northeast China, historically known in English as Manchuria, is a geographical region of China, consisting of the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The region is sometimes called the Three Northeast Provinces...
, and allowed them inside the Great Wall. They drove Li Zicheng from Beijing in late April.
Qing Dynasty
On May 3, 1644, the Manchus seized Beijing in the name of freeing the city from the bandit Li Zicheng. Dorgon held a state funeral for Ming Emperor Chongzhen and reappointed many Ming officials. In October, he moved the boy emperor Shunzhi from the old capital ShenyangShenyang
Shenyang , or Mukden , is the capital and largest city of Liaoning Province in Northeast China. Currently holding sub-provincial administrative status, the city was once known as Shengjing or Fengtianfu...
into the Forbidden City and made Beijing the new seat of the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
. In the following decades, the Manchus would conquer the rest of the country and ruled China for nearly three centuries from the city. During this era, Beijing was also known as Jingshi which corresponds with the Manchu name Gemun Hecen.
The Qing largely retained the physical configuration of Beijing inside the city walls. Each of the Eight Manchu Banners
Eight Banners
The Eight Banners were administrative divisions into which all Manchu families were placed. They provided the basic framework for the Manchu military organization...
was assigned to guard and live near the eight gates of the Inner City. Outside the city, the Qing Court seized large tracts of land for Manchu noble estates. Northwest of the city, Qing emperors built several large palatial gardens. In 1684, Kangxi Emperor
Kangxi Emperor
The Kangxi Emperor ; Manchu: elhe taifin hūwangdi ; Mongolian: Энх-Амгалан хаан, 4 May 1654 –20 December 1722) was the fourth emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the first to be born on Chinese soil south of the Pass and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, from 1661 to 1722.Kangxi's...
built the Shangchun Garden on the site of the Ming Dynasty's Qinghua (or Tsinghua) Garden. In the early 18th century, he began building the Yuanmingyuan
Old Summer Palace
The Old Summer Palace, known in China as Yuan Ming Yuan , and originally called the Imperial Gardens, was a complex of palaces and gardens in Beijing...
, also known as the "Old Summer Palace", which the Qianlong Emperor
Qianlong Emperor
The Qianlong Emperor was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. The fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor, he reigned officially from 11 October 1735 to 8 February 1796...
expanded with European Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
-style garden pavilions. In 1750, Qianlong built the Yiheyuan
Summer Palace
The Summer Palace is a palace in Beijing, China. The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is water....
, commonly referred to as the "Summer Palace". The two summer palaces represent both the culmination of Qing imperial splendor and its decline. Both were ransacked and razed by invading Western powers in the late Qing.
The Qing Dynasty maintained a relatively stable supply of food for the population of the capital during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The government's grain tribute system brought food from the provinces and kept grain prices stable. Soup kitchens provided relief to the needy. The secure food supply helped the Qing court maintain a degree of political stability. Temple fairs such as the Huguo Fair, which are like monthly bazaars held around temples, added to the commercial vibrance of the city.
In 1790, the Qing Court's Nanfu office, which was in charge of organizing entertainment for the emperor, invited the dramatic opera troupes from Anhui
Huiju
Huiju is a variety of Chinese opera from the east-central province of Anhui, China, and was formerly also popular in neighboring Zhejiang...
to perform for Qianlong. Under Qianlong, the Nanfu had up to a thousand employees, including actors, musicians, and court eunuchs. In 1827, Emperor Daoguang, Qianlong's grandson, changed the name from Nanfu to Shengpingshu, and reduced the number of performances. Nevertheless, the court invited opera troupes from Hubei
Music of Hubei
Hubei is a province of China, known for the Huangmei and Chu opera styles and a wide array of folk songs; Huangmei opera is especially renowned, and has spread to Shanghai, Beijing and Anhui, among other places...
came to perform. The Anhui and Hubei operatic styles eventually blended together in the mid-19th century to form Peking Opera.
In 1813, some 200 adherents of the White Lotus
White Lotus
White Lotus was a type of Buddhist sectarianism that appealed to many Han Chinese, who found solace in worship of the "Unborn or Eternal Venerable Mother" , who was to gather all her children at the millennium into one family....
sect launched a surprise siege on the Forbidden City but were repelled. In response, authorities imposed the baojia system of social surveillance and control.
Lord Macartney's
George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney
George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, KB was an Irish-born British statesman, colonial administrator and diplomat. He is often remembered for his observation following Britain's success in the Seven Years War and subsequent territorial expansion at the Treaty of Paris that Britain now controlled...
mission to China
Macartney Embassy
The Macartney Embassy, also called the Macartney Mission, was a British embassy to China in 1793. The Mission ran from 1792–94 . It is named for the first envoy of Great Britain to China, George Macartney, who led the endeavour...
arrived in Beijing in 1792, but failed to persuade the Qianlong Emperor to ease trade restrictions or to permit a permanent British Embassy in the city. Nevertheless, Macartney observed weaknesses within the Qing regime, which informed later, more forceful British efforts to enter China.
In 1860, during the Second Opium War
Second Opium War
The Second Opium War, the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a war pitting the British Empire and the Second French Empire against the Qing Dynasty of China, lasting from 1856 to 1860...
, Anglo-French forces annihilated the Qing army at Baliqiao east of Beijing. They captured the city and looted the Summer Palace
Summer Palace
The Summer Palace is a palace in Beijing, China. The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is water....
and Old Summer Palace
Old Summer Palace
The Old Summer Palace, known in China as Yuan Ming Yuan , and originally called the Imperial Gardens, was a complex of palaces and gardens in Beijing...
. The British consul Lord Elgin ordered the burning of the Old Summer Palace in retaliation of Qing mistreatment of Western prisoners. He spared the Forbidden City, saving it as a venue for the treaty-signing ceremony. Under the Convention of Peking
Convention of Peking
The Convention of Peking or the First Convention of Peking is the name used for three different unequal treaties, which were concluded between Qing China and the United Kingdom, France, and Russia.-Background:...
that ended the war, the Qing government was forced to allow Western powers to establish permanent diplomatic presence in the city. The foreign embassies were based southeast of the Forbidden City in the Beijing Legation Quarter
Beijing Legation Quarter
The Peking Legation Quarter was the area in Peking where a number of foreign legations were located between 1861 and 1959. In Chinese, the area is known as Dōng jiāomín xiàng , which is the name of the hutong running through the area...
.
In 1886, the Empress Dowager
Empress Dowager
Empress Dowager was the title given to the mother of a Chinese, Korean, Japanese or Vietnamese emperor.The title was also given occasionally to another woman of the same generation, while a woman from the previous generation was sometimes given the title of Grand empress dowager. Numerous empress...
had Summer Palace
Summer Palace
The Summer Palace is a palace in Beijing, China. The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill and the Kunming Lake. It covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is water....
rebuilt using funds originally designated for the imperial navy. After the Qing government was defeated by Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War
First Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War was fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan, primarily over control of Korea...
and forced to sign the humiliating Treaty of Shimonoseki
Treaty of Shimonoseki
The Treaty of Shimonoseki , known as the Treaty of Maguan in China, was signed at the Shunpanrō hall on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and Qing Empire of China, ending the First Sino-Japanese War. The peace conference took place from March 20 to April 17, 1895...
, Kang Yuwei assembled 1,300 scholars outside Xuanwumen to protest the treaty and drafted a 10,000 character appeal to the Guangxu Emperor
Guangxu Emperor
The Guangxu Emperor , born Zaitian of the Aisin-Gioro clan, was the eleventh emperor of the Manchurian Qing Dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China. His reign lasted from 1875 to 1908, but in practice he ruled, under Empress Dowager Cixi's influence, only from 1889 to 1898...
. In June 1898, Guangxu adopted the proposals of Kang Yuwei, Liang Qichao
Liang Qichao
Liang Qichao |Styled]] Zhuoru, ; Pseudonym: Rengong) was a Chinese scholar, journalist, philosopher and reformist during the Qing Dynasty , who inspired Chinese scholars with his writings and reform movements...
and other scholars and launched the Hundred Days' Reform
Hundred Days' Reform
The Hundred Days' Reform was a failed 104-day national cultural, political and educational reform movement from 11 June to 21 September 1898 in late Qing Dynasty China. It was undertaken by the young Guangxu Emperor and his reform-minded supporters...
