PEKING

Wade-Giles romanization Pei-ching, Pinyin Beijing, city, province-level shih (municipality), and capital of the People's Republic of China. Peking is located in northeastern China at the northern end of the triangular North China Plain, approximately 100 miles (160 km) inland from the Gulf of Chihli of the Yellow Sea. With but few interruptions, the city has been China's capital almost continuously since AD 1272, when the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan established his political base there. In 1420 it was made the official capital city of the Ming dynasty (13681644), under the name of Peking (Northern Capital). The city has thus constituted an integral part of the country's history over the past eight centuries. The municipality of Peking is almost surrounded by Hopeh province and is bordered at two points by Tientsin municipality. Peking's lowland (elevation 100130 feet ) site is bounded on the north by the fringe of the Mongolian Plateau and on the northeast by the Yen Mountains. A concave arc of lowland, termed the Bay of Peking by geologists, circles Peking from the northeast to the southwest. This embayment opens onto the great plain to the south and east. Standing at the southern convergence of important mountain passes, Peking is a natural gateway on the long-distance land-communication route between the North China Plain and the northern ranges, plains, and plateaus. Because of its strategic position, Peking has been for more than 700 years an important terminus of the trade routes leading to and from the vast Central Asian hinterland. Since the early 15th century, the city of Peking and its surrounding territories have been organized as a metropolitan district of enormous size. The present municipality, established in 1959, is an administrative entity equivalent to a sheng (province) and is directly subordinate to the central government of China. It consists of 10 urban ch'u (districts) surrounded by eight annexed hsien (counties). It may be divided into three concentric zones, based on urban functions. The central zone, including the formerly walled city, is mainly occupied by old palaces, government buildings, commercial districts, and old residential areas. The second zone, the near suburb, provides sites for new factories, schools, government buildings, and workers' dormitories; its outer fringe is agricultural. The third zone, the far suburb, constitutes the majority of the municipality's land area and functions as the economic base, supplying resources to the urban population of the other zones. Peking's climate is of the continental monsoon type that occurs in the temperate zone. Winters are long, cold, and dry, influenced by Siberian air from the Mongolian Plateau; temperatures are lowest in January, with a mean of 24 F (-4 C). In summer the warm and humid air from the southwest often penetrates into North China, bringing most of the area's annual precipitation of 25 inches (635 mm). July is the warmest month, with a mean temperature of 79 F (26 C). During the 1950s and '60s, Peking became one of the nation's principal industrial centres. Primary activities include the production of steel, machines (chiefly for construction, transportation, mining, and farming), precision instruments, textiles, and petrochemicals and electrical engineering. The traditional handicrafts industry continues to be strong, producing rugs and carpets, porcelain and chinaware, jade and ivory sculpture, and other goods. Many service industries, operated mainly by government agencies, have greatly expanded. Tourism is promoted by the China International Travel Service and by the Overseas Chinese Tourist Service, both based in Peking, and by a growing number of hotels and hostels. The People's Bank of China, whose head office is located in Peking's inner city, plays a key role in the country's nationwide and centralized system of banking. This bank functions as the agent of the national treasury, centralizing the financial resources of the government and the major sectors of China's economy. Working in cooperation with the People's Bank, and under its supervision, are the People's Construction Bank, which finances basic construction; the Agricultural Bank of China, which handles agricultural investment; and the Bank of China, which specializes in foreign trade and exchange. Peking has striven for a high degree of self-sufficiency in secondary food supplies, such as vegetables, fruits, fish, and poultry. Vegetables are grown in a belt around the central city. Many state farms and communes have planted orchards on reclaimed land. Peking lacks the compact central business district that characterizes most cities in the Western world. The historical market areas of the city were located to the southwest and southeast of the Imperial Palace, and the East and West markets are still major shopping centres. Since 1949 a number of multistory department stores have been erected; the Peking Department Store is the largest in China. In addition, there are many traditional bazaars that have developed distinctive reputations over many years. Peking city proper essentially consists of two old walled cities, the northern inner city (or Tatar City, lying approximately on the site of the Mongol city of Ta-tu) and the southern, outer city (or Chinese City, added during the Ming dynasty). Within the inner city is the former Imperial City, which in turn contains the moated Forbidden City, where the Imperial Palaces (now a museum) are located. The symmetrical, rectangular