Beijing

5/6/2014 Beijing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing 1/35

Municipality

Beijing Municipality

Clockwise from top: Tiananmen, Temple of Heaven, National

Center for the Performing Arts, and Beijing National Stadium

Location of Beijing Municipality within China

Coordinates: 395450N 1162330E

Country People's Republic of China

Divisions[1]

- County-level - Township-level

16 districts, 2 counties289 towns and villages

BeijingFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Peking" redirects here. For other uses, see Beijing (disambiguation) and Peking (disambiguation).

Beijing, sometimes romanized as Peking,[5] is thecapital of the People's Republic of China and one of themost populous cities in the world. The population as of

2013 was 21,150,000.[6] The metropolis, located innorthern China, is governed as a direct-controlledmunicipality under the national government, with 14 urban

and suburban districts and two rural counties.[7] BeijingMunicipality is surrounded by Hebei Province with theexception of neighboring Tianjin Municipality to the

southeast.[8]

Beijing is the second largest Chinese city by urbanpopulation after Shanghai and is the nation's political,

cultural, and educational center.[9] It is home to theheadquarters of most of China's largest state-ownedcompanies, and is a major hub for the national highway,expressway, railway, and high-speed rail networks. TheBeijing Capital International Airport is the second busiestin the world by passenger traffic.

The city's history dates back three millennia. As the lastof the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, Beijing hasbeen the political center of the country for much of the

past eight centuries.[10] The city is renowned for itsopulent palaces, temples, parks and gardens, tombs,

walls and gates,[11] and its art treasures and universities

have made it a center of culture and art in China.[11]

Encyclopdia Britannica notes that "few cities in theworld have served for so long as the politicalheadquarters and cultural centre of an area as immense

as China."[12]

Contents

1 Etymology

2 History

2.1 Early history

2.2 Early Imperial China

Beijing

Coordinates: 395450N 1162330E



Government

Type Municipality

PartySecretary

Guo Jinlong (Politburo member)

Mayor Wang Anshun

CongressChairman

Du Deyin

ConferenceChairman

Ji Lin

Area[2]

Municipality 16,410.54 km2 (6,336.14 sq mi)

Urban 1,368.32 km2 (528.31 sq mi)

Rural 15,042.22 km2 (5,807.83 sq mi)

Elevation 43.5 m (142.7 ft)

Population (2013)[3]

Municipality 21,150,000

Density 1,300/km2 (3,300/sq mi)

Ranks inChina

Population: 26th;Density: 4th

Major ethnic groups

Han 96%

Manchu 2%

Hui 2%

Mongol 0.3%

Time zone China Standard (UTC+8)

Postal code 100000102629

Area code(s) 10

GDP[4] 2013

- Total CNY 1.95 trillionUS$ 318.107 billion (13th)

- Per capita CNY 94,235US$ 15,373 (2nd)

- Growth 7.7%

HDI (2008) 0.891 (2nd)very high

License plateprefixes

A, C, E, F, H, J, K, L, M, N, P,QB (taxis)G, Y (outside urban area)O (police and authorities)V (in red color) (militaryheadquarters,central government)

City trees Chinese arborvitae (Platycladusorientalis)

2.3 Ming Dynasty

2.4 Qing Dynasty

2.5 Republican era

2.6 People's Republic

3 Geography

3.1 Climate

3.2 Air quality

3.2.1 Readings

3.3 Dust storms

4 Politics and government

4.1 Administrative divisions

4.1.1 Towns

4.1.2 Neighbourhoods

4.2 Judiciary and procuracy

4.3 Diplomatic missions

5 Economy

6 Demographics

7 Culture

7.1 Places of interest

7.2 Architecture

8 Media

8.1 Television and radio

8.2 Press

9 Sports

9.1 Events

9.2 Venues

9.3 Clubs

10 Transportation

10.1 Rail and high-speed rail

10.2 Roads and expressways

10.3 Air

10.4 Public transit

10.5 Taxi

10.6 Bicycles

11 Education

12 Nature and wildlife



Pagoda tree (Sophora japonica)

City flowers China rose (Rosa chinensis)

Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemummorifolium)

Website www.ebeijing.gov.cn(http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/)

Beijing

Chinese name

Chinese

Hanyu Pinyin Bijng

[Listen]

Postal Map Peking

Literal meaning Northern capital

Transcriptions

Hakka

Romanization Pet-kn

Mandarin

Hanyu Pinyin Bijng

[Listen]

WadeGiles Pei3ching1

Pei3-ching1

IPA [pe ti] ( )

Min

Hokkien POJ Pak-kia

Min-dong BUC Bek-gng

Wu

Romanization pohcin

Cantonese

Jyutping bak1ging1

IPA [pkk]

English IPA of Beijing name

English IPA of Beijing /bed/

English IPA of Peking name

English IPA of Peking /pi k/

/pek/

13 See also

14 Notes and references

15 Further reading

16 External links

Etymology

See also: Names of Beijing

Over the past 3,000 years, the city of Beijing has hadnumerous other names. The name Beijing, which means"Northern Capital" (from the Chinese characters fornorth and for capital), was applied to the city in1403 during the Ming Dynasty to distinguish the city from

Nanjing (the "Southern Capital").[13] The English spellingis based on the pinyin romanization of the two charactersas they are pronounced in Standard Mandarin. An olderEnglish spelling, Peking, is the Postal Map Romanizationof the same two characters as they are pronounced inChinese dialects spoken in the southern port towns first

visited by European traders and missionaries.[14] Thosedialects preserve the Middle Chinese pronunciation of

as kjaeng,[15] prior to a phonetic shift in the northern

dialects to the modern pronunciation.[16]

The single Chinese character abbreviation for Beijing is, which appears on automobile license plates in thecity. The official Latin alphabet abbreviation for Beijing is

"BJ".[17]

History

Main article: History of Beijing

Early history

The earliest traces of human habitation in the Beijingmunicipality were found in the caves of Dragon Bone Hillnear the village of Zhoukoudian in Fangshan District,where Peking Man lived. Homo erectus fossils from thecaves date to 230,000 to 250,000 years ago. Paleolithichomo sapiens also lived there more recently, about



The museum at Zhoukoudian

The Tianning Pagoda, built around

1120.

27,000 years ago.[18] Archaeologists have found neolithic settlementsthroughout the municipality, including in Wangfujing, located in downtownBeijing.

The first walled city in Beijing was Ji, a city-state from the 11th to 7thcentury BC. Within modern Beijing, Ji was located south of the present

Beijing West Railway Station.[19] This settlement was later conquered by

the state of Yan and made its capital under the name Yanjing.[20]

Early Imperial China

After the First Emperor unified China, Beijing became a prefectural

capital for the region.[1] During the Three Kingdoms period, it was heldby Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao before falling to Cao Cao's WeiKingdom. The AD 3rd-century Western Jin demoted the town, placingthe prefectural seat in neighboring Zhuozhou. During the SixteenKingdoms period when northern China was conquered and divided bythe Wu Hu, Beijing, as Jicheng was briefly the capital of the XianbeiFormer Yan Kingdom.

