Beijing belongs to the warm temperate zone and has a semi-humid climate. It has four distinctive seasons, with a short spring and autumn and longer summers and winters. January is the coldest month and July is the hottest.

 

At the end of 2005, Beijing had a registered population of 15.38 million, including a transient population of about 3 million. People from each of China's 56 ethnic groups reside in Beijing, but the vast majority is Han.

 

The history of Beijing is punctuated by turmoil, power, greatness and intrigue. Situated neither by the ocean, nor by a great river, the city is strategically located at a major divide between nomadic herding lands to the north and agricultural lands to the south. These two opposing forces have shaped much of the city's colorful history.

 

It is believed that human settlement in Beijing goes back as far as 780,000 years, possibly more. The earliest fossil records of Peking man found in Zhoukou-dian, Fangshan District, in the city's southwestern suburbs in the 1920s, date to about 500,000 years. More recent finds are dated to between 18,000 BC and 11,000 BC. During construction of the Oriental Plaza in Central Beijing’s Wanfujing Area, a Paleolithic (early Stone Age) settlement was discovered.

 

Records concerning Beijing's existence date to the 11th century BC. After Zhou forces moved eastward from (contemporary) Shaanxi Province and conquered the Shang, the emperor of Zhou distributed lands to dukes. Two of these feudal territories were in what is now modern-day Beijing, Ji in today's Xuanwu District and Yan in Fangshan District.

 

During the tumultuous Spring and Autumn period (771?76 BC) and much of the Warring States period (475?21 BC) conflicts resulted in Yan expanding its empire, swallowing up much of the surrounding lands and installing the City of Ji as its new capital. Its emergence as a power of the age was short-lived after a failed assassination attempt on the rival king of Qin. In 226 BC, Qin forces conquered Yan; five years later, all the Warring States had been defeated, establishing the first unification of China under its namesake, the Qin Dynasty (221?07 BC). The city of Ji was chosen as the administrative centre of Guangyang Prefecture, one of 36 prefectures in China's first feudal empire.

 

Over the next 1,200 years, there were numerous conflicts and name changes. The city emerged as a frontier garrison, serving as a staging base for campaigns against the empire's nomadic enemies to the north. By the glorious Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) Beijing was known as Youzhou. However, rebellions, uprisings and invasions ended in the country's political disintegration, constantly changing the status of the city up until its installation as the capital of the Jin Dynasty (1115?234) in 1153, named Zhongdu (Middle Capital).

 

In 1215 the Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, invaded the city, but it was left to Genghis’s grandson, Kublai Khan, to finally conquer the whole of China, establishing the Yuan Dynasty (1271?368) with Beijing as its capital. The city, known as Dadu (Great Capital), was meticulously planned around a grid plan that still characterizes the city today. As the capital city of the Yuan Dynasty, Dadu enjoyed worldwide fame in the 13th century. Envoys and traders from Europe, Asia and Africa who paid visits to China were astounded by the splendor and magnificence of the city.

 

After the fall of the Mongol empire in 1368, the early Ming emperors settled in Nanjing temporarily, renaming the old Yuan capital Beiping (Northern Peace). However, after usurping the throne from his nephew in 1403, Zhu Di, also known as the Yongle Emperor, started building the grand Forbidden City. Finally, in 1421, he relocated to what is now known as Beijing (Northern Capital). The layout of what remains in today's modern Beijing finds its roots in this period. The Forbidden City was constructed from 1407 to 1420, followed by the Temple of Heaven (1420), and numerous other construction projects.

 

After a lengthy rule, the Ming Dynasty fell into decline. A peasant uprising took the city in April 1644. By June a federation of Manchurian tribes from the north, after being given free passage through the Great Wall by a disaffected general, finally conquered the city and established the Qing Dynasty (1644?911). The Forbidden City was then enlarged, and communications with other countries were enhanced.

