Beijing
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- Beijing is also the name of an asteroid, see 2045 Peking
| Abbreviation: 京 (pinyin: Jīng) | |
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| Origin of name | 北 běi - north 京 jīng - capital "northern capital" |
| Administration type | Municipality |
| CPC Beijing Committee Secretary | Liu Qi |
| Mayor | Wang Qishan |
| Area | 16,808 km² (29th) |
| Population (2003) - Metropolitan area - Density | 14,560,000 (26th) approx. 7.5 million 866/km² (2nd) |
| GDP (2003) - per capita | CNY 366.3 billion (15th) CNY 25200 (2nd) |
| The rankings given above are in comparison with other province-level administrative divisions. | |
| Major nationalities (2000) | Han - 96% Manchu - 2% Hui - 2% Mongol - 0.3% |
| City trees | Chinese arborvitae (Platycladus orientalis) Pagoda tree (Sophora japonica) |
| City flowers | Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium) Chinese rose (Rosa chinensis) |
| County-level divisions | 18 |
| Township-level divisions {December 31, 2004) | 273 |
| Postal code | 100000 - 102600 |
| Area code | 10 |
| Licence plate prefixes | 京A, C, E, F, H |
| 京B (taxis) | |
| 京G (outside urban area) | |
| 京O (police and authorities) | |
| ISO 3166-2 | CN-11 |
| Official website: www.beijing.gov.cn (Simplified Chinese) www.ebeijing.gov.cn (English) | |
Beijing Template:Audio (Template:Zh-cpw; Postal System Pinyin: Peking) is the capital city of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Beijing Municipality borders Hebei province to the north, west, south, and for a tiny section to the east. The southwestern part borders Tianjin municipality.
Beijing is one of the 4 municipalities of the PRC, which have provincial-level status, and is under the direct control of the central government. Beijing has been a municipality since the beginning of the PRC.
Beijing is the second largest city in China in terms of population, after Shanghai. It is a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads and expressways entering it in all directions. Beijing is recognized as the political, educational, and cultural center of the PRC, while Shanghai predominates in economic fields.
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Names
Beijing (北京) literally means "northern capital", in line with an East Asian tradition to name capital cities as such: other cities similarly named include Nanjing (南京), China, meaning "southern capital"; Tokyo (東京), Japan, and Tonkin (東京; now Hanoi), Vietnam, both meaning "eastern capital"; as well as Kyoto (京都), Japan, and Gyeongseong (京城; now Seoul), Korea, both meaning simply "capital". An older English name for Beijing is Peking. The term originated with French missionaries four hundred years ago, and corresponds to an older, now obsolete pronunciation which predates a subsequent sound change in Mandarin from to . ( is represented in pinyin as j, as in Beijing.)
In China, the city has had many names. Between 1928 [1] (http://www.bartleby.com/67/2470.html) and 1949, it was known as Peiping (北平, Pinyin Beiping, Wade-Giles Peip'ing) or "Northern Peace". The name was changed because jing means "capital" and the Kuomintang government in Nanking (now Nanjing) wanted to emphasize that Peking was not the capital of China, and that Peking's warlord government was not legitimate. The Communist Party of China changed the name to Beijing in 1949 again in part to emphasize that Beijing was the capital of China. The government of the Republic of China on Taiwan has not formally recognized the name change, and during the 1950s and 1960s it was common for Beijing to be called Peiping on Taiwan to imply the illegitimacy of the PRC. Today, almost everyone on Taiwan, including the ROC government, uses the term Beijing, although some maps of China from Taiwan still use the old name along with pre-1949 provincial boundaries.
Yanjing is another popular informal name for Beijing, named after the ancient state of Yan that existed here during the Zhou Dynasty. This name is reflected in the locally-brewed Yanjing Beer. Beijing is also the Cambaluc described in Marco Polo's accounts.
The history section below outlines other historical names of Beijing.
History
There were cities in the vicinities of Beijing by the 1st millennium BC, and the capital of the State of Yan (燕), one of the powers of the Warring States Period, was established at Ji (T: 薊 / S: 蓟), near modern Beijing. Ji has often been claimed to be the beginning of Beijing; but in reality Ji had been abandoned no later than the 6th century. The exact location of Ji remains unknown despite much effort in recent decades to identify the site.