After China was reunified during the Sui Dynasty, Beijing, known asZhuojun, became the northern terminus of the Grand Canal. Under theTang Dynasty, Beijing as Fanyang, served as a military frontiercommand center. During the An-Shi Rebellion and again amidst theturmoil of the late Tang, local military commanders founded their ownshort-lived Yan Dynasties and called the city Yanjing, or the "YanCapital." In 938, after the fall of the Tang, the Later Jin ceded the entirenorthern frontier to the Khitan Liao Dynasty, which renamed the city,Nanjing, or the "Southern Capital", one of four secondary capitals tocomplement its "Supreme Capital", Shangjing (modern Baarin LeftBanner in Inner Mongolia). Some of the oldest surviving structures inBeijing date to the Liao period, including the Tianning Pagoda.

The Liao fell to the Jurchen Jin dynasty in 1122, which gave the city to the Song Dynasty and then retook it in 1125

during its conquest of northern China. In 1153, the Jin made Beijing their "Central Capital", called Zhongdu.[1] The

city was besieged by Genghis Khan's invading Mongolian army in 1213 and razed to the ground two years later.[21]

Two generations later, Kublai Khan ordered the construction of Dadu (or Daidu to the Mongols, commonlyknown as Khanbaliq), a new capital for his Yuan dynasty to be located adjacent to the Jin ruins. The construction

took from 1264 to 1293,[1][21][22] but greatly enhanced the status of a city on the northern fringe of China proper.The city was centered on the Drum Tower slightly to the north of modern Beijing and stretched from the present-day Chang'an Avenue to the Line 10 subway. Remnants of the Yuan packed earth wall still stand and are known as

the Tucheng.[23]

Ming Dynasty



Detail from a 1682 Italian map

displaying the region of "Peking" and

the capital city of "Peking or

Shuntian" (Xuntieu).

One of the corner towers of the

Forbidden City.

In 1368, soon after declaring the new Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty, the rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang sent an

army to Khanbaliq and burnt it to the ground.[24] Since the Yuan continued to occupy Shangdu and Mongolia,however, a new town was established to supply the military garrisons in

the area.[25] This was called Beiping[26] and under the HongwuEmperor's feudal policies it was given to Zhu Di, one of his sons, whowas created "Prince of Yan".

The early death of ZhuYuanzhang's heir led to asuccession struggle on hisdeath, one that ended with thevictory of Zhu Di and thedeclaration of the new Yongleera. Since his harsh treatmentof the Ming capital Yingtian(Nanjing) alienated many there,he established his fief as a newco-capital. The city of Beiping

became Shuntian[27] now Beijing in 1403.[13] The construction of the

new imperial residence, the Forbidden City, took from 1406 to 1420;[21]

this period was also responsible for several other of the modern city's

major attractions, such as the Temple of Heaven[28] and Tian'anmen (although the square facing it was not cleared

until 1651[29]). On 28 October 1420, Beijing is officially designated the capital of the Ming Dynasty on the same

year that the Forbidden City is completed.[30] Beijing became the empire's primary capital (Jingshi) and Yingtian now called Nanjing lost much of its importance. (A 1425 order by Zhu Di's son, the Hongxi Emperor, to returnthe capital to Nanjing was never carried out: he died, probably of a heart attack, the next month. He was buried,like almost every Ming emperor to follow him, in an elaborate necropolis to Beijing's north.)

By the 15th century, Beijing had essentially taken its current shape. The Ming city wall continued to serve until

modern times, when it was pulled down and the 2nd Ring Road was built in its place.[31] It is generally believed that

Beijing was the largest city in the world for most of the 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.[32] The first knownchurch was constructed by Catholics in 1652 at the former site of Matteo Ricci's chapel; the modern Nantang

Cathedral was later built upon the same site.[33]

The capture of Beijing by Li Zicheng's peasant army in 1644 ended the dynasty, but he and his Shun courtabandoned the city without a fight when the Manchu army of Prince Dorgon arrived 40 days later.

Qing Dynasty

Dorgon established the Qing Dynasty as a direct successor of the Ming (delegitimizing Li Zicheng and his

followers)[34] and Beijing became China's sole capital.[35] The Qing emperors made some modifications to theImperial residence but, in large part, the Ming buildings and the general layout remained unchanged. Facilities forManchu worship were introduced, but the Qing also continued the traditional state rituals. Signage was bilingual orChinese. This early Qing Beijing later formed the setting for the classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber.



Map of Beijing, 1914.

A postcard displaying one of the

Summer Palace, c. 1900.

During the Second Opium War, Anglo-French forces captured the city, looting and burning the Old SummerPalace in 1860. Under the Convention of Peking ending that war, Western powers for the first time secured theright to establish permanent diplomatic presences within the city. In 1900, the attempt by the "Boxers" to eradicate

this presence, as well as Chinese Christian converts, led to Beijing's reoccupation by foreign powers.[36] During thefighting, several important structures were destroyed, including the Hanlin Academy and the (new) Summer Palace.

Republican era

The fomenters of the XinhaiRevolution of 1911 sought toreplace Qing rule with arepublic and leaders like SunYat-sen originally intended toreturn the capital to Nanjing.After the Qing general YuanShikai forced the abdication ofthe last Qing emperor andensured the success of therevolution, the revolutionariesaccepted him as president ofthe new Republic of China. Yuan maintained his capital at Beijing andquickly consolidated power, declaring himself emperor in 1915. His

death less than a year later[37] left China under the control of thewarlords commanding the regional armies. The most powerful factionsfought frequent wars the Zhili-Anhui War and the First and SecondZhili-Fengtian War to take control of the capital. Following the successof the Nationalists' Northern Expedition, the capital was formallyremoved to Nanjing in 1928. On 28 June the same year, Beijing's name

was returned to Beiping (written at the time as "Peiping").[9][38]

During the Second Sino-Japanese War,[9] Beiping fell to Japan on 29 July 1937[39] and was made the seat of theProvisional Government of the Republic of China, a puppet state that ruled the ethnic-Chinese portions of

Japanese-occupied northern China.[40] This government was later merged into the larger Wang Jingwei government

based in Nanjing.[41]

People's Republic

In the final phases of the Chinese Civil War, the People's Liberation Army seized control of the city peacefully on31 January 1949 in the course of the Pingjin Campaign. On 1 October that year, Mao Zedong announced thecreation of the People's Republic of China from atop Tian'anmen. He restored the name of the city, as the new

capital, to Beijing,[42] a decision that had been reached by the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conferencejust a few days earlier.

In the 1950s, the city began to expand beyond the old walled city and its surrounding neighborhoods, with heavyindustries in the west and residential neighborhoods in the north. Many areas of the Beijing city wall were torn downin the 1960s to make way for the construction of the Beijing Subway and the 2nd Ring Road.



Mao Zedong proclaiming the

establishment of the People's Republic

of China in 1949

A scene from the opening ceremonies

of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

Peking filmed in 1937

During the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, the Red Guardmovement began in Beijing and the city's government fell victim to one ofthe first purges. By the fall of 1966, all city schools were shut down andover a million Red Guards from across the country gathered in Beijing for

eight rallies in Tian'anmen Square with Mao.[43] In April 1976, a largepublic gathering of Beijing residents against the Gang of Four and theCultural Revolution in Tiananmen Square was forcefully suppressed. InOctober 1976, the Gang was arrested in Zhongnanhai and the CulturalRevolution came to an end. In December 1978, the Third Plenum of the11th Party Congress in Beijing under the leadership of Deng Xiaopingreversed the verdicts against victims of the Cultural Revolution andinstituted the "policy of reform and opening up."