 

On January 31, 1949, the People's Liberation Army peacefully entered and liberated Beijing. The People's Republic of China was born on October 1, 1949, when Chairman Mao Zedong uttered the words "The People's Republic of China has been founded; from this time, the Chinese people have stood up while addressing the Chinese people via radio from the rostrum on Tiananmen Square.

 

 

Some four to five thousand years ago, settlements to the southwest of Beijing were thriving on basic agriculture and animal husbandry. Story has it that the legendary Yellow Emperor (Huang Di) battled against the tribal leader Chiyou in the wilderness of the prefecture of Zhuolu, a town west of present-day Beijing, is perhaps the site of the first metropolis in the area. Yellow Emperor’s successor, Emperor Yao, was said to have established a legendary capital Youdu (City of Quietude) that was where the city of Ji was actually built.

 

During the Warring States Period (475BC to 221BC), the Marquis of Yan annexed the territory of the Marquis of Ji, making the city of Ji his new capital. The approximate location was north of Guanganmen Gate in present-day Beijing near the White Cloud Temple (Baiyunguan). Early in the third century BC, the first Emperor of Qin (Qin Shi Huang) set about conquering six states and unifying China. The city of Ji was named administrative center of Guangyang Commandery, one of 36 prefectures in China’s first feudal empire. For 10 centuries, through to the end of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Ji remained a strategic trading and military center and the object of frequent power struggles.

 

Two emperors during that period -- Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty -- left their mark on the city. Emperor Yang amassed troops and supplies at Ji for expeditions against Korea. Emperor Taizong also used the city for military training. He built the Temple for Compassion for the Loyal (Minzhongsi), which is dedicated to troops who died in battle. This temple was the precursor of the Temple of the Origin of the Dharma (Fayuansi) located outside the old walls of the city.

 

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Ji was little different from any other large feudal cities. Several centuries later, however, when the Tang was nearing a state of collapse, the Qidans (Khitans) came from the upper reaches of the Liaohe River and moved south to occupy Ji and make it their second capital. They called the city Nanjing (Southern Capital) or Yanjing. Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty (916-1125) carried out reconstruction projects and built palaces, which were used as strongholds from which the Qidans set out to conquer the central plains of China.

 

In the early 12th century, the Nuzhen (Jurchen) conquered the Liao and established the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). In 1153, Wan Yanliang moved the Jin capital from Huiningfu in present-day Liaoning Province to Yanjing and renamed it Zhongdu (Central Capital) as a challenge to the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), which had its capital at Linan (present-day Hangzhou). Before the ascension of Wan Yanliang to the throne, the city of Yanjing had changed little from the Liao period.

 

The rebuilding of the new city began in 1151 with expansion to the east, west and south. Palaces were constructed on a scale similar to the Northern Song (960-1127) capital at Bianliang (modern Kaifeng), and many of the actual building materials were transported from Bianliang. The new expanded city, with its splendid buildings in the center measured roughly five kilometers in circumference. The registered population of the Imperial Palace in the center measured roughly five kilometers in circumference. The registered population of Zhongdu amounted to 225,592 households, or approximately one million people.

 

Mongol armies occupied Zhongdu in 1215. At this time, the city of Kaiping (in present-day Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region) served as the principal Mongol capital (Shangdu), while Yanjing was given provincial status. It was not until 1271 that Kublai Khan formally adopted the new dynasty’s name -- Yuan -- and made Yanjing the capital. Kublai Khan rebuilt the city and gave it the Chinese (Han) name of Dadu (Ta-tu) or Great Capital, though in Mongol it was known as Khanbalig (Marco Polo’s Cambaluc), the City of the Great Khan. When the Mongols finally eliminated the Southern Song and unified China, Dadu became the political center of the country for the first time in history.