BeijingCityWalls1.jpg
During the Tang and Song dynasties, only small towns existed in this area. Numerous ancient poets came here to mourn the lost city, as testified by their compositions.
The Later Jin Dynasty ceded a large part of its northern frontier, including modern Beijing, to the Khitan Liao Dynasty in the 10th century. Soon the Liao Dynasty had set up a "secondary capital" in the city proper, and called it Nanjing ("the Southern Capital"). The Jurchen Jin Dynasty that annexed Liao and ruled northern China built its capital there, called Zhongdu (中都), or "the Central Capital". Zhongdu was situated in what is now the area centred around Tianningsi, which is currently slightly off-centre and to the southwest of central Beijing.
Mongol forces burned Zhongdu to the ground in 1215 and rebuilt its own "Grand Capital," Dadu (大都, also Ta-tu), to the north of the Jin capital in 1267, which was the true beginning of contemporary Beijing. This site is known as "Cambaluc" in Marco Polo's accounts. Apparently, Kublai Khan, who wanted to become a Chinese emperor, established his capital in Beijing instead of more traditional sites in central China because Beijing was closer to his power base in Mongolia. The decision of the Khan greatly enhanced the status of a city that had been situated on the northern fringe of China proper. Dadu was situated further north; it centred on what is now the northern stretch of the 2nd Ring Road, and even stretched between the 3rd and 4th Ring Roads. There are remnants of wall still standing.
In 1403, the 3rd Ming emperor Zhu Di (朱棣), who had just seized the throne by killing his nephew after a bloody civil war and moved the capital from southern China to his own power base in the north, renamed the city Beijing (北京), or "Northern Capital". Beijing, as of the Ming Dynasty, took its current shape, with the city wall forming what is now the exact 2nd Ring Road.
The Forbidden City was constructed soon after that (1406-1420), followed by the Temple of Heaven (1420), and numerous other construction projects. Tian'anmen, which has become a state symbol of the PRC in modern times, was burned down twice during the Ming Dynasty and the final reconstruction was carried out in 1651.
Forbidden_City1.JPG
BeijingFromTian'anmenChenglouJul2004.jpg
The shape and form of Beijing as seen and as recognised today (in particular within the confines of the current-day 2nd Ring Road) took form after the Ming Dynasty settled in Beijing and made it its capital.
While on the mainland, the Republic of China established its capital in Nanjing. During the early days of the Republic, Yuan Shikai seized power in Beijing and declared an empire nation from Beijing (the Beiyang Government). In 1928, Nanjing was officially made the capital of the Republic of China, and Beijing was renamed Beiping to emphasize that it is not the rightful capital.
During the second Sino-Japanese War, Beiping fell to Japan on July 29, 1937. During the occupation, Beiping was renamed Beijing, and made the seat of the North China Executive Committee (T: 華北政務委員會 / S: 华北政务委员会), a puppet state that ruled Japanese-occupied North China. This lasted until Japan's surrender in World War II, on August 15, 1945, and Beijing's name was changed back to Beiping.
On January 31, 1949, during the Chinese Civil War, communist forces entered Beiping without a fight. On October 1 of the same year, the Communist Party of China, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, announced in Tian'anmen the creation of the People's Republic of China in Beijing. Just a few days earlier, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference decided that Beiping would be the capital of the PRC, and that its name be changed back to Beijing.
At the time of the founding of the People's Republic, Beijing consisted of just its urban area and immediate suburbs. The urban area was divided into many small districts inside the 2nd Ring Road, with most of the city wall still intact until the 1950s. Since then several surrounding counties have been incorporated into the municipality, enlarging the limits of Beijing by many times and giving it its present shape.
Following the economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping, the urban area of Beijing has expanded greatly. Formerly within the confines of the 2nd Ring Road and the 3rd Ring Road, the urban area of Beijing is now pushing at the limits of the recently-constructed 5th Ring Road, with many areas that were formerly farmland now developed residential or commercial neighborhoods. A new commercial area has developed in the Guomao area; Wangfujing and Xidan have developed into flourishing shopping districts, while Zhongguancun has become a major center of electronics in China.