. The reforms alarmed the Empress Dowager who, with the help of her cousin Ronglu
Ronglu
Ronglu was a Manchu statesman and general during the late Qing dynasty. Born into the powerful Guwalgiya clan of the Plain White Banner in the Eight Banners, he was cousin to Yehenara Lan, who later became Empress Dowager Cixi...
and Beiyang
Beiyang
The term Beiyang originated toward the end of the Qing Dynasty, and it referred to the coastal areas of Zhili , Liaoning, and Shandong in northeast China....
military commander Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai was an important Chinese general and politician famous for his influence during the late Qing Dynasty, his role in the events leading up to the abdication of the last Qing Emperor of China, his autocratic rule as the second President of the Republic of China , and his short-lived...
, launched a coup. Guangxu was imprisoned, Kang and Liang fled abroad, and Tan Sitong
Tan Sitong
Tan Sitong , courtesy name Fusheng, pseudonym Zhuangfei , was a well-known Chinese politician, thinker and revolutionist in the late Qing Dynasty who was in support of reform; he was however, finally executed because of the failure of the reformation...
and five other scholar reformers were publicly beheaded at Caishikou outside Xuanwumen. One legacy of the short-lived reform era was the founding of Peking University
Peking University
Peking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China, and a member of the C9 League. It is the first established modern national university of China. It was founded as Imperial University of Peking in 1898 as a replacement of the...
in 1898. The university would have a profound impact on the intellectual and political history of the city.
In 1898, a millenarian group called the Righteous Harmony Society Movement
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
rebelled in Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
Province in reaction to Western imperialist expansion into China. They attacked Westerners especially missionaries and converted Chinese, and were called the "Boxers" by Westerners. The Qing court initially suppressed the Boxers but the Empress Dowager attempted to use them to curtail foreign influence and permitted them to gather in Beijing. In June 1900, they tried to storm the Legation Quarter
Beijing Legation Quarter
The Peking Legation Quarter was the area in Peking where a number of foreign legations were located between 1861 and 1959. In Chinese, the area is known as Dōng jiāomín xiàng , which is the name of the hutong running through the area...
, which sheltered several hundred foreign civilians and soldiers and about 3,200 Chinese Christians. An international army of the Eight-Nation Alliance
Eight-Nation Alliance
The Eight-Nation Alliance was an alliance of Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States whose military forces intervened in China to suppress the anti-foreign Boxers and relieve the siege of the diplomatic legations in Beijing .- Events :The...
eventually defeated the Boxers and Qing troops
Battle of Peking
The Battle of Peking, or the Relief of Peking, was the battle on 14–15 August 1900 in which a multi-national force relieved the siege of foreign legations in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion...
and lifted the siege. The foreign armies looted the city and occupied northern China. The Empress Dowager fled to Xian and did not return until after the Qing government had signed the Boxer Protocol
Boxer Protocol
The Boxer Protocol was signed on September 7, 1901 between the Qing Empire of China and the Eight-Nation Alliance that had provided military forces plus Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands after China's defeat in the intervention to put down the Boxer Rebellion at the hands of the...
which compelled it to pay reparations
Reparation (legal)
In jurisprudence, reparation is replenishment of a previously inflicted loss by the criminal to the victim. Monetary restitution is a common form of reparation...
of 450 million taels of silver with interest at 4 percent. The Boxer indemnities stripped the Qing government of much of its tax revenues and further weakened the state.
The United States used its portion of the proceeds to fund scholarships for Chinese students studying in America
Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholarship Program
The Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Program was a scholarship program funded by Boxer Rebellion indemnity money paid to the United States that provided for Chinese students to study in the U.S...
. In 1911, the Boxer Indemnity Scholar Program established the American Indemnity College in the Qinghua Gardens northwest of Beijing as a preparatory school for students planning to study abroad. In 1912, the school was renamed Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University , colloquially known in Chinese as Qinghua, is a university in Beijing, China. The school is one of the nine universities of the C9 League. It was established in 1911 under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang" or "Tsinghua College" and was renamed the "Tsinghua School" one year later...
, and remains to this day, one of the finest institutions of higher learning in China.
After the Boxer Rebellion, the struggling Qing Dynasty accelerated the pace of reform and became more receptive to foreign influence. The centuries-old imperial civil service examination
Imperial examination
The Imperial examination was an examination system in Imperial China designed to select the best administrative officials for the state's bureaucracy. This system had a huge influence on both society and culture in Imperial China and was directly responsible for the creation of a class of...
was abolished in 1905, and replaced with a Western-style curriculum and degree system. Public education for women received greater emphasis and even drew support from reactionaries like the Empress Dowager. Beijing's school for girls in the late Qing period made unbound feet an entrance requirement. The Beijing Police Academy, founded in 1901 as China's first modern institution for police training, used Japanese instructors became a model for police academies in other cities. The Peking Union Medical College
Peking Union Medical College
Peking Union Medical College is among the most selective medical colleges in the People's Republic of China and is renowned both in its own right and for being connected to one of China's most prestigious institutions of higher learning.-History:...
, founded by missionaries in 1906 and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
from 1915, set the standard for the training of nurses. The Metropolitan University Library in Beijing, founded in 1898, was China's first modern academic library with a clear goal of serving public higher education.
Also in 1905, the Board of Revenue and private investors founded the Hubu Bank, China’s first central bank and largest modern bank. This bank was renamed the Bank of China
Bank of China
Bank of China Limited is one of the big four state-owned commercial banks of the People's Republic of China. It was founded in 1912 by the Government of the Republic of China, to replace the Government Bank of Imperial China. It is the oldest bank in China...
after the Xinhai Revolution, and began Beijing’s tradition as the center of state banks in China. Large foreign banks including the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC), National City Bank (Citibank), Deutsch-Asiatische Bank
Deutsch-Asiatische Bank
Deutsch-Asiatische Bank was a foreign bank in China. Its principal activity was trade financing; but together with English and French banks, it also played a role in the underwriting of bonds for the Chinese government and in the financing of railway construction in China.- History...
and Yokohama Specie Bank
Yokohama Specie Bank
is a Japanese bank founded in Yokohama, Japan in the year 1880. It later became The Bank of Tokyo, Ltd. in 1947. The bank played a significant role in Japanese trade with China...
opened branches in the Legation Quarter. The building of railroads was capital intensive and required large-scale financing and foreign expertise. Beijing’s earliest railroads were designed, financed and built under the supervision of foreign concerns.
Fengtai District
Fengtai District is a suburban district of the municipality of Beijing. It lies to the southwest of the urban core of the city.-History:In Qing Dynasty times, Fengtai was where the Imperial Manchu Army had its camps, trained, and held parades on festive occasions.It is 304.2 square kilometers in...
and then to Majiapu, just outside of Yongdingmen
Yongdingmen
Yongdingmen was the former front gate of the outer section of Beijing's old city wall. Originally built in 1553, it was torn down in the 1950s to make way for the new road system in Beijing. In 2005, the Yongdingmen was reconstructed at the site of the old city gate...
, a gate along the Outer City wall. The Qing court resisted the extension of railways inside city walls. To secure the support of the Empress Dowager for railway construction, Viceroy
Viceroy of Zhili
The Viceroy of Zhili , fully referred to as the Governor General of Zhili and surrounding areas; Overseeing Military Affairs, Food Production; Manager of Waterways; Director of Civil Affairs , was one of eight regional viceroys in China proper during the Qing Dynasty of China...
Li Hongzhang
Li Hongzhang
Li Hongzhang or Li Hung-chang , Marquis Suyi of the First Class , GCVO, was a leading statesman of the late Qing Empire...
had imported a small train set from Germany and built a narrow-gauge railway from her residence in Zhongnanhai to her dining hall in Beihai. The Empress, concerned that the locomotive's noise would disturb the geomancy
Geomancy
Geomancy is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand...
or fengshui of the imperial city, required the train be pulled by eunuchs instead of steam engine. Foreign powers who seized the city during the Boxer Rebellion extended the railway inside the outer city wall to Yongdingmen in 1900 and then further north to Zhengyangmen (Qianmen) just outside the Inner City wall in 1903. They built an eastern spur to Tongzhou to carry grain shipped from the south on the Grand Canal. This extension breached the city wall at Dongbianmen. The Lugouqiao-Hankou Railway, financed by French-Belgian capital and built from 1896 to 1905, was renamed Beijing-Hankou Railway after it was routed to Qianmen from the west. This required the partial demotion of the Xuanwumen barbican
Barbican
A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from...