Since the early 1980s, the urban area of Beijing has expanded greatlywith the completion of the 2nd Ring Road in 1981 and the subsequent

addition of the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Ring Roads.[44][45] According toone 2005 newspaper report, the size of newly developed Beijing was

one-and-a-half times larger than before.[46] Wangfujing and Xidan have

developed into flourishing shopping districts,[47] while Zhongguancun has

become a major center of electronics in China.[48] In recent years, theexpansion of Beijing has also brought to the forefront some problems ofurbanization, such as heavy traffic, poor air quality, the loss of historicneighborhoods, and a significant influx of migrants from less-developed

areas of the country.[49] Beijing has also been the location of manysignificant events in recent Chinese history, principally the Tiananmen

Square protests of 1989[50] and the 2008 Summer Olympics. This city

was awarded to host the 2015 World Championships in Athletics.[51]

Geography

Main article: Geography of Beijing

Beijing is situated at the northern tip of the roughly triangular North ChinaPlain, which opens to the south and east of the city. Mountains to thenorth, northwest and west shield the city and northern China's agricultural heartland from the encroaching desertsteppes. The northwestern part of the municipality, especially Yanqing County and Huairou District, are dominatedby the Jundu Mountains, while the western part is framed by Xishan or the Western Hills. The Great Wall of Chinaacross the northern part of Beijing Municipality was built on the rugged topography to defend against nomadicincursions from the steppes. Mount Dongling, in the Western Hills and on the border with Hebei, is themunicipality's highest point, with an altitude of 2,303 metres (7,556 ft).

Major rivers flowing through the municipality, including the Chaobai, Yongding, Juma, are all tributaries in the HaiRiver system, and flow in a southeasterly direction. The Miyun Reservoir, on the upper reaches of the ChaobaiRiver, is the largest reservoir within the municipality. Beijing is also the northern terminus of the Grand Canal toHangzhou, which was built over 1,400 years ago as a transportation route, and the SouthNorth Water TransferProject, constructed in the past decade to bring water from the Yangtze River basin.



Landsat 7 Satellite image of Beijing

Municipality with the surrounding

mountains in dark brown

Remnants of the Great Wall of China

in the mountains north of the city.

The urban area of Beijing, onthe plains in the south-centralof the municipality withelevation of 4060 m,occupies a relatively small butexpanding portion of themunicipality's area. The cityspreads out in concentric ringroads. The Second Ring Roadtraces the old city walls and theSixth Ring Road connectssatellite towns in thesurrounding suburbs.Tian'anmen and Tian'anmen Square are at the center of Beijing, directlyto the south of the Forbidden City, the former residence of the emperorsof China. To the west of Tian'anmen is Zhongnanhai, the residence ofChina's current leaders. Chang'an Avenue which cuts between

Tiananmen and the Square, forms the city's main east-west axis.

Climate

Beijing has a rather dry, monsoon-influenced humid continental climate (Kppen climate classification Dwa),characterized by hot, humid summers due to the East Asian monsoon, and generally cold, windy, dry winters that

reflect the influence of the vast Siberian anticyclone.[52] Spring can bear witness to sandstorms blowing in fromGobi Desert across the Mongolian steppe, accompanied by rapidly warming, but generally dry, conditions.Autumn, like spring, sees little rain, but is crisp and short. The monthly daily average temperature in January is3.7 C (25.3 F), while in July it is 26.2 C (79.2 F). Precipitation averages around 570 mm (22.4 in) annually,with close to three-fourths of that total falling from June to August. With monthly percent possible sunshine rangingfrom 47% in July to 65% in January and February, the city receives 2,671 hours of bright sunshine annually.Extremes have ranged from 27.4 C (17 F) on February 22, 1966 to 42.6 C (109 F) on June 15,

1942.[53][54]



Heavy air pollution has resulted in

widespread smog. These

photographs, taken in August 2005,

show the variations in Beijing's air

quality.

Climate data for Beijing (normals 19712000, extremes 1951present)

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

Record high C(F)

14.3(57.7)

19.8(67.6)

29.5(85.1)

33.0(91.4)

38.3(100.9)

42.6(108.7)

41.9(107.4)

38.3(100.9)

35.0(95)

31.0(87.8)

23.3(73.9)

19.5(67.1)

42.6(108.7)

Average highC (F)

1.8(35.2)

5.0(41)

11.6(52.9)

20.3(68.5)

26.0(78.8)

30.2(86.4)

30.9(87.6)

29.7(85.5)

25.8(78.4)

19.1(66.4)

10.1(50.2)

3.7(38.7)

17.9(64.1)

Average low C(F)

8.4(16.9)

5.6(21.9)

0.4(32.7)

7.9(46.2)

13.6(56.5)

18.8(65.8)

22.0(71.6)

20.8(69.4)

14.8(58.6)

7.9(46.2)

0.0(32)

5.8(21.6)

7.2(45.0)

Record low C(F)

22.8(9)

27.4(17.3)

15(5)

3.2(26.2)

2.5(36.5)

9.8(49.6)

15.3(59.5)

11.4(52.5)

3.7(38.7)

3.5(25.7)

12.3(9.9)

18.3(0.9)

27.4(17.3)

Precipitationmm (inches)

2.7(0.106)

4.9(0.193)

8.3(0.327)

21.2(0.835)

34.2(1.346)

78.1(3.075)

185.2(7.291)

159.7(6.287)

45.5(1.791)

21.8(0.858)

7.4(0.291)

2.8(0.11)

571.8(22.51)

Avg. precipitationdays ( 0.1 mm)

1.8 2.3 3.3 4.3 5.8 9.7 13.6 12.0 7.6 5.0 3.5 1.7 70.6

% humidity 44 44 46 46 53 61 75 77 68 61 57 49 56.8

Mean monthlysunshine hours

194.1 194.7 231.8 251.9 283.4 261.4 212.4 220.9 232.1 222.1 185.3 180.7 2,670.8

Percent possiblesunshine

65 65 63 64 64 59 47 52 63 64 62 62 60

Source: China Meteorological Administration [55], China Meteorological Data Sharing Service System[56], all-time record

high[54]

Air quality

Joint research between American and Chinese researchers in 2006 concluded that much of the city's pollutioncomes from surrounding cities and provinces. On average 3560% of the ozone can be traced to sources outside

the city. Shandong Province and Tianjin Municipality have a "significant influence on Beijing's air quality",[57] partlydue to the prevailing south/southeasterly flow during the summer and the mountains to the north and northwest.

In preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics and to fulfill promises to

clean up the city's air, nearly 17 billion USD was spent.[58] Beijingimplemented a number of air improvement schemes for the duration ofthe Games, including halting work at all construction sites, closing manyfactories in Beijing permanently, temporarily shutting industry in

neighboring regions, closing some gas stations,[59] and cutting motortraffic by half by limiting drivers to odd or even days (based on their

license plate numbers),[60] reducing bus and subway fares, opening new

subway lines, and banning high-emission vehicles.[61][62] The city furtherassembled 3,800 natural-gas powered buses, one of the largest fleets in

the world.[58] Beijing became the first city in China to require the Chinese

equivalent to the Euro 4 emission standard.[63]



Coal burning accounts for about 40% of the PM 2.5 in Beijing and is also the chief source of nitrogen and sulfur

dioxide.[64] Since 2012, the city has been converting coal-fired power stations to burn natural gas[65] and aims tocap annual coal consumption at 20 million tons. In 2011, the city burned 26.3 million tons of coal, 73% of which for

heating and power generation and the remainder for industry.[65] Much of the citys air pollutants are emitted by

neighboring regions.[64] Coal consumption in neighboring Tianjin is expected to increase from 48 to 63 million tons

from 2011 to 2015.[66] Hebei Province burned over 300 million tons of coal in 2011, more than all of Germany, of

which only 30% were used for power generation and a considerable portion for steel and cement making.[67]

Power plants in the coal-mining regions of Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi, where coal consumption has tripled

since 2000, and Shandong also contribute to air pollution in Beijing.[64] Shandong, Shanxi, Hebei and Inner

Mongolia, respectively rank from first to fourth, among Chinese provinces by coal consumption.[66]

The government regularly uses cloud-seeding measures to increase the likelihood of rain showers in the region to

clear the air prior to large events[68] as well as to combat drought conditions in the area.

Beijing air quality is often poor, especially in winter. Many people wear face masks. Smog has dangerous pollution.In mid-January 2013, Beijing's air quality corresponded to a PM2.5 density of 886 micrograms per cubic meter,

which went off the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's air quality index.[69] The concentration of toxic smallparticles in Jan-Feb 2014 was at highest 26 times the level considered safe by WHO. According to Beijing's mayorthe intention is to cut coal burning in the city and the surrounding areas by 2.6 million tonnes in three years by

2017.[70][71]

Readings

Due to Beijing's high-level of air pollution, there are various readings by different sources on the subject. Dailypollution readings at 27 monitoring stations around the city are reported on the website of the Beijing Environmental

Protection Bureau (BJEPB).[72] The United States Embassy in Beijing also reports hourly fine particulate (PM2.5)

and ozone levels on Twitter.[73] Although the BJEPB and US Embassy measure different pollutants according todifferent criteria the media has noted that pollution levels and the impact to human health reported by the BJEPB

are often lower than that reported by the US Embassy.[73]

Dust storms

Dust from the erosion of deserts in northern and northwestern China results in seasonal dust storms that plague thecity; the Beijing Weather Modification Office sometimes artificially induces rainfall to fight such storms and mitigate

their effects.[74] In the first four months of 2006 alone, there were no fewer than eight such storms.[75] In April2002, one dust storm alone dumped nearly 50,000 tons of dust onto the city before moving on to Japan and

Korea.[76]

Politics and government

Main article: Politics of Beijing



Municipal government is regulated by the local Communist Party of China (CPC), led by the Beijing CPCSecretary (Chinese: ). The local CPC issues administrative orders, collects taxes, manages theeconomy, and directs a standing committee of the Municipal People's Congress in making policy decisions andoverseeing the local government.

Government officials include the mayor (Chinese: ) and vice-mayor. Numerous bureaus focus on law, publicsecurity, and other affairs. Additionally, as the capital of China, Beijing houses all of the important national

governmental and political institutions, including the National People's Congress.[77]

Administrative divisions

Main articles: List of administrative divisions of Beijing and List of township-level divisions of Beijing

Beijing Municipality currently comprises 16 administrative county-level subdivisions including 14 urban andsuburban districts and two rural counties. On 1 July 2010, Chongwen () and Xuanwu Districts ()were merged into Dongcheng and Xicheng Districts, respectively.



MapDistrict /

CountyChinese

Population

(2010)[78]Area

(km)

Density

(per

km)

Dongcheng

District 919,000 40.6 22,635

Xicheng

District 1,243,000 46.5 26,731

Chaoyang

District 3,545,000 470.8 7,530

HaidianDistrict

3,281,000 426.0 7,702

FengtaiDistrict

2,112,000 304.2 6,943

Shijingshan

District

616,000 89.8 6,860

Tongzhou

District 1,184,000 870.0 1,361

ShunyiDistrict

877,000 980.0 895

ChangpingDistrict

1,661,000 1,430.0 1,162

Daxing

District 1,365,000 1,012.0 1,349

MentougouDistrict

290,000 1,331.3 218

FangshanDistrict

945,000 1,866.7 506

Pinggu

District 416,000 1,075.0 387

Huairou

District 373,000 2,557.3 146

MiyunCounty

468,000 2,335.6 200

YanqingCounty

317,000 1,980.0 160

Color key

Old city formerly enclosed by city walls, now inside the 2nd Ring Road

2. Dongcheng

1. Xicheng

3. Shijingshan

ChaoyangHaidian

Fengtai

3 1 2

Mentougou

Fangshan Tongzhou

Shunyi

Changping

Daxing

Pinggu

Miyun

YanqingHuairou



Shichahai, in the Xicheng District, is

traditionally considered one of

Beijing's most beautiful and charming

scenic areas.

Changpu River Park near the

Forbidden City

Urban districts between the 2nd and 5th Ring Road

Inner suburbs linked by the 6th Ring Road

Outer suburbs and rural areas.

Towns

Main article: List of township-level divisions of Beijing

Beijing's 16 districts and counties are further subdivided into 273 lowerthird-level administrative units at the township level: 119 towns, 24townships, 5 ethnic townships and 125 subdistricts. Towns within BeijingMunicipality but outside the urban area include (but are not limited to):

Several place names in Beijing end with mn (), meaning "gate", asthey were the locations of gates in the former Beijing city wall. Other place names end in cn (), meaning"village", as they were originally villages outside the city wall.

Neighbourhoods

Main article: Neighborhoods in Beijing

Neighbourhoods may extend across multiple districts. Major neighbourhoods in urban Beijing include:

Changping

Huairou

Miyun

Liangxiang

Liulimiao

Tongzhou

Yizhuang

Tiantongyuan

Beiyuan

Xiaotangshan



The Niujie Mosque is an important

historical attraction

Qianmen

Tian'anmen

Di'anmen

Chongwenmen

Xuanwumen

Fuchengmen

Xizhimen

Deshengmen

Andingmen

Sanlitun

Dongzhimen

Chaoyangmen



Judiciary and procuracy

The judicial system in Beijing consists of the Supreme People's Court, the highest court in the country, the BeijingMunicial High People's Court, the high people's court of the municipality, three intermediate people's courts, oneintermediate railway transport court, 14 basic people's court (one for each of the municipality's districts andcounties), and one basic railway transport court. The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court in Shijingshan

oversees the basic courts of Haidian, Shijingshan, Mentougou, Changping and Yanqing.[79] The Beijing No. 2

Yongdingmen

Zuo'anmen

You'anmen

Guangqumen

Guang'anmen

Huashi

Xibianmen

Hepingmen

Fuxingmen

Jianguomen

Gongzhufen

Fangzhuang

Guomao

Hepingli

Ping'anli

Beixinqiao

Jiaodaokou

Kuanjie

Wangjing

Wangfujing

Dengshikou

Wudaokou

Xidan

Dongdan

Zhongguancun

Panjiayuan

Beijing CBD

Yayuncun

Shifoying



Beijing's CBD with Jianwai SOHO,

Park Hyatt, Yintai, CCTV

Headquarters, Jingguang

Beijing Financial Street, the economic

center of Beijing

Intermediate People's Court in Fengtai oversees the basic courts of Dongcheng, Xicheng, Fengtai, Fangshan and

Daxing.[79] The Beijing No. 3 Intermediate People's Court in Laiguangying, is the newest of the three intermediate

people's courts and opened on August 21, 2013.[79] It oversees the district courts of Chaoyang, Tongzhou, Shunyi,

Huairou, Pinggu and Miyun.[79][80] Each court in Beijing has a corresponding people's procuratorate.