As the capital of the nation, Beijing has also been the site of political turmoil in recent years. Tiananmen Square, widely regarded as the spiritual center of China, was the site of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, which ended in a military crackdown that remains highly controversial. Tiananmen Square has also been the site of protests by Falun Gong.
In recent years, the expansion of Beijing has also brought to the forefront some problems of urbanization, such as heavy traffic, poor air quality, the loss of historic neighborhoods, and a drastic influx of migrants from poorer regions of the country, especially the countryside.
Early 2005 saw the approval by government of a plan to finally stop the "ringing" of Beijing. Development of the Chinese capital would now proceed in two semicircular bands just outside of the city centre (both west and east) instead of being in concentric rings.
Beijing has been chosen to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, an event that sparked nationalistic pride across China.
Geography and climate
- Main article: Geography of Beijing
E_Changan_Ave.jpg
Hills dominate the north, northwest and west of the municipality. The northwestern part of the municipality, especially Yanqing County and Huairou District, are dominated by the Jundu Mountains; the western part of the municipality is framed by the Xishan Mountains. Mount Dongling on the border with Hebei and in the Xishan ranges, is the municipality's highest point, with an altitude of 2303 m. Major rivers flowing through the municipality include the Yongding River and the Chaobai River, which are part of the Haihe River system and flow in a southerly direction. Beijing is also the northern terminus of the Grand Canal of China linking Beijing with Hangzhou, and the North Grand Canal flows in a similar southerly direction into the Hai He system. Miyun Reservoir, found on the upper reaches of the Chaobai River, is Beijing's largest reservoir, and crucial to its water supply.
The urban area of Beijing, located at 39°55'44" North, 116°23'18" East (39.92889, 116.38833), [2] (http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/cntry_files.html) is situated in the south-central part of the municipality and occupies a small but expanding part of the municipality's area. It spreads out in bands of concentric ring roads. Tian'anmen is right at the centre of Beijing, and is directly to the south of the well-known Forbidden City. To the west of Tian'anmen is Zhongnanhai, current residence of the paramount leaders of the People's Republic of China. Running through central Beijing from east to west is the well-known Chang'an Avenue.
The city's climate is harsh, characterized by hot, humid summers due to the East Asian monsoon, and cold, windy, dry winters that reflect the influence of the vast Siberian anticyclone. Average temperatures in January are at around -7 to -4 °C, while average temperatures in July are at 25 to 26 °C. Annual precipitation is over 600 mm, with 75% of that in summer. [3] (http://www.beijing.gov.cn/bjgm/default.htm)
Beijing also suffers from heavy pollution and poor air quality from industry and traffic. Dust from erosion of deserts in northern and northwestern China result in seasonal dust storms that plague the city. Efforts have been made of late to clean up Beijing in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Beijingn.jpg
Wangfujing_Nankou.jpg
Neighbourhoods
Major neighbourhoods in urban Beijing include:
- Andingmen
- Beiyuan
- Chaoyangmen
- Dongzhimen
- Fangzhuang
- Fuchengmen
- Fuxingmen
- Guomao
- Hepingli
- Wangjing
- Wangfujing
- Wudaokou
- Xidan
- Yayuncun
- Zhongguancun
Towns
Towns within the municipality but outside the urban area include:
Beijing_By_Night_2003.jpg
Xidan_Xinhuashudian.jpg
Modern_Beijing_Skyline_Oct2004.jpg
Administrative divisions
The municipality currently governs 18 county-level divisions: 16 districts and 2 counties.