. The completion of the Beijing-Fengtian Railway in 1907 required a similar break in Chongwenmen
Chongwenmen
Chongwenmen is the name of a gate that was once part of Beijing's city wall. The gate stood in the southeastern part of Beijing's inner city, immediately south of the old Beijing Legation Quarter. In the 1960s, the gate was torn down to make room for Beijing's second ring road. It has given its...
’s fortification. Thus, began the tearing down of city gates and walls to make way for rail transportation. Imperial Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, built from 1905 to 1909, terminated just outside Xizhimen. This line, designed by Jeme Tien Yow was the first railway in China to be built without foreign assistance. By the late Qing Dynasty, Beijing with rail connection to Hankou
Hankou
Hankou was one of the three cities whose merging formed modern-day Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers where the Han falls into the Yangtze...
(Wuhan), Pukou (Nanjing), Fengtian (Shenyang)
Shenyang
Shenyang , or Mukden , is the capital and largest city of Liaoning Province in Northeast China. Currently holding sub-provincial administrative status, the city was once known as Shengjing or Fengtianfu...
and Datong
Datong
Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province of North China, located a few hundred kilometres west by rail from Beijing with an elevation of...
, was a major railway hub in North China.
Republic of China
The Qing Dynasty was overthrown in the Xinhai RevolutionXinhai Revolution
The Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, also known as Revolution of 1911 or the Chinese Revolution, was a revolution that overthrew China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing , and established the Republic of China...
of 1911 but capital of the newly-founded Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
remained in Beijing as former Qing general Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai was an important Chinese general and politician famous for his influence during the late Qing Dynasty, his role in the events leading up to the abdication of the last Qing Emperor of China, his autocratic rule as the second President of the Republic of China , and his short-lived...
took control of the new government from revolutionaries in the south. Yuan and successors from his Beiyang Army
Beiyang Army
The Beiyang Army was a powerful, Western-style Chinese military force created by the Qing Dynasty government in the late 19th century. It was the centerpiece of a general reconstruction of China's military system. The Beiyang Army played a major role in Chinese politics for at least three decades...
ruled the republic from Beijing until 1928 when Chinese Nationalists
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
reunified the country through the Northern Expedition and moved the capital to Nanjing. Beijing was renamed Beiping. In 1937, a clash between Chinese and Japanese troops at the Marco Polo Bridge
Marco Polo Bridge Incident
The Marco Polo Bridge Incident was a battle between the Republic of China's National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army, often used as the marker for the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War .The eleven-arch granite bridge, Lugouqiao, is an architecturally significant structure,...
outside Beiping triggered the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
. Japanese occupiers created a collaborationist government in northern China and reverted the city’s name to Beijing to serve as capital for the puppet regime. After Japan's surrender in 1945, the city returned to Chinese rule and was again renamed Beiping. During the subsequent civil war
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
between the Chinese Nationalists and Communists, the city was peacefully transferred to Communist control in 1949 and renamed Beijing to become the capital of the People's Republic of China.
Xinhai Revolution
When the Wuchang UprisingWuchang Uprising
The Wuchang Uprising began with the dissatisfaction of the handling of a railway crisis. The crisis then escalated to an uprising where the revolutionaries went up against Qing government officials. The uprising was then assisted by the New Army in a coup against their own authorities in the city...
erupted in October 1911, the Qing court summoned Yuan Shikai and his powerful Beiyang Army
Beiyang Army
The Beiyang Army was a powerful, Western-style Chinese military force created by the Qing Dynasty government in the late 19th century. It was the centerpiece of a general reconstruction of China's military system. The Beiyang Army played a major role in Chinese politics for at least three decades...
to suppress the insurrection. As he fought revolutionaries
Battle of Yangxia
The Battle of Yangxia , also known as the Defense of Yangxia was fought from October 18 to December 1, 1911 between the revolutionaries of the Wuchang Uprising and the loyalist armies of the Qing Dynasty...
in the south, Yuan also negotiated with them. On January 1, 1912, Dr. Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" , a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
, who returned from exile, founded the Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
in Nanjing and was elected provisional president
President of the Republic of China
The President of the Republic of China is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the Republic of China . The Republic of China was founded on January 1, 1912, to govern all of China...
. The new government was not recognized any foreign powers, and Sun agreed to cede leadership to Yuan Shikai in exchange for the latter's assistance in ending the Qing Dynasty. On February 12, Yuan compelled the Qing court, under the regency
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
of Prince Chun, Zaifeng
Zaifeng, 2nd Prince Chun
The 2nd Prince Chun was born Zaifeng , of the Manchu Aisin-Gioro clan . He was the leader of China between 1908 and 1911, serving as regent for his son Puyi, the Xuantong Emperor.His courtesy name was Yiyun...
, to abdicate. Empress Dowager Longyu
Empress Dowager Longyu
Empress Xiao Ding Jing ; is better known as the Empress Dowager Longyu , . Also , she had the nickname was Xizi （喜子）. Empress Xiao Ding Jing was the Qing Dynasty Empress Consort of the Guangxu Emperor who ruled China from 1875 till 1908...
signed the abdication agreement on behalf of the five-year old Last Emperor Puyi
Puyi
Puyi , of the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan, was the last Emperor of China, and the twelfth and final ruler of the Qing Dynasty. He ruled as the Xuantong Emperor from 1908 until his abdication on 12 February 1912. From 1 to 12 July 1917 he was briefly restored to the throne as a nominal emperor by the...
. The following day Sun resigned from the provisional presidency and recommended Yuan for the position. Under the terms of the imperial abdication, the Puyi would retain his dignitary title and staff and receive an annual stipend from the republic of 4 million Mexican silver dollars. He could continue to reside in the Forbidden City for a time but must eventually move to the Summer Palace. His tomb and rituals were to be maintained at the expense of the republic. The abdication ended the Qing Dynasty and averted further bloodshed in the revolution.
As a condition of his resignation, Sun insisted that the provisional government must remain in Nanjing, but on February 14, the Provisional Senate voted 20-5 in favor of Beijing over Nanjing, with two votes going for Wuhan and one for Tianjin. The majority wanted to secure the peace agreement by taking power in Beijing. Zhang Jian
Zhang Jian (politician)
Zhang Jian , courtesy name Jizhi , sobriquet Se'an , was a Chinese entrepreneur, politician and educationist.-Biography:Zhang was born in Haimen County, Jiangsu Province in 1853...
and others added that having the capital in Beijing would check against Manchu restoration and Mongol secession. But Sun and Huang Xing
Huang Xing
Huang Xing or Huang Hsing , was a Chinese revolutionary leader, militarist, and statesman, was the first army commander-in-chief of the Republic of China. As one of the founders of the Kuomintang and the Republic of China, his position was next to Sun Yat-sen. Together they were known as...
argued in favor of Nanjing to balance against Yuan's power base in the north. Li Yuanhong
Li Yuanhong
Li Yuanhong was a Chinese general and political figure during the Qing dynasty and the republican era. He was twice president of the Republic of China.- Early history :...
presented Wuhan as a compromise. On February 15, the provisional senate voted 19-6 in favor of Nanjing with two votes for Wuhan. Sun sent a delegation led by Cai Yuanpei
Cai Yuanpei
Cai Yuanpei was a Chinese educator and the president of Peking University. He was known for his critical evaluation of the Chinese culture that led to the influential May Fourth Movement...
and Wang Jingwei
Wang Jingwei
Wang Jingwei , alternate name Wang Zhaoming, was a Chinese politician. He was initially known as a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang , but later became increasingly anti-Communist after his efforts to collaborate with the CCP ended in political failure...
to persuade Yuan to move to Nanjing. Yuan welcomed the delegation and said he would accompanying them back south. Then on the evening February 29, riots and fires broke out in all over the city. They were allegedly started by disobedient troops of Cao Kun
Cao Kun
|-...