Diplomatic missions

Main article: List of diplomatic missions in China

About 163 countries have embassies in Beijing, which are concentrated in Jiangguomenwai, Sanlitun andLiangmaqiao in Chaoyang District.

Economy

See also: List of economic and technological development zones in Beijing

Beijing is among the most developed cities in China, with tertiary industryaccounting for 73.2% of its gross domestic product (GDP); it was the

first post industrial city in mainland China.[81] Beijing is home to 41Fortune Global 500 companies, the second most in the world behind

Tokyo,[82] and over 100 of the largest companies in China.[83] Its overall

economic influence has been ranked number 1 by PwC.[84]

Finance is one of the most important industries.[85] By the end of 2007,there were 751 financial organizations in Beijing generating revenue of128.6 billion RMB, 11.6% of the total financial industry revenue of theentire country. That also accounts for 13.8% of Beijing's GDP, the

highest percentage of any Chinese city.[86]

In 2010, Beijing's nominal GDP reached 1.37 trillion RMB. Its per capitaGDP was 78,194 RMB. In 2009, Beijing's nominal GDP was1.19 trillion RMB (US$174 billion), a growth of 10.1% over theprevious year. Its GDP per capita was 68,788 RMB (US$10,070), anincrease of 6.2% over 2008. In 2009, Beijing's primary, secondary, andtertiary industries were worth 11.83 billion RMB, 274.31 billion RMB,and 900.45 billion RMB respectively. Urban disposable income percapita was 26,738 yuan, a real increase of 8.1% from the previous year.Per capita pure income of rural residents was 11,986 RMB, a real

increase of 11.5%.[87] The Engel's coefficient of Beijing's urban residentsreached 31.8% in 2005, while that of the rural residents was 32.8%,declining 4.5 and 3.9 percentage points respectively compared to 2000.

Beijing's real estate and automobile sectors have continued to boom in recent years. In 2005, a total of 28,032,000square metres (301,730,000 sq ft) of housing real estate was sold, for a total of 175.88 billion RMB. The totalnumber of cars registered in Beijing in 2004 was 2,146,000, of which 1,540,000 were privately owned (a yearly



Wangfujing Street is one of the

busiest streets in Beijing, with nearly

100,000 visitors daily (August 2008).

Zhongguancun is a technology hub in

Haidian District

increase of 18.7%).[88]

The Beijing central business district (CBD), centered on the Guomao area, has been identified as the city's newcentral business district, and is home to a variety of corporate regional headquarters, shopping precincts, and high-end housing. Beijing Financial Street, in the Fuxingmen and Fuchengmen area, is a traditional financial center. TheWangfujing and Xidan areas are major shopping districts. Zhongguancun,dubbed "China's Silicon Valley", continues to be a major center inelectronics and computer-related industries, as well as pharmaceuticals-related research. Meanwhile, Yizhuang, located to the southeast of theurban area, is becoming a new center in pharmaceuticals, information

technology, and materials engineering.[89] Shijingshan, on the western

outskirts of the city, is among the major industrial areas.[90] Speciallydesignated industrial parks include Zhongguancun Science Park, YongleEconomic Development Zone, Beijing Economic-technologicalDevelopment Area, and Tianzhu Airport Industrial Zone.

Agriculture is carried on outside the urban area, with wheat and maize

(corn) being the main crops.[52] Vegetables are also grown closer to theurban area in order to supply the city.

Beijing is increasingly becoming known for its innovative entrepreneursand high-growth startup companies. This culture is backed by a largecommunity of both Chinese and foreign venture capital firms, such asSequoia Capital, whose head office in China is in Chaoyang, Beijing.Though Shanghai is seen as the economic center of China, this is typicallybased on the numerous large corporations based there, rather than forbeing a center for entrepreneurship.

Less legitimate enterprises also exist. Urban Beijing is known for being acenter of pirated goods; anything from the latest designer clothing toDVDs can be found in markets all over the city, often marketed to

expatriates and international visitors.[91]

The development of Beijing continues at a rapid pace, and the vast expansion has created a multitude of problemsfor the city. Beijing is known for its smog as well as the frequent "power-saving" programmes instituted by thegovernment. To reduce air pollution, a number of major industries have been ordered to reduce emissions or leavethe city. Beijing Capital Steel, once one of the city's largest employers and its single biggest polluter, has been

relocating most of its operations to Tangshan, in nearby Hebei Province.[92][93]

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Beijing

The registered population of Beijing Municipality consists of people holding either Beijing permanent residencehukou permits or temporary residence permits. The 2010 census revealed that the official total population in

Beijing was 19,612,368,[94] representing a 44% increase over the last decade.[95] In 2006, the population of the



The National Center for the

Performing Arts

The Old Beijing Observatory

A scene from a Peking opera

urban core was 13.33 million, 84.3 percent of the total municipal population, which officially stood at

15.81 million.[7] Urban sprawl continues at a rapid pace.[96]

After Chongqing and Shanghai,[94] Beijing is the third largest of the four directly controlled municipalities of thePeople's Republic of China. In the PRC, a directly controlled municipality ( in pinyin: zhxish) is a city withstatus equal to a province.

According to the statistical yearbook issued in 2005 by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, out of a totalpopulation in 2004 of 14.213 million in Beijing, 1.415 million (9.96%) were 014 years old, 11.217 million

(78.92%) were 1564 and 1.581 million (11.12%) 65 and over.[97]

Culture

People native to urban Beijingspeak the Beijing dialect,which belongs to the Mandarinsubdivision of spoken Chinese.This speech is the basis forputonghua, the standardspoken language used inmainland China and Taiwan,and one of the four officiallanguages of Singapore. Ruralareas of Beijing Municipalityhave their own dialects akin tothose of Hebei province, which

surrounds Beijing Municipality.

Beijing or Peking opera (, Jngj) is a traditional form of Chinesetheater well known throughout the nation. Commonly lauded as one ofthe highest achievements of Chinese culture, Beijing opera is performedthrough a combination of song, spoken dialogue, and codified actionsequences involving gestures, movement, fighting and acrobatics. Muchof Beijing opera is carried out in an archaic stage dialect quite different

from Modern Standard Chinese and from the modern Beijing dialect.[98]

Beijing cuisine is the local style of cooking. Peking Roast Duck isperhaps the best known dish. Fuling Jiabing, a traditional Beijing snackfood, is a pancake (bing) resembling a flat disk with a filling made fromfu ling, a fungus used in traditional Chinese medicine. Teahouses arecommon in Beijing.