The urban and suburban areas of the city are made up of 8 districts:
- Dongcheng District (东城区: Dōngchéng Qū)
- Xicheng District (西城区: Xīchéng Qū)
- Chongwen District (崇文区: Chóngwén Qū)
- Xuanwu District (宣武区: Xuānwǔ Qū)
- Chaoyang District (朝阳区: Cháoyáng Qū)
- Haidian District (海淀区: Hǎidiàn Qū)
- Fengtai District (丰台区: Fēngtái Qū)
- Shijingshan District (石景山区: Shíjǐngshān Qū)
The other 8 districts are found further out, and govern distant suburbs, satellite towns, and some rural areas:
- Mentougou District (门头沟区: Méntóugōu Qū)
- Fangshan District (房山区: Fángshān Qū) — Fangshan County until 1986
- Tongzhou District (通州区: Tōngzhōu Qū) — Tong County until 1997
- Shunyi District (顺义区: Shùnyì Qū) — Shunyi County until 1998
- Changping District (昌平区: Chāngpíng Qū) — Changping County until 1999
- Daxing District (大兴区: Dàxīng Qū) — Daxing County until 2001
- Pinggu District (平谷区: Pínggǔ Qū) — Pinggu County until 2001
- Huairou District (怀柔区: Huáiróu Qū) — Huairou County until 2001
The 2 counties of Beijing govern very distant towns and rural areas:
- Miyun County (密云县: Mìyún Xiàn)
- Yanqing County (延庆县: Yánqìng Xiàn)
The above districts and counties are further subdivided into 273 township-level divisions: 119 towns, 24 townships, 5 ethnic townships and 125 subdistricts.
Economy
In 2004 Beijing's total gross domestic product was 428.3 billion Renminbi, a real increase of 13.2% from the previous year. The tertiary sector of industry is the most productive sector of Beijing's economy, contributing 60% of its GDP. Urban disposable income per capita was 15637.8 Renminbi, a real increase of 11.5% from the previous year. Rural pure income per capita was 7172 Renminbi, a real increase of 9.2% from the previous year. [4] (http://www.bjstats.gov.cn/tjyl/tjgb/200501210039.htm)
Beijing's real estate and automobile sectors continue to boom in recent years. In 2004 a total of 24.72 million square metres of housing real estate was sold, for a total of 108.51 billion Renminbi. The total number of automobiles registered in Beijing in 2004 was 1,871,000, of which 1,298,000 are privately-owned. 447,000 new and old automobiles had been sold in Beijing in the previous year. [5] (http://www.bjstats.gov.cn/tjyl/tjgb/200501210039.htm)
The Beijing CBD, centered at the Guomao area, has been identified as the city's new central business district, and is home to a variety of corporate regional headquarters, shopping malls, and high-end housing. The Beijing Financial Street, in the Fuxingmen and Fuchengmen area, is a traditional financial center. The Wangfujing and Xidan areas are major shopping districts. Zhongguancun, dubbed "China's Silicon Valley", continues to be a major center in electronics- and computer-related industries, as well as pharmaceuticals-related research. Meanwhile, Yizhuang, located to the southeast of the urban area, is becoming a new center in pharmaceuticals, IT, and materials engineering. [6] (http://www.beijing.gov.cn/bjgm/jjjs/t20030925_2414.htm) Beijing is also known for being a center of pirated goods and anything from the latest designer clothing to the latest DVDs can be found in markets all over the city.
Major industrial areas include Shijingshan, located on the western outskirts of the city. Agriculture is carried out outside the urban area of Beijing, with wheat and maize being the main crops. Vegetables are also grown in the regions closer to the urban area in order to supply the city.
Architecture
There are three predominant styles of architecture in Beijing. First, there's the traditional architecture of imperial China, such as the massive Tian'anmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace), which remains the PRC's trademark building. Next there is what is sometimes referred to as the "Sino-Sov" style, built between the 1950s and the 1970s, which tend to be boxy, bland, and poorly made. Finally, there are much more modern architectural forms — most noticeably in the area of the Beijing CBD. Pictured below are some images of Beijing architecture — blending the old and the new.
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A bizarre and striking mix of both old and new styles of architecture can be seen at the Dashanzi Art District, which mixes 1950s-design with a blend of the new.