, a loyal officer of Yuan. Disorder among military ranks spread to Tongzhou, Tianjin and Baoding. These events gave Yuan the pretext to stay in the north to guard against unrest. On March 10, Yuan was inaugurated in Beijing as the provisional president of the Republic of China. Yuan based the executive office and residence in Zhongnanhai
Zhongnanhai
Zhongnanhai is an area in central Beijing, China adjacent to the Forbidden City which serves as the central headquarters for the Communist Party of China and the State Council of the People's Republic of China. The term Zhongnanhai is closely linked with the central government and senior Communist...
, next to the Forbidden City. On April 5, the provisional senate in Nanjing voted to make Beijing the capital of the Republic and convened in Beijing at the end of the month.
In August, Sun Yat-sen traveled to Beijing where he was welcomed by Yuan Shikai and a crowd of thousands. At the Huguang Guild Hall
Huguang Guild Hall
The Huguang Guild Hall in Beijing is a renowned Beijing opera theatre. Built in 1807, and at the height of its glory, the Huguang Guild Hall, along with the Zhengyici Peking Opera Theatre was known as one of the "Four Great Theatres" in all of Beijing...
, the Revolutionary Alliance (Tongmenghui) led by Sun, Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren
Song Jiaoren
Song Jiaoren was a Chinese republican revolutionary, political leader and a founder of the Kuomintang . He was assassinated in 1913 after leading his Kuomintang party to victory in China's first democratic elections...
joined several smaller parties to form the Chinese Nationalist Party (Guomindang)
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
. The first national assembly elections were held from December 1912 to January 1913. Adult males over the age of 21 who were educated or owned property and paid taxes and who could prove two-year residency in a particular county could vote. An estimated 4-6% of China's population were registered for the election. The Nationalist Party won a majority in both houses of the National Assembly, which convened in Beijing in April 1913.
As the assembly set out to ratify the constitution, Yuan resisted efforts to share power. Without the assembly’s knowledge, he arranged for the large and expensive Reorganization Loan from a consortium of foreign lenders to fund his military. The loan, signed into effect at the HSBC Bank in the legation quarter, effectively surrendered the government's collection of salt tax revenues to foreign control. His agents assassinated Nationalist leader Song Jiaoren in Shanghai. In response, Sun Yat-sen launched a Second Revolution in July 1913, which failed and forced him into exile. Yuan then forced the National Assembly to elect him as the president, and expelled Nationalist members. In early 1914, he dissolved the National Assembly and abolished the provisional constitution in May. On December 23, 1915, Yuan declared himself emperor, and his regime, the Empire of China (1915–1916). This declaration provoked the National Protection War
National Protection War
The National Protection War , also known as the anti-Monarchy War, was a civil war that took place in China between 1915 and 1916. The cause of this war was Yuan Shikai's proclamation of himself as Emperor. Only three years earlier, the last Chinese dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, had been overthrown...
as provinces in the south rebelled. Yuan was forced to step down from emperor to president in March 1916. He died in Beijing in June 1916, leaving military men from the Beiyang Army to vie for control of the government. Over the next 12 years, the Beiyang Government in Beijing had no fewer than eight presidents, five parliaments, 24 cabinets, at least four constitutions and one brief restoration of the Manchu Monarchy.
World War I and the May 4th Movement
Duan Qirui
Duan Qirui was a Chinese warlord and politician, commander in the Beiyang Army, and the Provisional Chief Executive of Republic of China from November 24, 1924 to April 20, 1926. He was arguably the most powerful man in China from 1916 to 1920.- Early life :Born in Hefei as Duan Qirui , his...
, the Prime Minister, and the National Assembly was reconvened. The government soon faced a crisis over whether to enter World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
on the side of the allies. Li dismissed Duan, who favored entry into the war, and invited warlord Zhang Xun
Zhang Xun
Zhang Xun or Chang Hsün may refer to:*Zhang Xun , general serving under the warlord Yuan Shu during the late Han Dynasty*Zhang Xun , Tang Dynasty general involved in the Battle of Suiyang against An Lushan...
to the capital to mediate. Zhang and his pig-tailed loyalist army marched into Beijing, dissolved the National Assembly and restored Puyi
Puyi
Puyi , of the Manchu Aisin Gioro clan, was the last Emperor of China, and the twelfth and final ruler of the Qing Dynasty. He ruled as the Xuantong Emperor from 1908 until his abdication on 12 February 1912. From 1 to 12 July 1917 he was briefly restored to the throne as a nominal emperor by the...
as Qing emperor on July 1. Li fled to the Japanese Embassy in the legation. The imperial restoration lasted just 12 days as Duan Qirui's army reclaimed the capital, and sent Zhang seeking refuge in the Dutch Embassy. Under Duan's command, China declared war on the axis powers and sent 140,000 Chinese laborers
Chinese Labour Corps
The Chinese Labour Corps was a force of workers recruited by the British government in World War I to support the troops by performing support work and manual labor.-History:...
to work on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
. With financial backing from Japan
Nishihara Loans
The ' were a series of loans made by the Japanese government under the administration of Prime Minister Terauchi Masatake to the Anhui clique warlord Duan Qirui from January 1917 to September 1918, in exchange for territorial concessions and rights in northern China.In January 1917, Prime Minister...
, Duan then engineered the election of a new parliament in 1918 that was stacked with supporters. The so-called Anfu Parliament was named after Anfu Hutong, near Zhongnanhai where Duan's Anhui-based supporters congregated.
In the spring of 1919, the Republic of China, as a victor nation sent a delegation to the Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
seeking the return of German concession in Shandong Province to China. Instead, the treaty gave those possessions to Japan. News of the treaty sparked outrage in the Chinese capital. On May 4, 3,000 students from 13 universities in Beijing gathered in Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen Gate located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world...
to protest the betrayal of China by the other Western powers and the corruption of the Anfu government by Japanese financial support. They marched toward the foreign legation but were blocked and proceeded to the home of deputy foreign minister Cao Rulin
Cao Rulin
Cao Rulin was Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Beiyang Government, and an important member of the pro-Japanese movement in the early 20th century. He was a Shanghai lawyer working in Beijing when he was appointed by the provisional president, Yuan Shikai, to a vacant seat in the National...
, who had attended the Peace Conference and was known to be friendly to Japanese interests. They razed Cao's residence and beat up Zhang Zongxiang, another pro-Japanese diplomat. The police arrested 32 students, which provoked further protests and arrests. Within weeks, the movement had spread to 200 cities and towns in 22 provinces. Workers in Shanghai struck and merchants closed shops in support of the protests. By late June, the government pledged not to sign the treaty, removed Cao and Zhang from office and released students from jail.
The May Fourth Movement
May Fourth Movement
The May Fourth Movement was an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement growing out of student demonstrations in Beijing on May 4, 1919, protesting the Chinese government's weak response to the Treaty of Versailles, especially the Shandong Problem...
began a tradition of student activism in Beijing and had a profound political and cultural impact on modern China. The movement encouraged the development of new culture
New Culture Movement
The New Culture Movement of the mid 1910s and 1920s sprang from the disillusionment with traditional Chinese culture following the failure of the Chinese Republic, founded in 1912 to address China’s problems. Scholars like Chen Duxiu, Cai Yuanpei, Li Dazhao, Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, and Hu Shi, had...
to replace the traditional order and heightened the appeal of Marxism-Leninism
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
to Chinese intellectuals. Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, prominent figures of May 4 in Beijing, became early leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. Among the many youth who flocked to the Chinese capital during this period was a student from Hunan named Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
who worked as a library assistant under Li Dazhao at Peking University. Mao left the city for Shanghai in 1920 where he helped found the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. He did not return until almost 30 years later.