 

The construction of Dadu began in 1267 and ended in 1293, extending throughout the entire period of Kublai Khan’s rule. The magnificent palaces of the Jin capital Zhongdu were destroyed by fire during the dynastic turnover from the Jin to the Yuan. When the capital was rebuilt, the original site of Zhongdu was replaced by a larger rectangular area centered in a beautiful lake region in the northeastern suburbs.

 

The construction of Dadu consisted of three main projects -- the imperial palaces, the city walls and moats, and the canal. The first stage was construction of the palace buildings, most of which were completed in 1274. The next stage was construction of the mansions for the imperial princes, the government offices, the Taimiao (Imperial Ancestral Temple) and Shejitan (Altar of Land and Grain) to the east and west of the palace, and a system of streets for ordinary residences. In 1293, the strategic Tonghui Canal, connecting the capital to the Grand Canal, was completed.

 

As the capital city of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), Dadu enjoyed great fame in the 13th century world. The envoys and traders from Europe, Asia and Africa who paid visits to China were astounded by the splendor and magnificence of Dadu. Marco Polo’s description of the palaces of Cambaluc, as the called Khanbalig, was most famous of all: You must know that it is the greatest palace that ever was; The roof is very lofty, and the walls of the palace are all covered with gold and silver; They are adorned with dragons, beasts and birds, knights and idols, and other such things; The Hall of the Palace is so large that 6,000 people could easily dine there, and it is quite a marvel to see how many rooms there are besides; The building is altogether so vast, so rich and so beautiful, that no man on earth could design anything superior to it; The outside of the roof is all colored with vermilion and yellow and green and blue and other hues, which are fixed with a varnish so fine and exquisite that they shins like crystal, and lend a resplendent luster to the palace as seen for a great way around.

 

The new Dadu was a rectangular city more than 30 kilometers in circumference. In the later years of Kublai Khan’s rule, the city population consisted of 100,000 households or roughly 500,000 people. The layout was the result of uniform planning, the broader streets all 24 paces wide, the narrow lanes half this width. The regular chessboard pattern created an impression of relaxed orderliness.

 

Achievements in stone and plaster sculpture and painting at this time reached great heights. The names of two contemporary artisans have come down to us: the sculptors Yang Qiong and Liu Yuan. The latter was known for the plaster statues he created for temples. Liulansu Lane at the northern end of Fuyou Street in present-day Beijing was named after Liu Yuan.

On August 2, 1368, Ming troops seized Dadu and renamed it Beiping (Northern Peace). Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), however, made Nanjing his first capital. Beginning in 1406, Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty spent 15 years constructing walls 12 meters high and 10 meters thick at their base around the city of Beiping. The construction of palace buildings and gardens began in 1417 and was completed in 1420. The following year, Emperor Yongle formally transferred the capital from Nanjing to Beiping and, for the first time, named the city Beijing (Northern Capital).

 

Extensive reconstruction work was carried out in Beijing during the first years of the Ming Dynasty. The northern city walls were shifted 2.5 kilometers to the south. Evidence of great advances in city planning is the district known as the Inner (Tartar) City. The Outer or Chinese City to the south was built during the reign of Emperor Jiajing (1522-1566).

 

When the Manchus founded the Qing Dynasty in 1644, they began to build suburban gardens, the most famous of which was Yuanmingyuan. Construction over the course of an entire century, the imposing columned palaces and open-air pavilions blended with the serenity of well-planned gardens to create a masterpiece of garden architecture unrivaled in the history of China.

 

A city plan was first laid out in the Yuan Dynasty. Yet only after extensive reconstruction during the Ming and Qing (1644-1911), did the city emerge as an architectural masterpiece fit to serve as the capital of the Chinese empire. A north-south axis bisects the city with the Imperial Palace was knows as Danei (The Great Within). In the Ming, it was renamed the Forbidden City (Zijincheng), and more recently it has come to be called the Palace Museum (Gugong Bowuyuan). Designed with thousands of halls and gates arranged symmetrically around a north-south axis, its dimensions and luxuriance are a fitting symbol of the power and greatness of traditional China.