The cloisonn (or Jingtailan, literally "Blue of Jingtai") metalworking technique and tradition is a Beijing artspecialty, and is one of the most revered traditional crafts in China. Cloisonn making requires elaborate andcomplicated processes which include base-hammering, copper-strip inlay, soldering, enamel-filling, enamel-firing,



A Chinese cloisonn dish from the

Qing dynasty

Classical gardens in Beijing

surface polishing and gilding.[99] Beijing's lacquerware is also well known for its sophisticated and intrinsic patternsand images carved into its surface, and the various decoration techniques of lacquer include "carved lacquer" and"engraved gold".

Younger residents of Beijing have become more attracted to the nightlife, which has flourished in recent decades,

breaking prior cultural traditions that had practically restricted it to the upper class.[100]

Places of interest

See also: Major National Historical and Cultural Sites (Beijing)and List of landmarks in Beijing

...the city remains an epicenter of tradition with thetreasures of nearly 2,000 years as the imperial capital

still on viewin the famed Forbidden City and in thecity's lush pavilions and gardens...

National Geographic[101]

At the historical heart of Beijing lies the Forbidden City, the enormouspalace compound that was the home of the emperors of the Ming and

Qing dynasties;[102] the Forbidden City hosts the Palace Museum, whichcontains imperial collections of Chinese art. Surrounding the ForbiddenCity are several former imperial gardens, parks and scenic areas, notablyBeihai, Shichahai, Zhongnanhai, Jingshan and Zhongshan. These places,particularly Beihai Park, are described as masterpieces of Chinese

gardening art,[103] and are popular tourist destinations with tremendous

historical importance;[104] in the modern era, Zhongnanhai has also beenthe political heart of various Chinese governments and regimes and isnow the headquarters of the Communist Party of China and the StateCouncil. From Tiananmen Square, right across from the Forbidden City,there are several notable sites, such as the Tiananmen, Qianmen, theGreat Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, the Monument to the People's Heroes, and theMausoleum of Mao Zedong. The Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace both lie at the western part of the

city; the former, a UNESCO World Heritage Site,[105] contains a comprehensive collection of imperial gardens andpalaces that served as the summer retreats for the Qing imperial family.

Among the best known religious sites in the city is the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan), located in southeastern Beijing,

also a UNESCO World Heritage Site,[106] where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties made visits for annualceremonies of prayers to Heaven for good harvest. In the north of the city is the Temple of Earth (Ditan), while theTemple of the Sun (Ritan) and the Temple of the Moon (Yuetan) lie in the eastern and western urban areasrespectively. Other well-known temple sites include the Dongyue Temple, Tanzhe Temple, Miaoying Temple,White Cloud Temple, Yonghe Temple, Fayuan Temple, Wanshou Temple and Big Bell Temple. The city also hasits own Confucius Temple, and a Guozijian or Imperial Academy. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception,built in 1605, is the oldest Catholic church in Beijing. The Niujie Mosque is the oldest mosque in Beijing, with ahistory stretching back over a thousand years.



Beijing's Temple of Heaven as

photographed in the early 20th

century

Inside the Forbidden City

Beijing contains several well-preserved pagodas and stone pagodas,such as the towering Pagoda of Tianning Temple, which was built duringthe Liao Dynasty from 1100 to 1120, and the Pagoda of Cishou Temple,which was built in 1576 during the Ming Dynasty. Historically noteworthystone bridges include the 12th-century Lugou Bridge, the 17th-centuryBaliqiao bridge, and the 18th-century Jade Belt Bridge. The BeijingAncient Observatory displays pre-telescopic spheres dating back to theMing and Qing dynasties. The Fragrant Hills (Xiangshan) is a popularscenic public park that consists of natural landscaped areas as well astraditional and cultural relics. The Beijing Botanical Garden exhibits over6,000 species of plants, including a variety of trees, bushes and flowers,and an extensive peony garden. The Taoranting, Longtan, Chaoyang,Haidian, Milu Yuan and Zizhu Yuan parks are some of the notable recreational parks in the city. The Beijing Zoo isa center of zoological research that also contains rare animals from various continents, including the Chinese giantpanda.

There are over one hundred museums in Beijing.[107][108] In addition to the Palace Museum in the Forbidden Cityand the National Museum of China, other major museums include the National Art Museum of China, the CapitalMuseum, the Beijing Art Museum, the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution, the Geological

Museum of China, the Beijing Museum of Natural History and the Paleozoological Museum of China.[108]

Located at the outskirts of urban Beijing, but within its municipality are the Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty,the lavish and elaborate burial sites of thirteen Ming emperors, which have been designated as part of the

UNESCO World Heritage Site Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.[109] The archaeological Peking

Man site at Zhoukoudian is another World Heritage Site within the municipality,[110] containing a wealth ofdiscoveries, among them one of the first specimens of Homo erectus and an assemblage of bones of the gigantichyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris. There are several sections of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Great Wall of

China,[111] most notably Badaling, Jinshanling, Simatai and Mutianyu.

Architecture

See also: List of tallest buildings in Beijing

Three styles of architecture predominate in urban Beijing. First, there isthe traditional architecture of imperial China, perhaps best exemplified bythe massive Tian'anmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace), which remains thePeople's Republic of China's trademark edifice, the Forbidden City, theImperial Ancestral Temple and the Temple of Heaven. Next, there iswhat is sometimes referred to as the "Sino-Sov" style, with structurestending to be boxy and sometimes poorly constructed, which were built

between the 1950s and the 1970s.[112] Finally, there are much moremodern architectural forms, most noticeably in the area of the BeijingCBD and Beijing Financial Street.

In the early 21st century, Beijing has witnessed tremendous growth of new building constructions, exhibiting variousmodern styles from international designers. A mixture of both old and new styles of architecture can be seen at the798 Art Zone, which mixes 1950s design with the new.



City skyline looking east from the

Financial Street

The China Central Television

Headquarters building

Beijing is famous for its siheyuans, a type of residence where a common courtyard is shared by the surroundingbuildings. Among the more grand examples are the Prince Gong Mansion and Residence of Soong Ching-ling.These courtyards are usually connected by alleys called hutongs. The hutongs are generally straight and run east towest so that doorways face north and south for good Feng Shui. They vary in width; some are so narrow only afew pedestrians can pass through at a time. Once ubiquitous in Beijing,

siheyuans and hutongs are rapidly disappearing,[113] as entire city

blocks of hutongs are replaced by high-rise buildings.[114] Residents ofthe hutongs are entitled to live in the new buildings in apartments of atleast 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,[115] and these properties are often government

owned.[116]

Media

Television and radio

Beijing Television broadcasts on channels 1 through 10. Three radiostations feature programmes in English: Hit FM on FM 88.7, Easy FMby China Radio International on FM 91.5, and the newly launched Radio774 on AM 774. Beijing Radio Stations is the family of radio stationsserving the city.