Beiyang Regime
In the 1920s, military strongmen of the Beiyang Army split into cliques and vied for control of the Republican government and its capital. In July 1920, Duan's government, weakened by the May 4th Protests, was driven out of Beijing by Wu PeifuWu Peifu
Wu Peifu or Wu P'ei-fu , was a major figure in the struggles between the warlords who dominated Republican China from 1916 to 1927.- Early career :...
and Cao Kun
Cao Kun
|-...
of the Zhili Clique in the Zhili-Anhui War
Zhili-Anhui War
The Zhili–Anhui War was a 1920 conflict in the Republic of China's Warlord Era between the Zhili clique and Anhui cliques for control of the Beiyang government.-Prelude:...
. Two years later, the Zhili Clique fought off a challenge by Zhang Zuolin
Zhang Zuolin
Zhang Zuolin was the warlord of Manchuria from 1916 to 1928 . He successfully invaded China proper in October 1924 in the Second Zhili-Fengtian War. He gained control of Peking, including China's internationally recognized government, in April 1926...
and his Manchuria-based Fengtian Clique
Fengtian clique
The Fengtian Clique was one of several mutually hostile cliques or factions that split from the Beiyang Clique in the Republic of China's warlord era. It was named for Fengtian Province and led by Zhang Zuolin...
in the First Zhili-Fengtian War
First Zhili-Fengtian War
The First Zhili–Fengtian War was a 1922 conflict in the Republic of China's Warlord Era between the Zhili and Fengtian cliques for control of Beijing. The war led to the defeat of the Fengtian clique and the fall of its leader, Zhang Zuolin, from the coalition Zhili-Fengtian government in Beijing...
. In 1924, the two sides squared off again
Second Zhili-Fengtian War
The Second Zhili–Fengtian War of 1924 was a conflict between the Japanese-backed Fengtian clique based in Manchuria, and the more liberal Zhili clique controlling Beijing and backed by Anglo-American business interests...
but this time, one of Wu's officers Feng Yuxiang
Feng Yuxiang
Feng Yuxiang was a warlord and leader in Republican China. He was also known as the Christian General for his zeal to convert his troops and the Betrayal General for his penchant to break with the establishment. In 1911, he was an officer in the ranks of Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army but joined...
launched the Beijing Coup
Beijing coup
The Beijing coup refers to the October 1924 coup d'etat by Feng Yuxiang against Chinese President Cao Kun, leader of the Zhili warlord faction. Feng called it the Capital Revolution . The coup occurred at a crucial moment in the Second Zhili–Fengtian War and allowed the pro-Japanese Fengtian...
. On October 23, Feng seized the capital, imprisoned President Cao Kun
Cao Kun
|-...
, restored Duan Qirui as the head of state and invited Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" , a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
to Beijing for peace talks. At that time, Sun was building a Nationalist regime in Guangzhou with the assistance of the Soviet Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
and support of the Chinese Communist Party. Sun was stricken with cancer when he arrived in Beijing in early 1925 for one last effort to heal the north-south divide. He was welcomed by 500 organizations and insisted in talks with Duan Qirui that political reconstruction efforts include broad segments of civil society. He died in Beijing on March 12, 1925 and was entombed at the Temple of Azure Clouds
Temple of Azure Clouds
The Temple of Azure Clouds , is a Buddhist temple located in the eastern part of the Western Hills, just outside the north gate of Fragrant Hills Park , in the Haidian District, a northwestern suburb of Beijing, China, approximately 20 km from the city center...
.
Zhang Zuolin and Wu Peifu joined forces against Feng Yuxiang, who relied on support from the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Feng took a generally accommodating stance toward the Nationalist and Communist parties which were active in spreading influence in the city. During this period, Beijing was a hotbed of student activism. In the May 30th Movement of 1925, 12,000 students from 90 schools marched through Wangfujing
Wangfujing
Wángfǔjǐng , located in Dongcheng District, Beijing, is one of the Chinese capital's most famous shopping streets. Much of the road is off-limits to cars and other motor vehicles, and it is not rare to see the entire street full of people. Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty there have been...
to Tiananmen in support of protesters in Shanghai. With the opening of private colleges such as Yenching University
Yenching University
Yenching University was a university in Beijing, China. It integrated three Christian colleges in the city in 1919. Yenching is an alternative name of Beijing - derived from its status as capital of Yan state, one of the seven Warring States from 5th century BC to 3rd century BC.The university...
in 1919 and Furen Catholic University
Fu Jen Catholic University
Fu Jen Catholic University is a co-educational Catholic university located in Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City, Republic of China...
in 1925, the student population in Beijing grew substantially in the early 1920s. Middle school students also joined the protests. In October, students protested against imperialism during an international conference on customs and tariffs held in the city. In November, Li Dazhao organized the "Capital Revolution" a protest by students and workers demanding Duan's resignation. The protest was more violent, burning down a major newspaper office, but was disbanded.
The alliance between the Nationalists and Communists was not without tension. In November 1925, a group of right-wing Nationalist leaders met in the Western Hills
Western Hills
The Western Hills refers to the hills and mountains in the western part of Beijing.- Geography :Being an extension of the Taihang mountain range from Hebei Province, the Western Hills cover about 17% of Beijing municipality including most of Mentougou and Fangshan Districts as well as parts of...
and called for the expulsion of Communists from the Nationalist Party and severance of ties with the Comintern including advisor Mikhail Borodin
Mikhail Borodin
Mikhail Markovich Borodin was the alias of Mikhail Gruzenberg, a Comintern agent and Soviet arms dealer....
. This manifesto was denounced by the Nationalists' party center in Guangzhou led by Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
, Wang Jingwei, and Hu Hanmin
Hu Hanmin
Hu Hanmin was one of the early leaders of Kuomintang , and a very important right-winger in Kuomintang.-Biography:Hu Hanmin was qualified as juren at 21 years of age. He studied in Japan since 1902, and joined Tongmenghui as an editor of 《Minbao》 in 1905. From 1907-1910, he participated in...
, and members of the Western Hills group were either expelled or left out of the party leadership. They moved to Shanghai and regained power during the rupture between the Nationalists and Communists in April 1927
Shanghai massacre of 1927
The April 12 Incident of 1927 refers to the violent suppression of Chinese Communist Party organizations in Shanghai by the military forces of Chiang Kai-shek and conservative factions in the Kuomintang...
.
On March 17, 1926, Feng Yuxiang's Guominjun
Guominjun
The Guominjun , a.k.a Nationalist Army, KMC, or Northwest Army , refers to the military faction founded by Feng Yuxiang, Hu Jingyi and Sun Yue during China's Warlord Era. It was formed when Feng betrayed the Zhili clique during the Second Zhili-Fengtian War with the Fengtian clique in 1924...
troops at Dagu Fort near Tianjin exchanged fire with Japanese warships carrying Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian troops. Japan accused the Chinese government of violating the Boxer Protocol
Boxer Protocol
The Boxer Protocol was signed on September 7, 1901 between the Qing Empire of China and the Eight-Nation Alliance that had provided military forces plus Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands after China's defeat in the intervention to put down the Boxer Rebellion at the hands of the...
and, with the other seven Boxer Powers, issued an ultimatum demanding the removal of all defenses between Beijing and the sea as set forth under the Protocols. The ultimatum provoked student protests in Beijing that were jointly-organized by the left-wing Nationalists and Communists. Two thousand students marched on Duan Qirui's executive office and called for the abrogation of the unequal treaties
Unequal Treaties
“Unequal treaty” is a term used in specific reference to a number of treaties imposed by Western powers, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, on Qing Dynasty China and late Tokugawa Japan...
. Police opened fire and killed over 50 and wounded 200 in what became known as the March 18 Massacre
March 18 Massacre
The March 18 Massacre was a massacre that took place on March 18, 1926 amid an anti-warlord and anti-imperialist demonstration in Beijing, Republic of China...
. The government issued warrants for the arrest of Nationalists and Communists including Li Dazhao, who fled to the Soviet Embassy in the legation quarters. Within weeks, Feng Yuxiang was defeated by Zhang Zuolin and Duan's government fell. After Zhang took power on May 1, 1926, both the Nationalists and Communists were driven underground. A year later, Zhang Zuolin raided the Soviet Embassy in the legation and seized Li Dazhao. Li and 19 others Communist and Nationalist activists were executed in Beijing on April 25, 1927.