layout of the inner city about a single straight northsouth line is striking. All the city walls, important city gates, main avenues and streets, religious buildings, and daily shopping markets are arranged in relation to this central axis; few cities in the world can rival Peking in the regularity and harmony of its plan. Peking also has a high proportion of recreational land. Peking represents, better than any other existing city, the heritage of Chinese architectural achievement. Care has been taken throughout the centuries to preserve the traditional sites, even while modernizing parts of the city. Since 1949, the greatest change in appearance has been the demolition of the old city walls and the extension of the city's streets immediately outside the old walls. Among the historical and religious structures in Peking, the Temple of Heaven (T'ien T'an) is unique, both for its unusual geometric layout, which embodies the age-old belief that heaven is round and the Earth square, and because it represents the supreme level of Chinese architectural enterprise. Other important sites include the Temple of the Imperial Ancestors (now the People's Cultural Park) on the east side of the axis, which is balanced by the Altar of Earth and Harvests (now the Chung-shan Park) on the west. Perhaps the most imposing structure built since 1949 in the heart of the city is the two-block-long Great Hall of the People. In its grand auditorium the National People's Congress (the supreme organ of state power) holds its sessions. Peking's position as a centre of higher education has been firmly established since 1949. A scientific and educational district has emerged, containing the prestigious Peking (1898) and Ch'ing-hua universities. Also within this district are other institutions for ideological training, for music and medical education, and for training in specialized technical fields. The Chinese Academy of Sciences, China's highest research institute, is located there as well. Peking also offers a number of foreign-language institutions. As the cultural focus of China for several centuries, Peking possesses what are probably the finest cultural institutions in the nation, including libraries (such as the Peking Library, containing imperial collections), museums (the Palace Museum and the Museum of Chinese History), and theatres. Peking is also the chief publishing and media centre in China. Intracity transport is provided by a network of buses and trolleys, but bicycles constitute the bulk of street traffic. Highways, which have regular bus service, are the chief links with nearby communities. Peking is the railroad and airline centre of China. It is linked by direct express trains with several large urban centres and also occasionally with foreign cities such as Moscow; P'yongyang, N.Kor.; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; and Hanoi, Vietnam. A dozen major highways radiate from Peking, along which regular bus services run. Its international airport is located 14 miles (23 km) from the city. Area city, 1,763 square miles (4,567 square km); metropolitan area, 6,500 square miles. Pop. (1988 est.) city, 5,468,540; mun. 9,926,000. Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tien-an Men), entryway to the Imperial City, Peking, China. Chinese (Wade-Giles) Pei-ching, (Pinyin) Beijing city, province-level shih (municipality), and capital of the People's Republic of China. Few cities in the world have served for so long as the political headquarters and cultural centre of a country as immense as China. The city has constituted an integral part of the history of China over the past eight centuries, and there is scarcely a major building of any age in Peking that has not made its contribution toward the evolution of the country as a whole. The importance of Peking thus makes it impossible to understand China without a knowledge of this city as well. More than 2,000 years ago, a site near present-day Peking was already an important military and trading centre for the northeastern frontier of China. In 1267, during the Yan (Mongol) dynasty (12061368), a new city built on the sitecalled Ta-tubecame the administrative capital of China. During the reigns of the first two emperors of the Ming dynasty (13681644), Nanking was the capital, and the old Mongol capital was renamed Pei-p'ing (Northern Peace); the third Ming emperor, however, restored it as the Imperial seat of the dynasty and gave it a new name, Peking (Northern Capital). Peking has remained the capital of China except for a brief period (192849) when the Nationalist government again made Nanking the capital (although the capital was removed to Chungking during World War II); during that time Peking once again resumed the old name Pei-p'ing, which is still used by the Nationalist government in Taiwan. In spite of frequent political changes in China, the city throughout the early decades of the 20th century remained the most flourishing cultural centre in the nation; Peking's importance was fully realized, however, only when the city was chosen as the capital of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and this political status has added much vitality to it. Indeed, few cities have ever had such rapid growth in population and geographic area, as well as in industrial and other activities. Combining both historical relics of an ancient culture and new urban construction under a socialist system, Peking has become the showplace of modern China and one of the world's great cities. The