Demographics
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The total population of Beijing municipality, defined as the number of people living in Beijing for 6 months or more per year, was 14.927 million in 2004. 11.872 million people were urban, which includes residents in the Beijing urban area and surrounding towns, and the remainder were rural. [7] (http://www.bjstats.gov.cn/lhzl/cbtj-2004/200501040141.htm) 11.629 million people in Beijing had Beijing hukou (permanent residence) and the remainder were on temporary residence permits. [8] (http://www.bjstats.gov.cn/tjyl/tjgb/200501210039.htm) In addition, there is a large but unknown number of migrant workers who live illegally in Beijing without any sort of residence permit. The population of the city proper itself is about 7.5 million.
The vast majority of Beijing residents are Han Chinese. There are also some Manchu, Hui, and Mongol people who call the city home. In recent years there has been an influx of South Koreans, who live in Beijing predominantly for business and study, and are concentrated in the Wangjing and Wudaokou areas.
The northern, northeastern and eastern parts of the Beijing urban area are densely populated and house the foreign community in the capital. The southwest and southern parts of the Beijing urban area are less densely populated.
| Ethnic groups in Beijing, 2000 census | ||
|---|---|---|
| Nationality | Population | Percentage1 |
| Han Chinese | 12,983,696 | 95.69% |
| Manchu | 250,286 | 1.84% |
| Hui | 235,837 | 1.74% |
| Mongol | 37,464 | 0.28% |
| Korean | 20,369 | 0.15% |
| Tujia | 8372 | 0.062% |
| Zhuang | 7322 | 0.054% |
| Miao | 5291 | 0.039% |
| Uyghur | 3129 | 0.023% |
| Tibetan | 2920 | 0.022% |
1 — Approximate only. Calculated by dividing over sum of raw population data for all 56 nationalities. Includes only citizens of the PRC. Does not include members of the People's Liberation Army in active service.
Source: 2000年人口普查中国民族人口资料，民族出版社，2003/9 (ISBN 7105054255)
Culture
People from urban Beijing speak the Beijing dialect, which belongs to the Mandarin subdivision of spoken Chinese. Beijing dialect provides the basis for Standard Mandarin, the standard Chinese language used in the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China on Taiwan, and Singapore. Outlying areas of Beijing have their own dialects akin to those of Hebei.
Beijing opera, or Jingju, is well-known throughout the national capital. Commonly lauded as one of the highest achievements of Chinese culture, Beijing opera is performed through a combination of singing, spoken dialogue, and codified action sequences, such as gestures, movement, fighting and acrobatics. Much of Beijing opera is carried out in an archaic stage dialect quite different from modern Standard Mandarin and from the Beijing dialect; this makes the dialogue somewhat hard to understand, and the problem is compounded if one is not familiar with Chinese, although modern theaters often have electronic titles in Chinese and English.
Beijing_Hutongs_Mar2003.jpg
The siheyuan (四合院) is a traditional architectural style of Beijing. A siheyuan consists of a square housing compound, with rooms enclosing a central courtyard. This courtyard often contains a pomegranate or other type of tree, as well as potted flowers or a fish tank. Siheyuans line hutongs (胡同), or alleyways, which connect the interior of Beijing's old city. They are usually straight and run east-to-west so that doorways can face north and south for Feng Shui reasons. They vary in width — some are very narrow, enough for only a few pedestrians to pass through at a time.
Once ubiquitous in Beijing, siheyuans and hutongs are now rapidly disappearing, as entire city blocks of hutongs are leveled and replaced with high-rise buildings. Residents of the hutongs are entitled to apartments in the new buildings of at least the same size as their former residences. Many complain, however, that the traditional sense of community and street life of the hutongs cannot be replaced. Some particularly historic or picturesque hutongs are being preserved and restored by the government, with the objective that by the 2008 Olympics, at least some hutongs will remain, albeit in a tidy, gleaming, showcase fashion. One such example can be seen at Nanchizi.
Mandarin cuisine is the local style of cooking in Beijing. Peking duck is perhaps the most well-known dish. The Manhan Quanxi ("Manchu-Han Chinese full banquet") is a traditional banquet originally intended for the ethnic-Manchu emperors of the Qing Dynasty; it remains very prestigious and very expensive.