Press

The well-known Beijing Evening News (Beijing Wanbao, ),covering news about Beijing in Chinese, is distributed every afternoon.Other newspapers include The Beijing News (Xin Jing Bao, ),the Beijing Star Daily, the Beijing Morning News, and the BeijingYouth Daily (Beijing Qingnian Bao), as well as English-languageweeklies Beijing Weekend and Beijing Today. The People's Daily,Global Times and the China Daily (English) are published in Beijing aswell.

Publications primarily aimed at international visitors and the expatriate community include the English-languageperiodicals Time Out Beijing, City Weekend, Beijing This Month, Beijing Talk, That's Beijing.

Sports

Events

Beijing has hosted numerous international and national sporting events, the most notable was the 2008 SummerOlympic and Paralympic Games. Other multi-sport international events held in Beijing include the 2001 Universiadeand the 1990 Asian Games. Single-sport international competitions include the Beijing Marathon (annually since1981), China Open of Tennis (199397, annually since 2004), ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Cup of China



Fireworks above Olympic venues

during the opening ceremony of the

2008 Summer Games

Taijiquan practitioners at the Fragrant

Hills Park

(2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2010), WPBSA China Open for Snooker (annually since 2005),International Cycling Union Tour of Beijing (since 2011), 1961 World Table Tennis Championships, 1987 IBFBadminton World Championships, the 2004 AFC Asian Cup (football), and 2009 Barclays Asia Trophy (football).Beijing will host the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Athletics.

The city hosted the second Chinese National Games in 1914 and the first four National Games of the People'sRepublic of China in 1959, 1965, 1975, 1979, respectively, and co-hosted the 1993 National Games with Sichuan and Qingdao. Beijing alsohosted the inaugural National Peasants' Games in 1988 and the sixthNational Minority Games in 1999.

In November 2013, Beijing and Zhangjiakou made a joint bid to host the

2022 Winter Olympics.[117]

Venues

Major sporting venues in the city include the National Stadium, also

known as the "Birds' Nest",[118][119] National Aquatics Center, alsoknown as the "Water Cube", National Indoor Stadium, all in the OlympicGreen to the north of city center; the MasterCard Center at Wukesongwest of the city center; the Workers' Stadium and Workers' Arena inSanlitun just east of city center and the Capital Arena in Baishiqiao,northeast of the city center. In addition, many universities in the city havetheir own sporting facilities.

Clubs

Professional sports teams based in Beijing include:

The Beijing Olympians of the American Basketball Association, formerly a Chinese Basketball Association team,kept their name and maintained a roster of primarily Chinese players after moving to Maywood, California in 2005.

Chinese Super League

Beijing Guoan

Chinese Football Association Jia League

Beijing Baxy

Beijing Institute of Technology FC

Chinese Basketball Association

Beijing Ducks

Women's Chinese Basketball Association

Beijing Shougang

China Baseball League

Beijing Tigers



Beijing Railway Station, one of several

rail stations in the city

Traffic jam in Beijing in 2011

Terminal 3 of the Beijing Capital

International Airport.

Transportation

Main article: Transport in Beijing

Beijing is an important transport hub in North China with five ring roads,nine expressways, eleven National Highways, nine conventional railways,and two high-speed railways converging on the city.

Rail and high-speed rail

Beijing serves as a large rail hub in China's railway network. Tenconventional rail lines radiate from the city to: Shanghai (Jinghu Line),Guangzhou (Jingguang Line), Kowloon (Jingjiu Line), Harbin (JinghaLine), Baotou (Jingbao Line), Qinhuangdao (Jingqin Line), Chengde(Jingcheng Line), Tongliao, Inner Mongolia (Jingtong Line), Yuanping,Shanxi (Jingyuan Line) and Shacheng, Hebei (Fengsha Line). In addition,the DatongQinhuangdao Railway passes through the municipality to thenorth of the city.

Beijing also has three high-speed rail lines: the Beijing-Tianjin IntercityRailway, which opened in 2008; the Beijing-Shanghai High-SpeedRailway, which opened in 2011; and the BeijingGuangzhou High-SpeedRailway, which opened in 2012.

The city's main railway stations are the Beijing Railway Station, whichopened in 1959; the Beijing West Railway Station, which opened in1996; and the Beijing South Railway Station, which was rebuilt into thecity's high-speed railway station in 2008. As of 1 July 2010, BeijingRailway Station had 173 trains arriving daily, Beijing West had 232 trainsand Beijing South had 163. The Beijing North Railway Station, first builtin 1909 and expanded in 2009, had 22 trains.

Smaller stations in the city including Beijing East Railway Station andQinghuayuan Railway Station handle mainly commuter passenger traffic.The Fengtai Railway Station has been closed for renovation. In outlying

suburbs and counties of Beijing, there are over 40 railway stations.[120]

From Beijing, direct passenger train service is available to most largecities in China. International train service is available to Mongolia, Russia,Vietnam and North Korea. Passenger trains in China are numberedaccording to their direction in relation to Beijing.

Roads and expressways

Further information: Expressways of Beijing and China National Highways of Beijing



A Line 1 train on the Beijing Subway,

which is among the longest, busiest

and most affordable rapid transit

systems in the world.

An articulated Beijing bus.

Bicyclists during rush hour at the

Chang'an Avenue

Beijing is connected by road links to all parts of China as part of the National Trunk Road Network. Nineexpressways of China serve Beijing, as do eleven China National Highways. Beijing's urban transport is dependentupon the five "ring roads" that concentrically surround the city, with the Forbidden City area marked as thegeographical center for the ring roads. The ring roads appear more rectangular than ring-shaped. There is no official"1st Ring Road". The 2nd Ring Road is located in the inner city. Ring roads tend to resemble expresswaysprogressively as they extend outwards, with the 5th and 6th Ring Roads being full-standard national expressways,linked to other roads only by interchanges. Expressways to other regions of China are generally accessible from the3rd Ring Road outward.

Within the urban core, city streets generally follow the checkerboardpattern of the ancient capital. Many of Beijing's boulevards and streetswith "inner" and "outer" are still named in relation to gates in the city wall,though most gates no longer stand. Traffic jams are a major concern.Even outside of rush hour, several roads still remain clogged with traffic.

Beijing's urban design layout further exacerbates transportation

problems.[121] The authorities have introduced several bus lanes, whichonly public buses can use during rush hour. In the beginning of 2010,

Beijing had 4 million registered automobiles.[122] By the end of 2010, thegovernment forecast 5 million. In 2010, new car registrations in Beijing

averaged 15,500 per week.[123]

Towards the end of 2010, the city government announced a series ofdrastic measures to tackle traffic jams, including limiting the number ofnew license plates issued to passenger cars to 20,000 a month andbarring cars with non-Beijing plates from entering areas within the Fifth

Ring Road during rush hour.[124]

Air

Beijing's primary airport is the Beijing Capital International Airport(IATA: PEK) about 20 kilometres (12 mi) northeast of the city center.The airport is the second busiest airport in the world after Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. After renovations for the 2008Olympics, the airport now boasts three terminals, with Terminal 3 beingone of the largest in the world. Most domestic and nearly all internationalflights arrive at and depart from Capital Airport. It is the main hub for AirChina and a hub for China Southern and Hainan Airlines. The airportlinks Beijing with almost every other Chinese city with regular airpassenger service.