Zhang Zuolin controlled the Beiyang Government until June 1928 when the Nationalists on the Northern Expedition led by Chiang Kai-shek and allies Yan Xishan
Yan Xishan
Yan Xishan, was a Chinese warlord who served in the government of the Republic of China. Yan effectively controlled the province of Shanxi from the 1911 Xinhai Revolution to the 1949 Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War...
and Feng Yuxiang jointly advanced on Beijing. Zhang left the city for Manchuria and was assassinated enroute
Huanggutun Incident
Huanggutun Incident was an assassination plotted by the Japanese Kwantung Army that targeted Fengtian warlord Zhang Zuolin. It took place on June 4, 1928 at Huanggutun rail station near Shenyang in which Zhang's train was destroyed by an explosion...
by the Japanese Kwantung Army. Beijing was handed over peacefully to the victorious Nationalists. They moved the national capital and Sun Yat-sen's tomb to Nanjing. For the first time since 1421, Beijing was renamed Beiping 北平 (Wade-Giles
Wade-Giles
Wade–Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century , and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.Wade–Giles was the most...
: Peip'ing), or "Northern Peace". The city was made the provincial capital of Hebei Province, but lost that status to Tianjin in 1930. During the Central Plains War
Central Plains War
Central Plains War was a civil war within the factionalised Kuomintang that broke out in 1930. It was fought between the forces of Chiang Kai-shek and the coalition of three military commanders who had previously allied with Chiang: Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, and Li Zongren...
in 1930, Shanxi warlord Yan Xishan briefly seized Beiping and tried to establish a rival national government but Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
's ally Zhang Xueliang
Zhang Xueliang
Zhang Xueliang or Chang Hsüeh-liang , occasionally called Peter Hsueh Liang Chang in English, nicknamed the Young Marshal , was the effective ruler of Manchuria and much of North China after the assassination of his father, Zhang Zuolin, by the Japanese on 4 June 1928...
retook the city.
City planning in the 1920s
During the Beiyang period, Beijing transitioned from a planned imperial city into a modern metropolis. The city’s population grew from 725,235 in 1912 to 863,209 in 1921. The municipal government sought to modernize the city through public works. The authorities reconfigured city walls and gates, paved and widened streets, installed trolley service and introduced urban planning and zoning rules. They built modern water utilities, improved urban sanitation, educated the public about the proper handling of food and waste and monitored outbreaks infectious diseases. With these public health measures, infant mortality and life expectancy of the general population improved.The modernist transformation was driven by a mix of Western and traditional influences, by the state's increasing role in urban affairs, and by new technologies transmitted from the West. Urban development also reflected changes in political attitudes as the republican form of government prevailed over the monarchy and attempts to reintroduce imperial rule.
One example of the new found emphasis on civic rights over imperial tradition is the development of city parks in Beijing. The idea of the public park as a place where common people could relax in a pastoral setting came to China from the West via Japan. The Beijing municipal government, local gentry and merchants all promoted the development of public parks in Beijing. The Beijing municipal council argued that parks would provide wholesome entertainment and reduce alcoholism, gambling, and prostitution. Public parks in Beijing were almost all converted from imperial gardens and temples, which had previously been off-limits to most commoners. Now they were being opened for the good health and morals of all citizens. After the Beijing Coup of 1924, Feng Yuxiang evicted Puyi from the Forbidden City
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum...
, which was opened to the public as the Palace Museum. Parks also provided places for commercial activities and the open exchange of political and social ideas for the middle and upper classes.
The demotion of Beijing from national capital to a mere provincial city greatly constrained urban planners' initiatives to modernize the city. Along with political stature, Beiping also lost government revenue, jobs and jurisdiction. In 1921, large banks headquartered in Beijing accounted for 51.9% of bank capital held by the 23 most important banks in China. That proportion fell to just 2.8% in 1928 and 0% in 1935, as wealth followed political power out of the city. The city's jurisdiction also shrank as surrounding counties were redrawn into Hebei. For the first time since the Ming Dynasty, city no longer had control over agricultural regions and watershed. Even the power plant for the city's trolley system in Tong County fell outside the city's jurisdiction. Appeals to Nanjing for the recovery of towns like Wanping and Daxing were denied. The city, anchored by its historical relics and universities, remained a center for tourism and higher education and became known as "China's Boston."
Second Sino-Japanese War
After Japan seized Manchuria through the Mukden IncidentMukden Incident
The Mukden Incident, also known as the Manchurian Incident, was a staged event that was engineered by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for invading the northern part of China known as Manchuria in 1931....
in 1931, Beiping was threatened by steady Japanese encroachment into northern China. The Tanggu Truce
Tanggu Truce
The Tanggu Truce, sometimes called the Tangku Truce , Japanese , was a cease-fire signed between China and Empire of Japan in Tanggu District, Tianjin on May 31, 1933, formally ending the Japanese invasion of Manchuria which had begun two years earlier....
of 1933 gave control of the Great Wall to the Japanese and imposed a 100-km demilitarized zone south of the wall. This deprived Beiping of its northern defenses. The secret He-Umezu Agreement
He-Umezu Agreement
The was a secret agreement between the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China concluded on 10 June 1935 immediately prior to the outbreak of general hostilities in the Second Sino-Japanese War.- Background and history :...
of May 1935 required the Chinese government to remove Central Army
National Revolutionary Army
The National Revolutionary Army , pre-1928 sometimes shortened to 革命軍 or Revolutionary Army and between 1928-1947 as 國軍 or National Army was the Military Arm of the Kuomintang from 1925 until 1947, as well as the national army of the Republic of China during the KMT's period of party rule...
units from Hebei Province and suppress anti-Japanese activities by the Chinese public. The Qin-Doihara Agreement
Chin-Doihara Agreement
The Chin-Doihara Agreement was an treaty that resolved the North Chahar Incident of 27 June 1935 between the Empire of Japan and Republic of China. The agreement was made between Kwantung Army negotiator, Kenji Doihara, representing Japan, and Deputy Commander of the Kuomintang 29th Army, General...
of June 1935 compelled the Nationalist 29th Army, a former unit of Feng Yuxiang
Feng Yuxiang
Feng Yuxiang was a warlord and leader in Republican China. He was also known as the Christian General for his zeal to convert his troops and the Betrayal General for his penchant to break with the establishment. In 1911, he was an officer in the ranks of Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army but joined...
's Guominjun
Guominjun
The Guominjun , a.k.a Nationalist Army, KMC, or Northwest Army , refers to the military faction founded by Feng Yuxiang, Hu Jingyi and Sun Yue during China's Warlord Era. It was formed when Feng betrayed the Zhili clique during the Second Zhili-Fengtian War with the Fengtian clique in 1924...
, to evacuate from Chahar Province. This army was relocated and confined to an area south of the Beiping near Nanyuan. In November 1935, the Japanese created a puppet regime based in Tongzhou called the East Hebei Autonomous Council
East Hebei Autonomous Council
The East Hebei Autonomous Council also known as the East Ji Autonomous Council and the East Hopei Autonomous Anti-Communist Council, was a short-lived Japanese puppet state in northern China in the late 1930s.-History:...
, which declared its independence from the Republic of China and controlled 22 counties east of Beiping, including Tongzhou and Pinggu in modern-day Beijing Municipality.
In response to the growing threat, the Palace Museum's art collection was removed to Nanjing in 1934 and air defense shelters were built in Zhongnanhai. The influx of refugees from Manchuria and presence of university campuses made Beiping a hotbed for anti-Japanese sentiment. On December 9, 1935, the university students in Beiping launched the December 9th Movement
December 9th Movement
The December 9th Movement refers to a mass protest led by students in Beiping on December 9, 1935 that demands the Kuomintang government to actively resist potential Japanese aggression.-Background:...
to protest the creation of another puppet regime in north China and called for national salvation.
