Beijing or Beijing (zh [[wikt: 北京北京]]; Pinyin: Běijīng , “the capital of north”) is the Capitale and one of the arts centres of the Popular republic of China. The agglomeration is the second of the country by its population, after Shanghai with: 17000000 inhabitants. It joins together the three quarters of the population of autonomous municipality of Beijing (北京市 Běijīng shì , shortened in 京 Jīng ), a territory much vaster than the agglomeration itself since it measures: 16800 km ², are hardly less than Normandy. The to speak Pekinese form the base about the standard Mandarin.

The city is towards the North of the country, to 110 km of the Mer of Bohai and at the northern end of the large Plain of North, just in the south of the Great wall. Several times millenium, but destroyed in 1215, it was capital of China during the essence of time since 1264. It shelters famous monuments like the prohibited Cité and the Temple of the Sky, which are registered with the world heritage of humanity.

From an economic point of view, Beijing is the third town of China by the total GDP behind HongKong and Shanghai. She knows a very fast economic growth, definitely more than 10% per annum in the years 2000. New a Central business district (CBD) is in construction.

Names

北京 and its transcriptions

Francization Beijing comes from the missionaries French Jesuits of the 17th century and does not take account of the change of pronunciation (Palatalisation) which occurred during the Dynastie Qing and which transformed the front one into phoneme (noted J in Pinyin). This name is similar to that which the other Western languages adopted: Pechino in Italian, Peking in Dutch, or Pequim (pronunciation similar to that of French) in Portuguese, for example.

Old names

  • Jì (薊/蓟, literally " chardon"), capital of the kingdom of Yan for the period of the Kingdoms combatants

  • Nánjīng (南京, Capital of the South), under the Dynasty Liao (907 - 1125)
  • Zhōngdū (中都, Capital of the Center), under the Second dynasty Jin (1115 - 1234)
  • Dàdū (大都, Large Capital) or Khanbalik (City of Khan, in Mongolian), under the Yuan (i.e. Mongols of Kubilai Khan)
  • Jīngshì (京師/京市, Capital)
  • Gemun Hecen (Capital, as mandchou), during the Qing dynasty.
  • Běipíng (北平, Peace of North), at the beginning of the Ming dynasty, and, at the 20th century, named thus officially in 1928 by Guomindang to stress its pacificatory role during military forwardings in the North of China.

Geography

Situation

Beijing is located towards the North-East of the country, with 110 kilometers of the Mer of Bohai, at the north-eastern end of the plain of China of North. There are mountains in the west and the north of Beijing. More in North still are areas attached relatively tardily to China, this is why the great wall of China, who marked the limit of the Chinese territory towards North, is near Beijing.

Climate

Beijing is not very far away from the sea, but this one is in the east, whereas the dominant winds come rather from the west, as it is often the case in the northern hemisphere. This is why climate of Beijing east of the continental type, like that of New York but in a way more marked even. The differences in temperatures between the seasons are very strong. It rains especially in summer.

The average temperatures go from -4,6°C for the coldest month to +26°C for the hottest month, with an annual average of +11,8°C (figures stopped in 1988), and the Pluviométrie is there of 635,3  mm (figures stopped in 1989).

Administrative divisions

The municipality of Beijing exerts its jurisdiction on eighteen subdivisions - sixteen districts and two counties.

Eight districts are located in the urban area of Pékin :

  • the district of Dongcheng - 东城区 Dōngchéng Qū   ;
  • the district of Xicheng - 西城区 Xīchéng Qū   ;
  • the district of Chongwen - 崇文区 Chóngwén Qū   ;
  • the district of Xuanwu - 宣武区 Xuānwǔ Qū   ;
  • the district of Chaoyang - 朝阳区 Cháoyáng Qū   ;
  • the district of Haidian - 海淀区 Hǎidiàn Qū   ;
  • the district of Fengtai - 丰台区 Fēngtái Qū   ;
  • the district of Shijingshan - 石景山区 Shíjǐngshān Qū .

Six districts correspond to more distant suburbs or satellite towns of the zone métropolitaine :

  • the district of Mentougou - 门头沟区 Méntóugōu Qū   ;
  • the district of Fangshan - 房山区 Fángshān Qū — county of Fangshan before 1986  ;
  • the district of Tongzhou - 通州区 Tōngzhōu Qū — county of Tong before 1997  ;
  • the district of Shunyi - 顺义区 Shùnyì Qū — county of Shunyi before 1998  ;
  • the district of Changping - 昌平区 Chāngpíng Qū — county of Changping before 1999  ;
  • the district of Daxing - 大兴区 Dàxīng Qū — county of Daxing before 2001.

The two remaining districts and the two counties correspond to rural areas and semi-rurales :

  • the district of Pinggu - 平谷区 Pínggǔ Qū — county of Pinggu before 2001  ;
  • the district of Huairou - 怀柔区 Huáiróu Qū — county of Huairou before 2001  ;
  • the county of Miyun - 密云县 Mìyún Xiàn   ;
  • the county of Yanqing - 延庆县 Yánqìng Xiàn   ;

These districts and counties themselves are divided into 273 subdivisions of level canton, including/understanding 119 boroughs, 24 cantons, 5 ethnic cantons and 125 under-districts.

History

In 1115, Jin of North establish their capital in Beijing, which they name Zhongdu and which will be famous Dadu.

In 1215, the Mongolian emperor Gengis Khan burns Dadu, the capital of the Second dynasty Jin and already old city. In 1264, Kubilai Khan, small son of Gengis Khan and founder of the dynasty Yuan makes rebuild the city. It would have made of Beijing, at the time under the name of Khanbalik (Cambalou or Cambaluc, of Turkish “qan balïq”), the capital of the whole of China, from where it controlled a vast empire. In 1368, the Ming seize the power and settle with Nankin, Dadu/Khanbalik takes the name of “Beiping” (北平, literally " peace of the nord"). However, at the beginning of XVe century, the third emperor of the dynasty, Yongle, undertakes great work in Beijing: he makes in particular build the prohibited Cité and the Temple of the Sky. In 1421, it returns in Beiping its statute of capital, and this one takes the name of Beijing (北京, Běijīng, according to the transcription pinyin which refers since 1979, i.e. capital North).

In 1928, because of the civil war, the Guomindang transfers its capital to Nankin and Beijing takes again the name of “Beiping”. In 1938, the city became integral part of the Japanese empire at the time of the Expansionnisme of Japan Showa. The Japanese army established to with it the bacteriological research unit 1855, a subsidiary company of the Unité 731, where Japanese doctors practiced experiments on human guinea-pigs.

The capital of the RPC

In 1949, Mao proclaims the Popular republic from China in Beijing, which regains the row of capital whereas Nankin remains the capital of swears nationalists of Guomindang taken refuge in Taiwan.

Recent changes

Beijing was selected to organize the Olympic Games of summer of 2008 by CIO, the July 13rd 2001 with Moscow. On this occasion, the town planning of the city undergoes important transformations, under the direction of Albert Speer Jr., the son of the famous architect of Hitler, Albert Speer. The destruction of many districts has, according to certain estimates, makes move 1,5 million Pekinese
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