 

It was at Tiananmen Square on October 1st, 1949, that Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, with Beijing as its capital. The city has changed totally since then. It has expanded from its old confines within the nine gates of the Inner City wall (Zhengyangmen, Chongwenmen, Xuanwumen, Chaoyangmen, Dongzhimen, Fuchengmen, Xizhimen, Andingmen and Deshengmen) to the seven outer gates (Dongbianmen, Guangqumen, Xibianmen, Guang?? anmen, Yongdingmen, Zuoanmen and Youanmen) and out into the suburbs, Beijing now covers an area of about 750 square kilometers, which includes a dozen new living districts built on the outskirts of town. Tiananmen Square is still the center of Beijing, Changan Boulevard now running 38 kilometers from Shijingshan in the west to Tongxian in the east. The palaces and city towers along both sides have been designated cultural relics for national protection. Former imperial residences and gardens have been opened for public viewing.

 

New buildings like the International Post Office and Bank of China have been built along the Second Ring Road, the former line of the Inner City wall. Old living quarters and blocks of traditional Beijing style buildings, such as Liulichang Culture Street, have been restored. Large scale construction has been undertaken along the Third Ring Road and the fourth Ring Road.

 

Future development in Beijing will continue to preserve the symmetry of the old city layout while integrating modern architectural design into the overall plan.

The climate in Beijing is of the continental type, with cold and dry winters, due to the Siberian air masses that move southward across the Mongolian Plateau. The summers are hot owing to warm and humid monsoon winds from the southeast bringing Beijing most of its annual precipitation. January is the coldest month and July is the warmest. Winter usually begins towards the end of October. The summer months, June to August, are wet and hot with about 40% of the annual precipitation.

 

You may visit Beijing all year round. However, the best season is autumn from Sep 01 to the end of Oct which the local people call it the Golden Autumn period. Winter in Beijing is fairly cold and sometimes temperature can reach as low as minus 10. Warm clothing is highly recommended if you are visiting Beijing in winter as it can be extremely cold if it is windy in Beijing. Due to the cold weather, Beijing is a nice place for winter activities such as skating and skiing.

 

 

Beijing, as the capital city of the People's Republic of China and one of the four municipalities under administration of State Council, is a transportation hub, with a sophisticated network of roads, railways and airports. Five completed ring roads encircle a city with expressways heading in virtually all compass directions linking Beijing to virtually every corner in China. Beijing, as the capital city of the People's Republic of China and one of the four municipalities under administration of State Council is a transportation hub, with a sophisticated network of roads, railways and airports. Five completed ring roads encircle a city with expressways heading in virtually all compass directions linking Beijing to virtually every corner in China.

 

Beijing Capital International Airport is located in northeast of Beijing, capital of People's Republic of China, and 25.35km from the Tiananmen Square, center of Beijing city. It is not only an aviation gateway of Beijing and a window for international communication, but also a radial center for China civil aviation network, featured in a large-scale international airport, with most important location, biggest scale, fullest facilities and busiest transportation in China.

 

Beijing Capital International Airport, under the administrative control of Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), officially opened on March 02nd 1958. With the development of civil aviation business and the increasing volume of passenger and cargo transportation, it was expanded in large scale. The Passenger Terminal 1, covering an area of 60,000m2, and auxiliary facilities, including parking apron and car parks, officially put into service on January 01st 1980. Terminal 1 was designed to serve 60 flights daily and 1,500 passengers at peak hours. The facilities at flight areas of the expanded Beijing Capital International Airport were meeting the 4E standards required by International Civil Aviation Organization.

 

With the continuous growth of quantity of international airlines to Beijing and the density of international flights, the Terminal was enlarged again from October 1995 to November 1999. The Terminal 2, covering an area of 336,000m2 and equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, officially went into operation on November 01st 1999. Terminal 2 is able to handle 26,500,000 passengers yearly and 9,210 passengers at peak hours.

