BEIJING - CHINA |
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Beijing (Hanyu Pinyin: Beijing, Wade-Giles:
Pei-ching; Postal System Pinyin: Peking), is the capital city of the
People's Republic of China.
Beijing is one of the 4 municipalities of the People's Republic of China,
which have a 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 one of the largest cities in
China, second only to Shanghai as the nation's biggest. It is also a major
transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads and expressways
connecting the capital city in all directions.
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Names
Beijing literally means "northern capital" (as opposed to Nanjing, meaning "southern
capital" and Tonkin and Tokyo, both of which mean "eastern capital").
Beijing is sometimes referred to as Peking. The term originated with French
missionaries four hundred years ago, and corresponds to an archaic
pronunciation which does not take into account a /k/ to /t?/ sound change in
Mandarin that occurred during the Qing dynasty. (/t?/ is represented in
pinyin as j, as in Beijing.)
In China, the city has had many names. Between 1928 and 1949, it was known
as Beiping (Wade-Giles Peip'ing) or "Northern Peace". The name was changed
because jing means "capital" and the Kuomintang government in Nanjing wanted
to emphasize that Beijing was not the capital of China, and Beijing's
warlord government was not legitimate.
The name was changed back to Beijing by the Japanese, since Beijing was the
capital of a North China puppet state under Japanese control; at the end of
World War II the Republic of China changed the name back. 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. 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.
Neighbourhoods
Major neighbourhoods in urban Beijing include:
Dongcheng District
Andingmen
Dongzhimen
Hepingli
Wangfujing
Xicheng District
Fuchengmen
Fuxingmen
Xidan
Chaoyang District
Beiyuan
Guomao
Wangjing
Yayuncun
Haidian District
Wudaokou
Zhongguancun
Administrative divisions
The municipality currently governs 18 county-level divisions: 16 districts
and 2 counties. (Some districts outside of the city centre were previously
counties.)
Districts of Beijing
The urban and suburban areas of the city are made up of 8 districts:
Dongcheng District (Dongchéng Qu)
Xicheng District (Xichéng Qu)
Chongwen District (Chóngwén Qu)
Xuanwu District (Xuanwu Qu)
Chaoyang District (Cháoyáng Qu)
Haidian District (Haidiàn Qu)
Fengtai District (Fengtái Qu)
Shijingshan District (Shíjingshan Qu)
The other 8 districts are found further out, and govern distant suburbs,
satellite towns, and some rural areas:
Beijing by nightMentougou District (?Méntóugou Qu)
Fangshan District (Fángshan Qu) — Fangshan County until 1986
Tongzhou District (Tongzhou Qu) — Tongxian County until 1997
Shunyi District (Shùnyì Qu) — Shunyi County until 1998
Changping District (Changpíng Qu) — Changping County until 1999
Daxing District (Dàxing Qu) — Daxing County until 2001
Pinggu District (Pínggu Qu) — Pinggu County until 2001
Huairou District (Huáiróu Qu) — Huairou County until 2001
Counties of Beijing
The 2 counties of Beijing govern very distant towns and rural areas:
Miyun County (Mìyún Xiàn)
Yanqing County (Yánqìng Xiàn)
Township-level divisions
The above districts and counties are further subdivided into 318 township-level
divisions: 142 towns, 40 townships, 5 ethnic townships and 131 subdistricts.
Architecture
There are three types of building styles, i.e. styles of architectures in
Beijing. First, there's the nearly historic architecture of the imperial
times gone by (an example would be Tian'anmen, despite being the PRC's
trademark building). Next there's the incredibly boxy style, a trademark of
the 1950s and the 1970s. Finally, there are much more modern architectural
forms — such as skyscrapers, most noticeably in the area of the Beijing CBD.
Pictured below are some images of Beijing architecture — blending the old
and the new in a bizarre or beautiful, but always very Beijing manner.
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
The total population of Beijing municipality in 2003 was 14.56 million, of
whom about 11.49 million had Beijing hukou and 3.07 million were on
temporary residence permits. In addition, there is a large but unknown
number of migrant workers who live illegally in Beijing without temporary
residence permits.
The vast majority of Beijing residents are Han Chinese. There are also some
Manchus, Hui, and Mongols. 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.
Culture
People from urban Beijing speak Beijing dialect, which belongs to the
Mandarin subdivision of Chinese spoken language. Beijing dialect provides
the basis for Putonghua, the official spoken language of the People's
Republic of China and Singapore (where Putonghua is known instead as
"Huayu"), as well as for Guoyu, the official spoken language of the Republic
of China on Taiwan. 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, walking, fighting
and acrobatics. Much of Beijing opera is carried out in an archaic stage
dialect quite different from modern Putonghua 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.
The siheyuan 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.
Hutongs, or alleyways, connect the interior of Beijing's old city. They are
usually straight, bending only at right angles and point in one of the
compass directions, mainly 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.
Particularly historic or picturesque hutongs are being preserved and
restored by the government, with the objective that by the 2008 Olympics all
that will remain are modern buildings and tidy, gleaming showplace hutongs.
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.
Teahouses are also common in Beijing. Chinese tea comes in many varieties
and some (rather expensive) types of Chinese tea can cure an ailing body
extraordinarily well.
Stereotypes
People from Beijing are stereotyped to be open, confident, boisterous,
majestic in manner, concerned with politics or other "grand" matters,
unconcerned with thrift or careful calculation, and happy to take center
stage. They are however also stereotyped to be aristocratic, conservative,
arrogant, lazy, disdainful of "provincials", always "lording it over
others", and strongly conscious of social class (usually with themselves
near the top). These stereotypes may have originated from Beijing's status
as China's capital for the past 800 years. As a Confucian culture, China
places a very high emphasis on government bureaucracy and hierarchy, and the
high concentration of officials and other notables in Beijing have made an
indelible mark, both on Beijing itself and on the impression of Beijing that
other Chinese have.
Tourism
Tourist Attractions
Beijing's tourist attractions are plenty and rich in history. The most
well-known ones include the Badaling stretch of the Great Wall of China,
Tian'anmen and the Forbidden City.
Famous landmarks around Beijing include:
Forbidden City
Tiananmen Square
The Great Wall
The Temple of Heaven
The Summer Palace
Ruins of the Old Summer Palace
Gulou - The Drum Tower
Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian (World Heritage Site)
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.
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 and the Grand Hyatt at Oriental Plaza.
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.
Miscellaneous topics
Beijing will host the 2008 Summer Olympics and of the 2008 Summer
Paralympics.
Sports teams based in Beijing include:
Chinese Football Association Super League
Beijing Xiandai
Chinese Basketball Association
Beijing Aoshen Olympians
Beijing Shougang Ducks |
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