The Airport Expressway links the airport to central Beijing; it is a roughly40-minute drive from the city center during good traffic conditions. Priorto the 2008 Olympics, the 2nd Airport Expressway was built to theairport, as well as a light rail system, which now connects to the Beijing Subway.



Other airports in the city include Liangxiang, Nanyuan, Xijiao, Shahe and Badaling. These airports are primarily formilitary use and are less well known to the public. Nanyuan serves as the hub for only one passenger airline. A

second international airport, to be called Beijing Daxing International Airport,[125] is currently being built in Daxing

District, and is expected to be open by 2017.[126]

From January 1, 2013, tourists from 45 countries will be allowed to enjoy a 72-hour visa-free stay in Beijing. The45 countries include Singapore, Japan, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Brazil, Argentina

and Australia. The programme benefits transit and business travellers.[127]

Public transit

The Beijing Subway, which began operating in 1969, now has 17 lines, 227 stations, and 456 km (283 mi) of trackand is the third longest subway system in the world and first in annual ridership with 3.21 billion rides delivered in2013. With a flat fare of 2.00 per ride with unlimited transfers on all lines except the Airport Express, the subwayis also the most affordable rapid transit in China. The subway is undergoing rapid expansion and is expected toreach 30 lines, 450 stations, 1,050 kilometres (650 mi) in length by 2012. When fully implemented, 95% residents

inside the Fourth Ring Road will be able walk to a station in 15 minutes.[128] The Beijing Suburban Railwayprovides commuter rail service to outlying suburbs of the municipality.

There are nearly 1,000 public bus and trolleybus lines in the city, including four bus rapid transit lines. Standard busfares are as low as 0.40 when purchased with the Yikatong metrocard.

Taxi

Metered taxi in Beijing start at 13 for the first 3 kilometres (1.9 mi), 2.3 Renminbi per additional 1 kilometre(0.62 mi) and 1 per ride fuel surcharge, not counting idling fees which are 2.3 (4.6 during rush hours of 7-9 amand 5-7 pm) per 5 minutes of standing or running at speeds lower than 12 kilometres per hour (7.5 mph) . Mosttaxis are Hyundai Elantras, Hyundai Sonatas, Peugeots, Citrons and Volkswagen Jettas. After 15 kilometres(9.3 mi), the base fare increases by 50% (but is only applied to the portion over that distance). Different companieshave special colors combinations painted on their vehicles. Usually registered taxis have yellowish brown as basichue, with another color of Prussian blue, hunter green, white, umber, tyrian purple, rufous, or sea green. Between11 pm and 5 am, there is also a 20% fee increase. Rides over 15 km (9 mi) and between 23:00 and 06:00 incurboth charges, for a total increase of 80%. Tolls during trip should be covered by customers and the costs of tripsbeyond Beijing city limits should be negotiated with the driver. The cost of unregistered taxis is also subject tonegotiation with the driver.

Bicycles

Beijing has long been well known for the number of bicycles on its streets. Although the rise of motor traffic hascreated a great deal of congestion and bicycle use has declined, bicycles are still an important form of localtransportation. Large numbers of cyclists can be seen on most roads in the city, and most of the main roads havededicated bicycle lanes. Beijing is relatively flat, which makes cycling convenient. The rise of electric bicycles andelectric scooters, which have similar speeds and use the same cycle lanes, may have brought about a revival inbicycle-speed two-wheeled transport. It is possible to cycle to most parts of the city. Because of the growing trafficcongestion, the authorities have indicated more than once that they wish to encourage cycling, but it is not clear

whether there is sufficient will to translate that into action on a significant scale.[129]



Tsinghua University is one of the top

universities in mainland China

Education

See also: Education in Beijing and List of universities and colleges in Beijing

Beijing is home to a great number of colleges and universities, includingPeking University and Tsinghua University (two of the National Key

Universities).[9] Owing to Beijing's status as the political and culturalcapital of China, a larger proportion of tertiary-level institutions areconcentrated here than in any other city in China (at least 70). Manyinternational students from Japan, Korea, North America, Europe,Southeast Asia, and elsewhere come to Beijing to study every year,some through third party study abroad providers such as IES Abroadand others as part of an exchange program with their home universities.The schools are administered by China's Ministry of Education.

Nature and wildlife

Beijing Municipality has 20 nature reserves that have a total area of 1,339.7 km2 (517.3 sq mi).[130] The mountainsto the west and north of the city are home to a number of protected wildlife species including leopard, leopard cat,wolf, red fox, wild boar, masked palm civet, raccoon dog, hog badger, Siberian weasel, Amur hedgehog, roe deer,

and mandarin rat snake.[131][132][133] The Beijing Aquatic Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center protects theChinese giant salamander, Amur stickleback and mandarin duck on the Huaijiu and Huaisha Rivers in Huairou

District.[134] The Beijing Milu Park south of the city is home to one of the largest herds of Pre David's deer, nowextinct in the wild. The Beijing barbastelle, a species of vesper bat discovered in caves of Fangshan District in 2001and identified as a distinct species in 2007, is endemic to Beijing. The mountains of Fangshan are also habitat for

the more common Beijing mouse-eared bat, large myotis, greater horseshoe bat and Rickett's big-footed bat.[135]

The city flowers are the Chinese rose and chrysanthemum.[136] The city trees are the Chinese arborvitae, anevergreen in the cypress family and the Pagoda Tree, also called the Chinese scholar tree, a deciduous tree of the

Fabaceae family.[136] The oldest scholar tree in the city was planted in what is now Beihai Park during the Tang

Dynasty, 1,300 years ago.[137]

See also

Large Cities Climate Leadership Group

List of hospitals in Beijing

List of mayors of Beijing

Tourist attractions of Beijing

2045 Pekingthe name of an asteroid

List of twin towns and sister cities in China

Notes and references



1. â b c d "Township divisions" (http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/Government/Administration_region/t930369.htm). the

Official Website of the Beijing Government. Retrieved 22 July 2009.

2. ^ "Doing Business in China - Survey" (http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/article/zt_business/lanmub/). Ministry Of

Commerce - People's Republic Of China. Retrieved 5 August 2013.

3. ^ "2012"

(http://www.bjstats.gov.cn/xwgb/tjgb/ndgb/201302/t20130207_243837.htm). Beijing Statistics Bureau. 2013-02-

07. Retrieved 2013-02-18.

4. ^ "20113.29 7.2%" (http://finance.people.com.cn/money/GB/16930408.html).

People.com.cn. 20 January 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2012.

5. ^ Loaned earlier via French Pkin.

6. ^ "Beijing population reaches 21 million" (http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/839072.shtml#.Uv5lJrRMbrY).

Global Times.

7. â b Figures based on 2006 statistics published in 2007 National Statistical Yearbook of China and available online

at 2006

(http://www.chinapop.gov.cn/wxzl/rkgk/200806/t20080629_157020.htm). Retrieved 21 April 2009.

8. ^ "Basic Information" (http://www.bjstats.gov.cn/esite/bjsq/jbqk/). Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved

9 February 2008.

9. â b c d "Beijing" (http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Beijing.aspx). The Columbia Encyclopedia (6th ed.). 2008.

10. ^ "Peking (Beijing)". Encyclopdia Britannica 25 (15th edition, Macropdia ed.). p. 468.

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