early empires With but few interruptions, Peking has been the capital of China for some 700 years, and in the number of years as the Imperial capital it is exceeded only by Sian (Ch'ang-an) in Shensi Province and Lo-yang in Honan Province. In prehistoric times the area around Peking was inhabited by some of the earliest known human beings. Between 1918 and 1939 the fossil remains of Peking man (formerly Sinanthropus pekinensis; now known as Homo erectus pekinensis), who lived about 500,000 years ago, and of Upper Cave man, who lived about 50,000 years ago, were unearthed at Chou-k'ou-tien, a village about 30 miles southwest of Peking. While long periods in Peking's early history necessarily remain blank, it is certain that, some 3,000 years ago, Neolithic communities settled on or near the site where Peking now stands. During the Chan-kuo (Warring States) period (475221 BC) of the Chou dynasty (c. 1111255 BC), one of the powerful feudal states, the kingdom of Yen, established its capital named Chi near the present city of Peking; this was the first capital city to be associated with the site. The city was destroyed by the troops of Shih huang-ti, founder of the Ch'in dynasty (221206 BC). During the Ch'in dynasty, the Yen capital was incorporated into one of the 36 prefectures then established throughout the country. A new town was built during the Han dynasty (206 BCAD 220) and was known as Yen. Throughout the Han dynasty and the turbulent centuries that followed, however, the place remained a provincial town, witnessing most of the time the fateful struggle between the Han Chinese to the south and the nomadic Hsiung-nu, or Huns, to the north. During the period of San-kuo (Three Kingdoms; AD 220280), the city was again called Yen. The northern border of ancient China ran close to the present city of Peking, and northern nomadic tribes frequently broke in from across the border. Thus the area that was to become Peking became an important strategic as well as a local political centre. For nearly 300 years (from the end of the Hsi Chin dynasty in 316/317 to the beginning of the Sui dynasty in 581), the northern territory, including the site where Peking now stands, was largely under the control of invading nomads. It was not until the T'ang dynasty (618907) that it was recovered by the Han people and became known as Yu-chou. By the middle of the T'ang dynasty, measures were taken to prevent the nomadic Tangut tribes of Tibet, the Hsi Hsia and the Khitans (a Manchurian people), from raiding the border lands and the local capital. The position of Yu-chou consequently became increasingly important. On the fall of T'ang China, a number of states emerged in North China. One of these states was established by the Khitans; after destroying the city of Yu-chou, the Khitans established the Liao kingdom (9471125) and built one of their capitals on approximately the same site, calling it Nanking (Southern Capital) to distinguish it from other capitals in their Manchurian homeland. The Liao capital was bounded by a square wall, almost 14 miles in circumference and some 32 feet high. It had eight gates and enclosed a fine Imperial palace in the centre, which indicated the strong influence of Chinese city planning. In the middle of the 12th century, when the Juchen, a Manchurian people from the Amur Valley, defeated the Liao and established the state of Chin, the Liao capital was rebuilt as the new Chin capital and renamed Chung-tu (Central Capital). Chung-tu under the rule of the Juchen was constructed on a larger scale, with splendidly decorated palaces and halls. Between 1211 and 1215 the Mongols, under the leadership of Genghis Khan, one of the great conquerors of history, repeatedly attacked and finally took the city from the Chin. In the battle the palaces of Chung-tu were set on fire and blazed for more than a month. When all China fell to the Mongol hordes, Kublai Khan (121594), a successor to Genghis Khan and founder of the Yan, or Mongol, dynasty (12061368), determined to build a new capital at Peking, abandoning the old city of Karakorum in Mongolia. In 1272 he named the new capital Ta-tu (Great Capital); under Mongol control it became for the first time the political centre of all China. Ta-tu was larger than any of its forerunners and was rebuilt slightly northeast of the old site. The square of the outer wall measured about 18 miles in length and enclosed an area of more than 20 square miles. The city walls were built with pounded earth, and once a year labourers were called in to repair them with mud. The Imperial Palace, which was approximately to the west of the existing one, was situated in the southern half of the capital city. The chief palace architect at the time was an Arab, appointed by Kublai Khan. The city of Ta-tu exemplified the imposing and variegated architecture of the Mongol period. The square walls and the 12 gates were all modeled on the Chinese plan, but the inner chambers and living quarters were often in the style of Mongolia or of Central Asia. It was at this time that a canal, the T'ung-hui Canal, was dug and connected to the Grand Canal, so that boats transporting the tribute rice from the provinces south of the Yangtze could sail into one of the new lakes inside the city. Ta-tu, which had magnificent Imperial palaces and treasures drawn from every corner of the country, was the scene of stupendous feasts given by the khan (ruler) on state occasions. These characteristics and the well-organized post-stages on the roads leading to the city