Teahouses are also common in Beijing. Chinese tea comes in many varieties and some rather expensive types of Chinese tea are said to cure an ailing body extraordinarily well.
The Jingtailan is a cloisonné metalworking technique and tradition originating from Beijing, and one of the most revered traditional crafts in China. Beijing lacquerware is well known for the patterns and images carved into its surface. The Fuling Jiabing is a traditional Beijingese snack, resembling a flat disk with filling, made from fuling (Poria cocos (Schw.) Wolf, or "tuckahoe"), an ingredient common in traditional Chinese medicine.
Stereotypes
Beijingers are stereotypically held to be open, confident, humorous, majestic in manner, concerned with politics or other "grand" matters, unconcerned with thrift or careful calculation, and happy to take center stage. They are also very enthusiastic about arts. They are however also stereotypically aristocratic, arrogant, laid back, blindly nationalistic, disdainful of "provincials", always "lording it over others", and strongly conscious of social class. These stereotypes may have originated from Beijing's status as China's capital for most of the past 800 years, and the high concentration of officials and other notables in Beijing that has resulted.
Transportation
- Main article: Transportation of Beijing
With the growth of the city following economic reforms, Beijing has evolved as an important transportation hub. Encircling the city are five ring roads, nine expressways and city express routes, eleven China National Highways, several railway routes, and an international airport.
Rail
Beijing has two major railway stations: Beijing Railway Station (or the central station) and Beijing West Railway Station. Five other railway stations in Metropolitan Beijing handle regular passenger traffic: Beijing East, Beijing North, Beijing South, Fengtai, and Guanganmen.
Beijing is a railway hub for China. Railway lines to Guangzhou, Shanghai, Harbin, Baotou, Taiyuan, Chengde and Qinhuangdao radiate out of Beijing.
International trains, including lines to cities in Russia and Pyongyang, North Korea (DPRK), all run through Beijing. Direct trains to Kowloon, in the Hong Kong SAR also leave Beijing.
Roads and expressways
- See: Ring Roads of Beijing, Expressways of Beijing and China National Highways of Beijing for more related information.
BadalingExpwyNov02.jpg
Beijing is connected via road links from all parts of China. Nine expressways of China (with six wholly new expressways under projection or construction) connect with Beijing, as do eleven China National Highways. Within Beijing itself, an elaborate network of five ring roads has developed, but they appear more rectangular than ring-shaped. Roads in Beijing often are in one of the four compass directions (unlike, for example, Tianjin).
One of the biggest concerns with traffic in Beijing deals with its apparently ubiquitous traffic jams. Traffic in the city centre is often gridlocked, especially around rush hour. Even outside of rush hour, several roads still remain clogged up with traffic. Urban area ring roads and major through routes, especially near the Chang'an Avenue area, are often clogged up during rush hour.
Recently, however, expressways have been extended (in some cases reconstructed as express routes) into the territories within the 3rd Ring Road. As they are either expressways or express routes, no traffic lights will lie in its trajectory. This may finally attempt to solve the question of "hopping between one ring and the other".
One big problem is that public transportation is underdeveloped (the underground system is presently minimal) and that even buses are jam-packed with people around rush hour. Beijing was poorly designed in terms of zoning and in terms of transportation system [9] (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-10/06/content_269518.htm), [10] (http://www.bjreview.com.cn/200410/Nation-200410(C).htm). Compounding the problem is problematic enforcement of road regulations and road rage. Beijing authorities claim that traffic jams may be a thing of a past come the 2008 Olympics. The authorities have introduced several bus lanes where, during rush hour, all vehicles except for public buses must keep clear of the special lanes.
Chang'an Avenue runs through the centre of Beijing, past Tian'anmen. It is a major through route and is often called the "First Street in China" by authorities.
Template:Roads and Expressways of Beijing
Air
Beijing's main airport is the Beijing Capital International Airport near Shunyi, which is about 20 km northeast of Beijing proper. Most domestic and nearly all international flights arrive and depart at Capital Airport. Capital Airport is the main hub for Air China. It is linked into central Beijing the Airport Expressway and is a roughly 40-minute drive from the city centre during good traffic hours.
