Beijing (北京) is the capital of China, once known as Peking or Peping. It has been the capital, more often than not, ever since the 1200s when Kublai Khan built his palace there. It stood at the end of the Silk Road. Marco Polo lived there for a while. He said it was one of the most amazing cities in the world.
It is where the Olympic games will be held in 2008. China is busily giving the city a facelift: they are adding a runway to the airport, tearing down old neighbourhoods and even putting ads on buses in New York. But what can they do about the dirty air?
In Chinese Beijing means “Northern Capital”. Yes, there is a southern capital: Nanjing, near Shanghai. It is near the mouth of the Yangtze, the river that goes down the middle of the country. It is a natural place for the capital. But Nanjing has been the capital only on occasion.
Beijing is far to the north, near the Great Wall, close to the homelands of the Mongols and Manchus who ruled China for a good part of the past 800 years.
To someone from Paris or New York it seems spread out, full of wide roads and highways.
In the middle is the Forbidden City. Behind its walls are 800 buildings, done in the Ming style. This is where the emperors lived behind big red doors. No one lives there now.
Across the street is Tiananmen Square. It is vast. This is where Mao raised his red flag in 1949. He is laid to rest in a building at the edge of the square. This is also where the army killed thousands one night in June 1989 to put down protests for democracy.
North of the Forbidden City is where the Olympics will be held.
Mao made Beijing a centre of industry in the late 1900s. He also killed all the dogs and closed down most of the temples.
Beijing is not as big or rich as Shanghai or as advanced as Hong Kong. Nor does the city give you a good idea of what the rest of China is like. It is to China like what the Emerald City is to Oz. Even in Marco Polo’s time that was true.
All the main rail lines end at Beijing. One line goes south all the way to Vietnam. Another goes north through Manchuria, Mongolia and into Russia.
It is hot and uncomfortable in the summer. In the winter bitter winds blow in from the plains to the north.
If you are visiting the city, you should see:
- The Forbidden City
- Tiananmen Square
- Temple of Heaven, built in the 1400s, where the emperor used to pray on the first day of summer
- Qianmen, a bit of the old city that might still be left
- The Chinese opera
Also take a bus to the north and see the Summer Palace and, of course, the Great Wall.
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