The history of Beijing or Peking can be traced back 3,000 years^[1], when it was the capital of the ancient State of Yan^[1]. Since the Liao Dynasty, Beijing has been the capital city of several major dynasties of China. It is now the modern capital of the People's Republic of China.

Before the 10th century

The earliest remnants of human habitation in the Beijing municipality are found in the caves of Dragon Bone Hill near the village of Zhoukoudian in Fangshan District, where the Peking Man lived. Homo erectus fossils from the caves date to 230,000 to 250,000 years ago. Paleolithic homo sapiens also lived there about 27,000 years ago.^[2] There were cities in the vicinities of Beijing by the 1st millennium BC, and the capital of the State of Yan, one of the powers of the Warring States Period (473-221 BC), Ji (?/?), was established in present-day Beijing.^[3]

After the fall of the Yan, the subsequent Qin, Han, and Jin dynasties set-up local prefectures in the area.^[3] In Tang Dynasty it became the headquarter for Fanyang jiedushi, the virtual military governor of current northern Hebei area. An Lushan launched An Shi Rebellion from here in 755 AD.

Liao and Jin Dynasties

Liao Dynasty Pagoda of Tianning Temple in Beijing, built in 1120, inspired the design of another Beijing pagoda, the Cishou Pagoda, which was built in 1576 during the Ming Dynasty.

Yuan Dynasty

Mongol forces burned Zhongdu to the ground in 1215 and rebuilt it to the north of the Jin capital in 1267.^[1] In preparation for the conquest of all of China, Yuan Dynasty founder Kublai Khan made this his capital as Khanbaliq (Mongolian for "great residence of the Khan") or Dadu (??, Chinese for "grand capital").^[1] This site is known as Cambuluc in Marco Polo's accounts. Apparently, Kublai Khan, who wanted to become a Chinese emperor, established his capital at this location instead of more traditional sites in central China because it 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 and it was the true beginning of contemporary Beijing. Khanbaliq was situated north of modern central Beijing. It centred on what is now the northern stretch of the 2nd Ring Road, and stretched northwards to between the 3rd and 4th Ring Roads. There are remnants of Mongol-era wall still standing.^[6]

Ming Dynasty

The Forbidden City, home to the Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty and future Hongwu Emperor, made his imperial ambitions known by sending an army toward the Yuan capital. The last Yuan emperor fled north to Shangdu and Zhu declared the founding of the Ming Dynasty after razing the Yuan palaces of Khanbaliq to the ground.^[7] After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty in 1368, the city was later rebuilt by the Ming Dynasty and Shuntian (??) prefecture was established in the area around the city.^[8] In 1403, the third Ming Emperor Yongle moved the Ming capital south to Nanjing (Nanking) from the renamed Beiping (??), or "northern peace".^[1] During the Ming Dynasty, Beijing took its current shape, and the Ming-era city wall served as the Beijing city wall until modern times, when it was pulled down and the 2nd Ring Road was built in its place.^[9] It is believed that Beijing was the largest city in the world from 1425 to 1650 and from 1710 to 1825. It is now the 17th largest city in the world.^[10]

The Forbidden City was constructed soon after that (1406-1420),^[1] followed by the Temple of Heaven (1420),^[11] and numerous other construction projects. Tiananmen, which has become a state symbol of the People's Republic of China and is featured on its emblem, was built in 1651.^[12] Yongle moved the Ming capital back north to Beiping in 1421 as a measure to guard the empire against the Mongols and control the northern armies; he also renamed Beiping to Beijing (??), or "northern capital".^[1] Jesuits finished building the first Beijing-area Roman Catholic church in 1652 at the Xuanwu Gate, where Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci lived; the modern Nantang (??, Southern Cathedral) has been built over the original cathedral.^[13]

Qing Dynasty

In 1644, Li Zicheng led a major peasant uprising against the Ming Dynasty. He besieged and briefly captured the city of Beijing. The Manchu from the north took advantage of this rebellion, breeching the nearby Great Wall, and capturing the city from rebel control. The Manchus proclaimed the founding of the Qing Dynasty, and they would conquer the rest of China over the next few years. Beijing would remain their imperial capital for nearly three centuries^[14]. During this era, Beijing was also known as Jingshi, corresponding with the Manchu name Gemun Hecen^[15].

The second half of Qing Dynasty was characterized by increased contact with the West and the signing of the Unequal Treaties. As a result, a large foreign quarter developed in Beijing during the 1800's, where diplomats, missionaries, and other foreigners lived. This section of the city was unsuccessfully besieged by Chinese forces during the Boxer Rebellion in the summer of 1900^[16]. In retaliation, the foreign armies of the Eight-Nation Alliance attacked and looted the city. They also looted and burned the Old Summer Palace.

Peking University was founded in the northwest section of the city in 1898. The nearby Qinghua University was founded in 1911.

Republic of China

A photo of the crowded Tiananmen Square during the May Fourth Movement, 1919

Student protests in Tiananmen Square in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1919.
_{Photo by Jeff Widener (Associated Press)}

On 1911 October 10, the Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China. Beijing remained the capital of this new republic, but political instability in the new government eventually deteriorated into civil war. Beijing became the site of several conflicts between rival warlord factions, changing hands several times over the next two decades. ^[17]

On 1919 May 4, university students in Beijing gathered in Tiananmen Square to protest the foreign occupation of Chinese cities and the failure of Chinese diplomats at the Paris Peace Conference to negotiate the return of these cities at the end of the First World War. These protests began the May Fourth Movement, which would have a profound influence on contemporary Chinese literature and politics.

By 1927, the Chinese Nationalists had established a rival national capital in Nanjing, and by 1928 June 8, the Nationalist Army had taken control of Beijing. The capital of the Republic of China was officially moved to Nanjing, and Beijing was renamed Beiping ?? (Wade-Giles: Peip'ing) ^[18], or "Northern Peace".^[19]

The Japanese attacked Beiping following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on 1937 July 7. They took complete control of the city by July 29^{[19] [20]}, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese created a puppet state to manage the occupied Chinese territories and designated Beiping as its capital. ^[21] This government was latter merged with another Japanese puppet state, the Chinese government of Wang Jingwei, with its capital in Nanjing, although Beiping effectively remained independent of Nanjing until the end of the War^[22].

Beiping reverted to Nationalist control after the Japanese surrender on August of 1945. The Nationalists and Chinese Communists were allies during the Sino-Japanese War, but relations between the two rival political parties had disintegrated by June of 1946. After two years of fighting, the Communists had gained control over most of northern China, and the Nationalists abandoned Beiping, allowing the Communists to capture the city unchallenged on 1949, January 31.

People's Republic of China

On October 1 of the same year, Mao Zedong 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^[23].

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^[24]. 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 latter in 1979.

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^[25]. 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.

A decade latter, on 1989 May 4, students from Beijing area universities began gathering in Tiananmen Square to publicly mourn the recent death Hu Yaobang, 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 1989 June 4.

The 1990's and the start of the new millennium were a period of rapid economic growth in Beijing. Following the economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping, what was once farmland surrounding the city was developed into new residential and commercial districts^[26]. 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.

But the rapid modernization of Beijing also created numerous problems associated with other large metropolitan areas, such as 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 sprawl 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 ^[27].

Beijing hosted the Olympic Games in August of 2008. Several landmark sports venues, such as the Beijing National Stadium or the "Bird's Nest", were built for these games^[28].

References

Books

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