Other airports in the city include Liangxiang Airport, Nanyuan Airport, Xijiao Airport, Shahe Airport and Badaling Airport. However, these are primary for militry use and less well-known to the public.
Public transit
The evolving Beijing Subway has four lines (two above ground, two underground), with several more being built in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics. There were 599 bus and trolleybus routes in Beijing as of 2004. [11] (http://www.bjstats.gov.cn/tjyl/tjgb/200501210039.htm) Taxis are nearly ubiquitous, and some can accept Yikatong cards for payment.
Buses and trolleybus fares cost 1 Renminbi for shorter trips, and more for longer trips. Subway tickets range from 2 to 5 Renminbi. Taxi fares depend on vehicle type: these start at 10 Renminbi for the first 3 to 4 kilometers, and go up by 1.20, 1.60, 2.00, or 2.50 Renminbi per extra kilometer, depending on the relative "quality" of the taxi. Some, too, can accept Yikatong cards for payment.
Tourism
Tourist attractions
- Main article: Tourist attractions of Beijing
Despite the damage caused by the Cultural Revolution and the more recent incessant urbanisation, including the demolition of Hutongs, Beijing still maintains tourist attractions which are rich in history.
Although more known for its political significance, Tian'anmen (The Gate of Heavenly Peace) remains the spiritual center of China and the most important tourist site of Beijing, both by itself and as the main entrance to the Forbidden City. Other well known sites include the Badaling stretch of the Great Wall of China, The Summer Palace and The Temple of Heaven.
Famous landmarks within the Beijing metropolitan area:
- Forbidden City (World Heritage Site)
- Tiananmen Square, site of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1919, 1976, and 1989
- The Temple of Heaven (World Heritage Site)
- The Summer Palace (World Heritage Site)
- Ruins of the Old Summer Palace
- Beihai Park
- Jingshan Park
- Tanzhe Temple
- Jietai Temple
- Yunju Temple
- Beijing Zoo
- The Fragrant Hills
- Beijing's Hutongs & Siheyuans
- Beijing World Park
- Beijing Drum Tower
- Yonghegong (Lama Temple)
- China Military Museum
- Shichahai
- Daguanyuan
- Peking University and Tsinghua University campuses
Famous landmarks outside the metropolitan area, but within the municipality:
- Sections of the Great Wall (World Heritage Site) at:
- The Ming Tombs (World Heritage Site)
- Shidu
- Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian (World Heritage Site)
Famous Theatres of Beijing include:
Hotels and lodging
In the 1950s and 1960s, Beijing had virtually no hotels (at least none by Western standards). What Beijing did have were the zhaodaisuos, which meant "Accommodation Centres". Every zhaodaisuo was subordinate to a state organisation or state organ, and had communal public conveniences and amenities. Zhaodaisuos still exist today.
In the late 1970s, Beijing opened its door to the outside world and built hotels. Now, plenty of exquisite hotels exist.
The most well-known hotel is the Beijing Hotel, which is state-owned. Other noticeable hotels are the Great Wall Sheraton Hotel, the Jianguo Hotel, the China World Hotel, Grand Hyatt at Oriental Plaza and the Peninsula Palace Hotel (http://beijing.peninsula.com), which is now run by the Hong Kong-based Peninsula Group (http://www.peninsula.com) and is centrally-located in the Wangfujing district, a few minutes' walk from Tiananmen Square, and next to shops and businesses.
There exist youth hostels but they are few in number. There is one near the centre of town, but accommodation is provided four floors below ground level.
Education
- Main article: Colleges and Universities of Beijing
Beijing is home to plenty of well-known colleges and universities. The most famous ones (known even internationally) include Peking University ("Beida"), Tsinghua University, Beijing Normal University, Communication University of China (well known in the Chinese media circle), Beijing Foreign Studies University, and Renmin University of China.