On July 7, 1937, the 29th Army and the Japanese army in China
Japanese China Garrison Army
The was formed 1 June 1901 as the , as part of Japan's contribution to the international coalition in China during the Boxer Rebellion. It was renamed the China Garrison Army on 14 April 1912.-History:...
exchanged fire at the Marco Polo Bridge near the Wanping Fortress
Wanping Fortress
Wanping Fortress, also known as Wanping Castle is a Ming Dynasty fortress, or "walled city" in Beijing. It was erected in 1638-1640, with the purpose of defending Beijing against Li Zicheng and the peasant uprising...
southwest of the city. The Marco Polo Bridge Incident
Marco Polo Bridge Incident
The Marco Polo Bridge Incident was a battle between the Republic of China's National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army, often used as the marker for the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War .The eleven-arch granite bridge, Lugouqiao, is an architecturally significant structure,...
that triggered the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
, World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as it is known in China. In late July, Japanese reinforcements with air support launched a full-scale offensive against Beiping and Tianjin. In fighting south of the city, deputy commander of the 29th Army Tong Lin'ge
Tong Linge
Tong Linge or Tung Ling-ko , was the Manchu ethnicity Chinese Deputy Commander of 29th Corps or 29th Route Army in 1937 during the Marco Polo Bridge Incident and Battle of Beiping-Tianjin....
and division commander Zhao Dengyu
Zhao Dengyu
Zhao Dengyu or Chao Teng-yu was a Chinese general, distinguished for his service at the beginning of theSecond Sino-Japanese War....
were both killed in action. They along with Zhang Zizhong
Zhang Zizhong
Zhāng Zìzhōng was a Chinese general of the National Revolutionary Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Born in Linqing in Shandong province, he was the highest-ranked officer and the only Army group commander of the NRA to die in the war...
, another 29th Army commander who died later in the war, are the only three modern personages after whom city streets named in Beijing. The collaborationist militia of the East Hebei Council
East Hopei Army
The East Hopei Army was raised from the former soldiers of the Peace Preservation Corps that had been created by the Tangku Truce of 31 May 1933...
refused to attack the 29th Army and mounted a mutiny in Tongzhou
Tungchow Mutiny
The , sometimes referred to as the Tōngzhōu Incident, was an assault on Japanese civilians and troops by East Hopei Army in Tōngzhōu, China on 29 July 1937 shortly after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident that marked the official beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War.In early 1937, Tōngzhōu was...
, but the Chinese forces had retreated to the south. The city itself was spared of urban fighting and destruction that many other Chinese cities suffered in the war.
The Japanese created another puppet regime, the Provisional Government of the Republic of China, to manage occupied territories in northern China and designated Beiping, renamed Beijing, as its capital. This government was later merged with Wang Jingwei
Wang Jingwei
Wang Jingwei , alternate name Wang Zhaoming, was a Chinese politician. He was initially known as a member of the left wing of the Kuomintang , but later became increasingly anti-Communist after his efforts to collaborate with the CCP ended in political failure...
’s Reorganized National Government of China, a collaborationist government based in Nanjing, though effective control remained with the Japanese military. During the war, Peking and Tsinghua Universities relocated to unoccupied areas and formed the National Southwestern Associated University
National Southwestern Associated University
When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out between China and Japan in 1937, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University, merged to form Changsha Temporary University in Changsha, and later National Southwestern Associated University in Kunming...
. Furen University was protected by the Holy See’s neutrality with the Axis Powers. After the outbreak of the Pacific War
Pacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...
with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
in December 1941, the Japanese shut down Yenching University and imprisoned its American staff. Some were rescued by Communist partisans that waged guerrilla warfare in rural outlying areas. The village of Jiaozhuanghu in Shunyi District
Shunyi District
Shunyi District is an administrative district of Beijing, located outside of the city proper.-Overview:...
still has a labyrinth of tunnels with underground command posts, meeting rooms, and camouflaged entrances from the war.
After the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II, the city reverted to Chinese Nationalist control and was renamed back to Beiping. The official surrender of Japanese forces in Beiping took place on October 10, 1945 at the Forbidden City.
Chinese Civil War
The Nationalists and Chinese CommunistsCommunist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
were allies during the Sino-Japanese War, but their domestic rivalry resumed after the defeat of Japan. To prevent the resumption of civil war
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
, the U.S. government sent George C. Marshall to China to mediate. Marshall’s Mission
Marshall Mission
The Marshall Mission was a failed diplomatic mission undertaken by United States Army General George C. Marshall to China in an attempt to negotiate the Communist Party of China and the Nationalists into a unified government.-Historical background:The end of the Second World War on 15 August...
was headquartered in Beiping where a truce was brokered on January 10, 1946 and a three-person committee, consisting of a Nationalist, a Communist and an American representative, was created to investigate breaches in the ceasefire in North China and Manchuria. The truce began to unravel in June 1946 and the Marshall Mission ultimately failed to create a coalition government. After Marshall’s departure in February 1947, full-scale civil war erupted.
Beiping was the headquarters of the Nationalists’ North China military operations led by Fu Zuoyi
Fu Zuoyi
Fu Zuoyi was a Chinese military leader. He began his military career in the service of Yan Xishan, and he was widely praised for his defense of Suiyuan from the Japanese. During the final stages of the Chinese Civil War, Fu surrendered the large and strategic garrison around Beiping to Communist...
who commanded 550,000 troops. On November 29, 1948, the Chinese Communists' People's Liberation Army (PLA)
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
, fresh off a decisive victory in Manchuria
Liaoshen Campaign
Liaoshen Campaign , literally the abbreviation of Liaoning-Shenyang Campaign, was part of the three major campaigns launched by the People's Liberation Army during the late stage of the Chinese Civil War. This engagement is known in the Nationalist government as the Battle of Liaoshi...
, launched the Pingjin Campaign
Pingjin Campaign
Pingjin Campaign , known as the Battle of Pingjin to the Nationalist Government, was part of the three major campaigns launched by the People's Liberation Army during the late stage of the Chinese Civil War. It began on November 29, 1948, and ended on January 31, 1949, lasted a total of 64 days...
. They captured Zhangjiakou
Zhangjiakou
Zhangjiakou, also known also by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province of North China, adjacent to Beijing to the southeast. Its administrative area has a population of 4.35 million, and covers...
to the northwest on December 24 and Tianjin to the southeast on January 15, 1949. With the defeat of the Nationalists in the Huaihai Campaign
Huaihai Campaign
Huaihai Campaign or Battle of Hsupeng was a military action during 1948 and 1949 that was the determining battle of the Chinese Civil War. It was one of the few conventional battles of the war. 550,000 troops of the Republic of China were surrounded in Xuzhou and destroyed by the communist...
further south, Fu Zuoyi and over 200,000 Nationalist defenders were surrounded in Beiping. After weeks of intensive negotiations, Fu agreed on January 22, 1949 to pull his troops out of the city for “reorganization by the PLA.” His defection spared the city and its historical architecture from imminent destruction. On February 3, the PLA marched into Beiping.
In the spring of 1949, Nationalist leader Li Zongren
Li Zongren
Li Zongren or Li Tsung-jen , courtesy name Delin , was a prominent Guangxi warlord and Kuomintang military commander during the Northern Expedition, Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War...
attempted a last ditch effort to secure a truce. Peace talks were held at the Six Nations Hotel in Beiping from April 1–12, but the Communists could not be persuaded to halt their advance at the Yangtze River
Yangtze River
The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
and concede southern China to the Nationalists. On April 23, the PLA resumed the offensive across the Yangtze and captured the Nanjing on the following day.
As the PLA continued to gain control over the rest of the country, Communist leaders, friendly Nationalists and third party supporters convened the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference [], shortened as 人民政协, Rénmín Zhèngxié, i.e. "People's PCC"; or just 政协, Zhèngxié, i.e. "The PCC"), abbreviated CPPCC, is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China...
at Zhongnanhai in Beiping on September 21. In preparation for establishment of a new regime, they agreed to a new name, flag
Flag of the People's Republic of China
The flag of the People's Republic of China is a red field charged in the canton with five golden stars. The design features one large star, with four smaller stars in a semicircle set off towards the fly...
, emblem, anthem
March of the Volunteers
March of the Volunteers is the national anthem of the People's Republic of China , written by the noted poet and playwright Tian Han with music composed by Nie Er. This composition is a musical march...
and capital for the nation.
People's Republic of China
On October 1 of the same year, Mao ZedongMao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
at the gates of Tiananmen
Tiananmen
The Tiananmen, Tian'anmen or Gate of Heavenly Peace is a famous monument in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is widely used as a national symbol. First built during the Ming Dynasty in 1420, Tian'anmen is often referred to as the front entrance to the Forbidden City...
