|
Other names of Beijing:
Peking (name before c. 1949), Jing (short form), Peping
(name during the Republic of China Era before 1949, still occasionally
used in Taiwanese literature)
Older names include Yanjing, Dadu (Mongolian era, c. 1200
AD)
Adjective: Pekinese (Obsolete), various
modern forms (Beijinese or Beijingese)
Short form: Jing (京)
Beijing (From Wikipedia)
Copyright owned by wikipedia.org
See
here for copyright and licensing conditions
Beijing
, a city in northern China, is
the capital of the Peoples' Republic of China (PRC). Beijing is one of
the four municipalities of the PRC, equivalent to a province in China's
administrative structure. Beijing Municipality borders Hebei Province to
the north, west, south, and for a small section in the east, and Tianjin
Municipality to the southeast.
Beijing is China's second largest city in terms
of population, after Shanghai. It is a major transportation hub, with
dozens of railways, roads and expressways entering and leaving it in all
directions. It is also the focal point of many international flights to
China. Beijing is recognized as the political, educational, and cultural
center of the PRC, while Shanghai and Hong Kong predominate in economic
fields.
Beijing is one of the Four Great Ancient
Capitals of China. It will also host the 2008 Summer Olympics.
The Kuomintang changed the name of the city to
Peiping. The Communist Party of China reverted the name to Beijing
(Peking) in 1949 again in part to emphasize that Beijing had returned to
its role as China's capital. The government of the Republic of China on
Taiwan has never formally recognized the name change, and during the
1950s and 1960s it was common in Taiwan for Beijing to be called Peiping
to imply the illegitimacy of the PRC. Today, almost all of Taiwan,
including the ROC government, uses Beijing, although some maps of
China from Taiwan still use the old name along with pre-1949 political
boundaries.
Yanjing (燕京, Pinyin: Yānjīng,
Wade-Giles: Yen-ching) is and has been another popular informal name for
Beijing, a reference to the ancient State of Yan that existed here
during the Zhou Dynasty. This name is reflected in the locally-brewed
Yanjing Beer as well as Yenching University, an institution of higher
learning that was merged into Peking University. Beijing is also the Cambuluc
(Khanbaliq) described in Marco Polo's accounts.
[Read full article]
|
for permission
JohoMaps!
2005