The following are under the Ministry of Education:
- Peking University (北京大学) (founded in 1898)
- Beijing University Health Science Center (formally Beijing Medical University) (北京大学医学部, 原北京医科大学)
- Renmin University of China (中国人民大学)
- Tsinghua University (清华大学) (founded in 1911)
- Beijing Jiaotong University (北京交通大学)
- University of Science and Technology Beijing (北京科技大学)
- Beijing University of Petroleum (石油大学)
- Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (北京邮电大学)
- Beijing University of Chemical Technology (北京化工大学)
- Beijing Institute of Technology (北京理工大学)
- China Agricultural University (中国农业大学)
- Beijing Forestry University (北京林业大学)
- Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (北京中医药大学)
- Beijing Normal University (北京师范大学) (founded 1902)
- Beijing Foreign Studies University (北京外国语大学)
- Beijing Language and Culture University (北京语言大学)
- University of International Business and Economics (对外经济贸易大学)
- Central University of Finance and Economics (中央财经大学)
- China University of Political Science and Law (中国政法大学)
- Communication University of China (北京广播学院)
- University of International Relations (国际关系学院)
- Central Institute of Fine Arts (中央美术学院)
- Central Academy of Drama (中央戏剧学院)
- Central Conservatory of Music (中央音乐学院)
Media
TV and radio
Beijing Television (BTV) has nine TV programmes, numbered channels 1 through 9. Unlike CCTV, there is at present no exclusive English-language TV channel on a citywide level in Beijing.
The TV programmes are run by Beijing TV.
There are three radio stations which feature programmes in English. They are Hit FM on FM 88.7, Easy FM by CRI on FM 91.5, and the newly launched Radio 774 on AM 774.
Press
The well-known Beijing Evening News newspaper appears without delay every Beijing afternoon, covering news in Chinese about Beijing. Other newspapers are the Beijing Star Daily, the Beijing Morning News, the Beijing Youth Daily and the English-language weeklies Beijing Weekend and Beijing Today (the English edition of the Youth Daily).
Nationwide newspapers are also available in Beijing.
Publications catering to the expat community include City Weekend, Beijing This Month, Beijing Talk, that's Beijing and MetroZine, among others.
International newspapers in most languages, including English and Japanese, are available in hotels and Friendship Stores, and content often appears complete.
Sports
Beijing will host the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Paralympics.
Sports teams based in Beijing include:
Chinese Football Association Super League
Chinese Basketball Association
See also:
City partnerships
Source: http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/ying/default.htm
Astronomical phenomena
The previous total solar eclipse as seen from Beijing (downtown) was Solar eclipse of 1277-Oct-28 (October 28, 1277).
The next total solar eclipse as seen from Beijing (downtown) will be Solar eclipse of 2035-Sep-02 (September 2, 2035).
Wikisource has an article about solar eclipses as seen from Beijing from 2001 to 3000. [12] (http://wikisource.org/wiki/Solar_eclipses_as_seen_from_Beijing)
External links
- The Beijing Guide (http://www.thebeijingguide.com/)
- Beijing Travel Service (http://www.beijingservice.com/)
- Beijing tours (http://www.chinahighlights.com/beijing/tours.htm)
- Beijing Map - full size, 1560*1547 pixels, 645kb) (http://www.chinaodysseytours.com/maps/beijing.html)
- My Beijing (http://www.mybeijingchina.com/)
- Beijing Travel (http://www.beijingtrip.com/)
- Beijing The Virtual City (under construction) (http://www.beijingvirtualcity.com/)
- Wikitravel: Beijing (http://wikitravel.org/en/article/Beijing)
- Beijing Weather Forecast (http://www.asinah.org/weather/ZBAA.html)
- Official site (English version) (http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/)
- Satellite image of Beijing (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov:81/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=15309) at NASA Earth Observatory
- Official 2008 Summer Olympics Website (http://en.beijing-2008.org/) - English, Chinese, French. Website Version - English.
- Human Rights in China and the Beijing 2008 Olympics - OlympicWatch.org (http://www.olympicwatch.org/)
- Bruce Ma's Beijing Tour (http://brucema.topcities.com/beijingtour/index.html) [13] (http://www.brucema.co.nr/), pictures
- Pictures of Beijing (http://www.socialcapitalgateway.org/beijing.htm)
- Peking.org - Peking Tourist Attractions, Photos and History (http://www.peking.org)
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