 

Construction of Terminal 3 started on March 28, 2004, and was opened in two stages. Trial operations commenced on February 29, 2008, it became fully operational on March 26, 2008. The budget of the expansion is US$3.5 billion. Far grander in size and scale than the existing terminals, it was the largest airport terminal-building complex built in a single phase with 986,000 square meters in total floor area at its opening. It features a main passenger terminal (Terminal 3C), two satellite concourses (Terminal 3D and Terminal 3E) and five floors above ground and two underground, with the letters "A and B" omitted to avoid confusions with the existing Terminals 1 and 2. Terminal 3C is dedicated for domestic flights, Terminal 3E for international flights, and Terminal 3D, called the "Olympics Hall", was used for charter flights during the Beijing Olympics, before its use by international flights.

 

Beijing Railway Station is an important hub of the national railway transportation. It was first built in the 1950s. Shortly after the birth of New China, this station had been enlarged, in 1959 becoming the biggest passenger transport station of those days. The building was impressively grand, with a combination of rich traditional and modern styles in its architecture. It was considered as one of the ten great constructions in the capital during the 1950s. Covering an area of 25 hectares (61.8 acres), the Beijing Railway Station is located in an extremely central location, just next to Jianguomen, and is within the confines of the city's 2nd Ring Road with convenient transports-numerous public buses and trains of the Subway Line 2 pass close to this station.

The Beijing Railway Station is capable of handling over 8,000 passengers at any time. Beijing Railway Station is the top grade national station that serves many lines. Generally, trains for Northeast China (including Harbin, Shenyang and Dalian), Shandong (including Qingdao, Jinan), East China (including Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou) as well as for Inner and Outer Mongolia depart from this station. International lines (notably the railway line linking Beijing to Pyongyang of North Korea; Ulan Bator of Outer Mongolia and Moscow), also depart from this station.

 

Covering an area of 51 hectares (126 acres), Beijing West Railway Station is the latest railway station in China as well as in Asia at present. Opened in early 1996 after three years of construction, it [was expanded in 2000 and is now able to handle 300,000 passengers per day and also had a vast amount parking lots added.

 

Trains departing from Beijing West leave for destinations to major cities in West China, such as Xian, Chongqing, Chengdu, Lhasa and Urumqi) as well as cities in South China, such as Wuhan, Changsha and Guangzhou. The well-known Jingjiu or Beijing-Kowloon Railway line, begins from this railway station.

 

Beijing South Railway Station is located in the south of Beijing between the Second Ring Road and Third Ring Road. The history of this station could be traced back to 1897 in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), when it was called Yongdingmen Railway Station (永定门火车站), or Majiabao Railway Station (马家堡火车站).

A large scale reconstruction started before 2008 Beijing Olympics and it was completed on August 1, 2008. Covering an area of 26,000 square meters, The new station consists of five storeys with two above ground and three underground. The second underground floor and the third underground floor are respectively connected with the stations of the Subway Line 4and the Subway Line 14, and passengers can transfer to the subway trains without going out of the railway station.

Beijing South Railway Station mainly serves for the trains of the high-speed railways, including the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway and the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway and direct trains to Jinan and Qingdao. It only takes half an hour and five hours respectively traveling from Beijing to Tianjin and from Beijing to Shanghai.

 

 

Beijing Attractions List     •  The Ming Tombs •  The Forbidden City (The Palace Museum) •  Great Wall at Badaling •  Beihai Park •  Summer Palace

 

As a globally recognized historical and culture city, Beijing has a history of over 3000 years and 850 of which have been the Chinese capital. With its unique charm, Beijing is an exciting blend of the old and new. As a historical cultural city, Beijing has kept a large amount of royal palaces, gardens, temples and tombs and any of the attractions are world famous. Among which, the Great Wall of China, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and Ming Tombs have been listed as World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Beijing has many shopping districts offering all kinds of goods from brand named things to local souvenirs of Jade and Antiques. The traditional shopping districts have been always Wangfujing Street, Qianmen Street, Dongdan and Xidan Commercial Street. There are also many outdoor markets which foreign travelers always considered to be a must see place. The Liulichang Street is renowned for paintings, Panjiayuan Market is for Antiques, Hongqiao market is for pearls while the Silk Market is for local souvenirs of Beijing.

