The earliest record of settlements in Beijing date from around 1000 BC. It developed as a frontier trading town for the Mongols, Koreans and tribes from Shandong and central China. By the Warring States Period it had grown to be the capital of the Yan Kingdom. The town underwent a number of changes as it acquired new warlords- the Khitan Mongols and the Manchurian Jurchen tribes among them. During the Liao Dynasty Beijing was referred to as Yanjing ( capital of Yan ), and this is still the name used for Beijing's most popular beer.
Beijing's history really gets under way in 1215 AD, the year that Genghis Khan set fire to Yanjing and slaughtered everything in sight. From the ashes emerged Dadu (Great Capital), alias Khanbaliq, grandson Kublai had made himself ruler of most of Asia, and Khanbaliq was his capital. With a lull in the fighting from 1280 to 1300, foreigners managed to drop in along the Silk Road for tea with the Great Khan-Marco Polo even landed a job. The mercenary Zhu Yanhang led an uprising in 1368, taking over the city and ushering in the Ming Dynasty. The city was renamed Beiping( northern peace ) and for the next 35 years the capital was shifted south to Nanjing.
In the early 1400s Zhu's son Yong Le shuffled the court back to Beiping and renamed it Beijing (Northern Capital). Many of the structures like the Forbidden City and Tiantan were built in Yong Le's reign.
The first change of government came with the Manchus, who invaded China and established the Qing Dynasty. Under them, and particularly during the reigns of the emperors Kangxi and Qianlong, Beijing was expanded and renovated, and summer palaces, pagodas and temples were built.
In the last 120 years of the Manchu Dynasty, Beijing and subsequently China were subjected to power struggles, invaders and the chaos created by those who held or sought power: the Anglo-French troops who in 1860 marched in and burnt the Old Summer Palace to the ground; the corrupt Regime under Empress Dowager Cixi; the Boxers; General YuanShikai; the warlords; the Japanese who occupied the city in 1737; and the Kuomintang after the Japanese defeat. Beijing changed hands again in January 1949 when People's Liberation Army troops entered the city. On 1 October of 1949 Mao proclaimed a ' People's Republic' to an audience of some 500,000 citizens in Tiananmen Square. Later, the reform of the 1980s and 1990s have brought foreign investments, new high-rises, freeways and shopping malls. Nowadays, Beijing is increasingly becoming a modern and prosperous city.
With a total area of 16,800 sq. kilometers, Beijing Municipality is roughly the size of Belgium.
Beijing has 10.6 million permanent residents. The transient population is over 3 million.
The permanent residents of Beijing come from all of China's 56 ethnic groups. The Han nationality accounts for 96.5% of the total. The other 55 ethnic minorities claim a population of more than 300,000, most of them are from Hui, Manchu, and Mongolian nationalities.
Though it may not appear so to the visitor in the shambles of arrival, Beijing is a city of very orderly design. Think of the city as one giant grid, with the Forbidden City at its centre. As for the street names: Chongwen-menwai Dajie mean's ' the avenue ( dajie) outside ( wai) Chongwen Gate ( Chongwenmen)', whereas Chongwenmennei Dajie ( that is, inside the old wall). It's an academic exercise since the gate and the wall in question no longer exists.
A major boulevard can change names six or eight times along its length. Streets and points: Dong Dajie (East Avenue), Xi Dajie (West Avenue), Bei Dajie (North Avenue) and Nan Dajie (South Avenue). All these streets head off from an intersection, usually where a gate once stood.
Officially, there are four ' ring roads' around Beijing, circumnavigating the city centre in four concentric rinds. A fifth ring road exists on paper, but construction has yet to begin.
There are ten districts and eight counties under the jurisdictive of Beijing. There are Dongcheng, Xicheng, Chongwen, Xuanwu,Chaoyang,Haidian, Fengtai, Shijingshan, Mentougou and Fangshan Districts, as well as Changping.Shunyi, Tongxian, Daxing, Pingnu, Huairou,Miyun and Yangqing counties.
Beijing is located at 39
56'N and 116
20' E, covers and area of 16,808 square kilometers, of which two-thirds are
mountains areas encircling the western northern and eastern sides of the city.
The center of the city is 43.71 meters above the sea level. MAIN Rivers including
the Yongding River, the Chaobai River and the North Canal.
Beijing has a semi-humid climate
with clearly cut seasons. Spring and autumn are short while winter and summer are long.
The average annual temperature amounts to 13
(averaging 25.2
in July, the hottest month, and -3.7
in January, the coldest month).
The annual precipitation comes to 506.7mm and the frost-free period lasts 189 days.
Beijing's temperate climate is distinguished with seasons-dry, windy springs; hot, rainy summers; fine, clear autumns; and long, dry, cold winters.
Average temperature is 12
over the whole year; average 25.8
in July, average -4.6
in January; 180 days frostfree; and 600 mm
of annual average rainfall.
It is very hot in daytime in summer and very cold in deep winter. Tourists to Beijing should bring along light, thin shirts, shorts, T-shirts, skirts, sun-hats, rain gear and sunglasses in summer; light coats, thin sweaters, trousers and jeans in spring and autumn; and thick, warm clothes, padded jackets, overcoats, hats, gloves and boots in winter.