. The name of Beiping was restored to Beijing, and the city was again designated as the capital of China.
As the capital of the new Communist state, the Communists began a major building campaign to modernize the city. The old city wall encircling the city was demolished and replaced by what is now the 2nd Ring Road
2nd Ring Road (Beijing)
Encircling the centre of Beijing, the 2nd Ring Road is just a few kilometres away from the city centre and is a convenient alternative road to avoid congestion there. One can divide the road into two parts: the original ring road , and the newly extended ring road...
. Some older neighborhoods were also demolished and replaced by modern apartment buildings. Several modern monuments, including the Monument to the People's Heroes
Monument to the People's Heroes
The Monument to the People's Heroes is a ten-story obelisk that was erected as a national monument of the People's Republic of China.The Monument was built in memory of the martyrs who laid down their lives for the revolutionary struggles of the Chinese people during the 19th and 20th centuries...
, the Great Hall of the People
Great Hall of the People
The Great Hall of the People is located at the western edge of Tiananmen Square, Beijing, People's Republic of China, and is used for legislative and ceremonial activities by the People's Republic of China and the Communist Party of China. It functions as the People's Republic of China's...
, and the National Museum of China
National Museum of China
The National Museum of China flanks the eastern side of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. The mission of the museum is to educate about the arts and history of China...
were completed by 1959. The Mausoleum of Mao Zedong
Mausoleum of Mao Zedong
The Chairman Mao Memorial Hall , commonly known as the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, or the Mao Mausoleum, is the final resting place of Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China from 1943 and the chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China from 1945...
was built much later in 1979.
Cultural Revolution
During the late years of the Cultural Revolution decade (1966–76), political life in China was dominated by contention between radical and conservative factions in the Communist Party. Mao ZedongMao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
's ambivalence, first supporting one faction and then the other, has long puzzled scholars.
China's Red Guard movement of 1966-68 shows that rapid shifts in the properties of political institutions can alter choices and actors' interests, rapidly transforming the political landscape. New evidence about the origins of the movement in Beijing's universities indicates that factions emerged when activists in similar structural positions made opposed choices in ambiguous contexts. Activists subsequently mobilized to defend earlier choices, binding them to antagonistic factions. Rapid shifts in the contexts for political choice can alter prior connections between social position and interests, generating new motives and novel identities.
Andreas (2006) argues that factional contention was being institutionalized, creating a system that pitted administrators against rebels: veteran cadres were put in charge of the political and economic bureaucracies, while radicals were given institutional means to mobilize political campaigns against these officials, pressing Mao's radical agenda. Andreas examines in detail the system of governance implemented at Qinghua University in Beijing. Power was divided between veteran university officials and a "workers' propaganda team," composed of workers and soldiers drawn from outside the school, and the propaganda team was charged with mobilizing students and workers to criticize their teachers, supervisors, and university officials. The result was a tumultuous system very much at odds with the conventional practice of ruling Communist parties (including the Chinese Party before the Cultural Revolution), which had been guided by ideals of monolithic unity and a clear hierarchy of authority.
Beijing was the center of Red Guard
Red Guards (China)
Red Guards were a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people in the People's Republic of China , who were mobilized by Mao Zedong in 1966 and 1967, during the Cultural Revolution.-Origins:...
activity during the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
. Following the death of the popular Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...
, frustration with the excesses of the Cultural Revolution precipitated into a spontaneous protest at the Monument to the People's Heroes on 1976 April 5, known as the Tiananmen Incident
Tiananmen Incident
The Tiananmen Incident took place on April 5, 1976 at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. The incident occurred on the traditional day of mourning, the Qingming Festival, after the Nanjing Incident, and was triggered by the death of Premier Zhou Enlai earlier that year...
. From 1977 until 1979, Beijing was also the site of the Beijing Spring
Beijing Spring
The Beijing Spring refers to a brief period of political liberalization in the People's Republic of China which occurred in 1977 and 1978. The name is derived from "Prague Spring", an analogous event which occurred in Czechoslovakia in 1968....
and Democracy Wall Movement
Democracy Wall
The Democracy Wall was a long brick wall on Xidan Street, Xicheng District, Beijing, which became the focus for democratic dissent. Beginning in December 1978, in line with the Communist Party of China's policy of "seeking truth from facts," activists in the Democracy movement—such as Xu...
, a short-lived easing of political censorship in the city.
The Beijing democracy movement (1978–81) constructed a progressive Marxist identity, and its individual participants used it to prove the movement's historical necessity and justify its democratic agenda. Combined with the related identity of socialist citizens, the proponents defended the movement against adversaries from without and the right-wing minority within. The way the movement activists defined their collective identity offered them a progressive Marxist platform to champion their cause. This collective identity not only precluded confrontational opposition to the Communist Party, it enabled a more constructive use of both classical Marxist and Western democratic thinking in the movement's agenda.
Tiananmen Square
On May 4, 1989, students from Beijing area universities began gathering in Tiananmen Square to publicly mourn the recent death Hu YaobangHu Yaobang
Hu Yaobang was a leader of the People's Republic of China who served as both Chairman and Party General Secretary. Hu joined the Chinese Communist Party in the 1930s, and rose to prominence as a comrade of Deng Xiaoping...
, an ambitious political reformer and the former Secretary-General of the Chinese Communist Party. Over the next few days, the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China beginning on 15 April 1989...
would attract many thousands of protesters from throughout Beijing society. The protests were dispersed by force by the People's Liberation Army
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
on June 4, 1989 .
Explosive growth
The 1990s and the start of the new millennium were a period of rapid economic growth in Beijing. Following the economic reformsChinese economic reform
The Chinese economic reform refers to the program of economic reforms called "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" in the People's Republic of China that were started in December 1978 by reformists within the Communist Party of China led by Deng Xiaoping.China had one of the world's largest...
of Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...
, 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.
Environment
Rapid modernization and population growth thus created numerous problems associated with heavy industry such as heavy traffic, pollution, the destruction of historic neighborhoods, and a large population of impoverished migrant workers from the countryside. By early 2005, the city government attempted to control urban sprawlUrban sprawl
Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...
by restricting development to two semicircular bands to the west and east of the city center, instead of the concentric rings of suburbs that had been built in the past.
The rapid growth of population, motor vehicles and factories has created high polluation levels. Days with gray, acrid skies, with an eye-reddening pollution score over 400, are common, as health officials advise wearing masks and staying indoors. Heavy trucks are allowed in only at night but their diesel fuels create much of the problem. By 2008 for the city’s 12 million residents, pollution was not only an inescapable health and quality-of-life issue, but a political issue tied in with the Summer Olympics scheduled for August 2008. The city's bid for the 2000 Olympics in 1993 failed partly because of high pollution levels, and in response the city began a massive cleanup campaign. That campaign has been successful in terms of 2000 standards, but the city's economy is 2.5 times larger now, with millions more people. Over 3 million cars and trucks clog the streets, and 400,000 more are added annually as the wealth shoots up rapidly. Old dirty, coal-burning furnaces have been replaced, lowering the city’s sulfur dioxide emissions. Factories and power plants were changed to burn cleaner, low-sulfur coal; sulfur dioxide emissions fell by 25% 2001-2007, even though much more coal is burned, reaching 30 million tons in 2006. Furthermore, fine-particle pollution has been exacerbated by a staggering citywide construction program which saw more than 160 million square meters (1.7 billion square feet) of new construction begun 2002-2007. Athletes may have some breathing problems, but in the long-run air quality is expected to remain a critical issue as the city grows to a projected population of 20 million.
2008 Olympics
Beijing hosted the Olympic Games2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
in August 2008. Several landmark sports venues, such as the Beijing National Stadium
Beijing National Stadium
Beijing National Stadium, also known officially as the National Stadium, or colloquially as the Bird's Nest , is a stadium in Beijing, China. The stadium was designed for use throughout the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.-History:...
or the "Bird's Nest", were built for these games.
Primary sources
- Gamble, Sidney David, ed. Peking: A Social Survey (1921) 514 pages; study by American social scienctists full text online