 

The 700-year-old Wangfujing (the Well of the Prince's Mansion) Street is one of China's oldest and most famous commercial areas, There are over 200 shops located along the 810-metre-long street and in an area of about 810 square meters. The street combines tradition, modernity, culture and commerce.

 

Qianmen is one of the famous commercial streets in Beijing. There are many famous century-old shops on the street such as Tongrentang Pharmacy. The Qianmen commercial street was formed in the Qing Dynasty when it was stipulated that people from other places must not stay in the city (within the present Qiansanmen Street) and the city gate of Beijing must be closed in the evening for the safety of the Forbidden City.

 

Xidan Street is one of the most famous traditional commercial areas in Beijing where companies in the general merchandise, food and beverage, entertainment and banking sectors can be found. A large number of merchants gather there, and the daily average volume of the flow of customers is more than 200,000. It is in a very important position in the commercial pattern of Beijing.

Liulichang is a famous cultural street in Beijing established in the Yuan Dynasty. There used to be a colored glaze kiln and factory there; therefore, it is called Liulichang (colored glaze factory). In the Ming and Qing dynasties, most of the successful candidates in the imperial examinations at the provincial level who went to Beijing to participate in the imperial examinations gathered here, so there are many book and stationery shops that created a strong cultural atmosphere and became a book and antique market.

 

Panjiayuan Second-Hand Market is a holiday market where second-hand goods, handicrafts, collections and ornaments are traded. The market is divided into 4 business areas: the large canopy area for handicrafts, the area for ancient and old furniture, the area for ancient and old calligraphic works, paintings, books and periodicals, and the business area for ancient architectures with more than 3000 booths.

 

The Silk Market has very few silk for sale. It has five floors on the ground and three on the underground, with a building area of altogether 28,000 sq. m, and a capacity of thousands of stalls. They are mainly selling replica name brand stuff from bags, shoes, clothes, ornaments, artifacts and silks which are all private owned. Bargaining is an “obligatory course” for people looking for treasures there.

 

This four-floor store offers all the Chinese clothing in various styles and colors. Ruifuxiang, a famous shop selling qipaos (traditional Chinese women dresses) is located on the third floor. They have lots of traditional silk products on sale, and you can have your qipao or suits tailor-made to your special requirements.

 

Hongqiao Market mainly sells pearl ornaments, clothes, shoes and bags. There are 5 floors above the ground and 3 underground floors with a total floor area of 32,000 square meters, more than 1000 stalls. With the gradual implementation of the overall plan for the comprehensive development and construction of the Hongqiao Market area, a commercial area integrating commerce, trade, food and beverage, tourism and entertainment will be formed there.

 

It is one of the commercial centers which have received more and more attention in recent years. Some large malls such as Full Link Plaza, Huapu Commercial Building, Blue Island Mansion, Blue Island West Shopping Center, and the newly built Yabao Market are located there. Sometimes you can find some high-quality and inexpensive commodities.

Zhongguancuan area is regarded as China's silicone valley. Shops like Hailong and Dinghao are the two best places for purchasing computer related products of hardware, software, parts, second hand laptops, repairs and fully assembled PCs. It is generally considered the best place to pick up anything computer related in China.

 

As many of the publishing companies headquartered in Beijing, Beijing is the best place to buy books related with China in English and other foreign languages. The foreign languages bookstore located at Wangfujing Street can be the best choice. Other places are Xinhua Bookstore at Wangfujing Street and Xidan Book Building.