astounded Marco Polo, the Venetian traveler who visited Ta-tu in the 1280s. Centuries of growth The Ming and Ch'ing dynasties In the middle of the 14th century, Chu Yan-chang headed a peasant revolt that overthrew the Mongol dynasty and, as the Hung-wu emperor, established the Ming dynasty (13681644). He moved the capital to Chin-ling, near his own hometown in Anhwei Province, and called it Nanking; Ta-tu was renamed Pei-p'ing (Northern Peace) and was placed under his son's rule. On Chu's death (1398) the throne passed to his grandson in Nanking, but his son, Chu Ti (also called the Yung-lo emperor), who ruled Pei-p'ing, usurped the throne. In consequence, in 1403 the city was renamed Peking (Northern Capital), and in 1421 it was officially made the capital city of the Ming dynasty. Peking in the Ming period grew on a yet grander scale than under the Mongols. The former city walls and the extant moats, palaces, and temples were mostly built in the 15th century. The old city of Ta-tu, including the palaces, was largely demolished. The new city was situated farther south, thus leaving the northern part of the Mongol city derelict while at the same time slicing off one gate from the east and west walls, respectively. In 1553 an outer city wall was begun, to include the increasing number of inhabitants living outside the city, but, when the entire construction was subsequently found to be too costly, the plan was abandoned on the completion of the south wall, thus producing the present shape of the old city. Unlike the city wall of pounded earth of Mongol times, the walls of the Ming city were faced with a layer of bricks, in order to prevent weathering. In 1644 Peking was taken over by Li Tzu-ch'eng, who led a peasant uprising against the Ming regime. Li's army held it for only 40 days, for the Manchus were simultaneously preparing an incursion south of the Great Wall, andthanks to the treachery of a Ming general who opened the gatethey swept down on the city. Peking fell intact and in the same year was declared the Manchu capital by Shun-chih, the first emperor of the Ch'ing dynasty (16441911/12). Peking remained superficially the same throughout Ch'ing times. The city plan was unaltered, though many palaces, temples, and pavilions were added outside the walls to the west, notably the Yan-ming Yan (old Summer Palace), built in the 17th century, and the I-ho Yan (new Summer Palace), built in the late 19th century. The old Summer Palace was completely destroyed by fire in 1860 by the allied British and French troops during the Arrow War (185660). In the same year, as a result of the treaties of Tientsin in 1858, a permanent British embassy was established in the city, and a legation quarter, situated to the southeast of the palace ground, was reserved for British and other embassies. The legation quarter was besieged for nearly two months by the Boxer rebels in 1900. Additional reading General works Ross Terrill, Flowers on an Iron Tree: Five Cities of China (1975); Felix Greene, Peking (1978); and David Bonavia, Peking (1978), describe city life in Peking. A number of important works on scenic and structural aspects of Peking were completed during the 1930s; among them are L.C. Arlington and William Lewisohn, In Search of Old Peking (1935, reprinted 1987); and Juliet Bredon, Peking: A Historical and Intimate Description of Its Chief Places of Interest, 3rd rev. ed. (1931). Osvald Sirn, The Walls and Gates of Peking (1924), and The Imperial Palaces of Peking (1926, reprinted 1976), give details on architectural features of the old walled city. Hedda Morrison, A Photographer in Old Peking (1985), is a record of the city in the 1940s. Norman A. Chance, China's Urban Villagers: Life in a Beijing Commune (1984), provides insight into economic and political factors. For demographic information, see the annual China Urban Statistics. Guidebooks David Bonavia et al., A Guide to Beijing (1987), is a survey from the China Guide Series. Liu Junwen, Beijing: China's Ancient and Modern Capital (1982), is a detailed guidebook. There is a chapter on history, development, and life in the city in the comprehensive work by Fredric M. Kaplan, Julian M. Sobin, and Arne J. De Keijzer, The China Guidebook, 8th ed. (1987). Yu Zhuoyun (comp.), Palaces of the Forbidden City (1984; originally published in Chinese, 1982), is a guide to the Palace Museum. History Historical development is covered by Roderick MacFarquhar, The Forbidden City (1972); Nigel Cameron and Brian Brake, Peking: A Tale of Three Cities (1965); and Zhou Shachen, Beijing Old and New: A Historical Guide to Places of Interest (1984; originally published in Chinese, 1982). Frank Dorn, The Forbidden City (1970), associates the details of the Imperial Palaces with historical events. Other studies include John S. Burgess, The Guilds of Peking (1928, reprinted 1970); Peter Fleming, The Siege at Peking (1959, reissued 1984); and George N. Kates, The Years That Were Fat: The Last of Old China (1952, reissued 1976), covering the period of the 1930s. Accounts of life in the city in the early decades of the 20th century are found in H.Y. Lowe, The Adventures of Wu: The Life Cycle of a Peking Man (1940, reprinted 1983); Harold Acton, Peonies and Ponies (1983), a novel set in Peking's expatriate community in the 1930s; and Pu Yi, From Emperor to Citizen: Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi, new ed., trans. from Chinese by W.J.F. Jenner (1987), the memoir of the last Chinese emperor. Sen-dou Chang David Michael Bonavia