Beijing's History

Beijing's History

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Some half a million years ago, Peking man lived in Zhoukoudian, in the
southwestern suburbs of Beijing. The climate of that time was warmer and
more humid than it is today. Forests and lakes in the area supported
large numbers of living creatures. The fossil remains of Peking man, his
stone tools and evidence of use of fire, as well as later tools of
18,000 years ago, bone needles and article of adornment from the age of
Upper Cave Man are the earliest cultural relics on record in China
today.

Some four to five thousand years ago, settlements to the
southwest of Beijing were thriving on basic agriculture and animal
husbandry. Story has it that the legendary Yellow Emperor (Huang Di)
battled against the tribal leader Chiyou in the "wilderness of the
prefecture of Zhuo."Zhuolu, a town west of present-day Beijing, is
perhaps the site of the first metropolis in the area. Yellow Emperor's
successor, Emperor Yao, was said to have established a legendary capital
Youdu (City of Quietude) that was where the city of Ji was actually
built.

During the Warring States Period (475221BC), the Marquis
of Yan annexed the territory of the Marquis of Ji, making the city of
Ji his new capital. The approximate location was north of Guang' anmen
Gate in presentday Beijing near the White Cloud Temple (Baiyunguan).

Early
in the third century BC, the first Emperor of Qin (Qin Shi Huang) set
about conquering six states and unifying China. The city of Ji was named
administrative center of Guangyang Commandery, one of 36 prefectures in
China's first feudal empire. For 10 centuries, through to the end of
the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Ji remained a strategic trading and military
center and the object of frequent power struggles.

Two emperors
during that period -- Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and
Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty -- left their mark on the city.
Emperor Yang amassed troops and supplies at Ji for expeditions against
Korea. Emperor Taizong also used the city for military training. He
built the Temple for Compassion for the Loyal (Minzhongsi), which is
dedicated to troops who died in battle. This temple was the precursor of
the Temple of the Origin of the Dharma (Fayuansi) located outside the
old walls of the city.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Ji
was little different from any other large feudal cities. Several
centuries later, however, when the Tang was nearing a state of collapse,
the Qidans (Khitans) came from the upper reaches of the Liaohe River
and moved south to occupy Ji and make it their second capital. They
called the city Nanjing (Southern Capital) or Yanjing. Emperor Taizong
of the Liao Dynasty (916-1125) carried out reconstruction projects and
built palaces, which were used as strongholds from which the Qidans set
out to conquer the central plains of China.

In the early 12th
century, the Nuzhen (Jurchen) conquered the Liao and established the Jin
Dynasty (1115-1234). In 1153, Wan Yanliang moved the Jin capital from
Huiningfu in present day Liaoning Province to Yanjing and renamed it
Zhongdu (Central Capital) as a challenge to the Southern Song Dynasty
(1127-1279), which had its capital at Lin'an (presentday Hangzhou).
Before the ascension of Wan Yanliang to the throne, the city of Yanjing
had changed little from the Liao period.

The rebuilding of the
new city began in 1151 with expansion to the east, west and south.
Palaces were constructed on a scale similar to the Northern Song
(960-1127) capital at Bianliang (modern Kaifeng), and many of the actual
building materials were transported from Bianliang. The new expanded
city, with its splendid buildings in the center measured roughly five
kilometers in circumference. The registered population of the Imperial
Palace in the center measured roughly five kilometers in circumference.
The registered population of Zhongdu amounted to 225,592 households, or
approximately one million people.

Mongol armies occupied Zhongdu
in 1215. At this time, the city of Kaiping (in presentday Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region) served as the principal Mongol capital
(Shangdu), while Yanjing was given provincial status. It was not until
1271 that Kublai Khan formally adopted the new dynasty's name -- Yuan --
and made Yanjing the capital. Kublai Khan rebuilt the city and gave it
the Chinese (Han) name of Dadu (Ta-tu) or Great Capital, though in
Mongol it was known as Khanbalig (Marco Polo's Cambaluc), the City of
the Great Khan. When the Mongols finally eliminated the Southern Song
and unified China, Dadu became the political center of the country for
the first time in history.

The construction of Dadu began in
1267 and ended in 1293, extending throughout the entire period of Kublai
Khan's rule. The magnificent palaces of the Jin capital Zhongdu were
destroyed by fire during the dynastic turnover from the Jin to the Yuan.
When the capital was rebuilt, the original site of Zhongdu was replaced
by a larger rectangular area centered in a beautiful lake region in the
northeastern suburbs.

The construction of Dadu consisted of
three main projects -- the imperial palaces, the city walls and moats,
and the canal. The first stage was construction of the palace buildings,
most of which were completed in 1274. The next stage was construction
of the mansions for the imperial princes, the government offices, the
Taimiao (Imperial Ancestral Temple) and Shejitan (Altar of Land and
Grain) to the east and west of the palace, and a system of streets for
ordinary residences. In 1293, the strategic Tonghui Canal, connecting
the capital to the Grand Canal, was completed.

As the capital
city of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), Dadu enjoyed great fame in the
13th century world. The envoys and traders from Europe, Asia and Africa
who paid visits to China were astounded by the splendor and magnificence
of Dadu. Marco Polo's description of the palaces of Cambaluc, as the
called Khanbalig, us most famous of all:

"You must know that it
is the greatest palace that ever was The roof is very lofty, and the
walls of the palace are all covered with gold and silver. They are
adorned with dragons, beasts and birds, knights and idols, and other
such things The Hall of the Palace is so large that 6,000 people could
easily dine there, and it is quite a marvel to see how many rooms there
are besides. The building is altogether so vast, so rich and so
beautiful, that no man on earth could design anything superior to it.
The outside of the roof is all colored with vermilion and yellow and
green and blue and other hues, which are fixed with a varnish so fine
and exquisite that they shins like crystal, and lend a resplendent
luster to the palace as seen for a great way around."

The new
Dadu was a rectangular city more than 30 kilometers in circumference. In
the later years of Kublai Khan's rule, the city population consisted of
100,000 households or roughly 500,000 people. The layout was the result
of uniform planning, the broader streets all 24 paces wide, the narrow
lanes half this width. The regular chessboard pattern created an
impression of relaxed orderliness.

Achievements in stone and
plaster sculpture and painting at this time reached great heights. The
names of two contemporary artisans have come down to us: the sculptors
Yang Qiong and Liu Yuan. The latter was known for the plaster statues he
created for temples. Liulansu Lane at the northern end of Fuyou Street
in present-day Beijing was named after Liu Yuan.

On August 2,
1368, Ming troops seized Dadu and renamed it Beiping (Northern Peace).
Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644),
however, made Nanjing his first capital. Beginning in 1406, Emperor
Yongle of the Ming Dynasty spent 15 years constructing walls 12 meters
high and 10 meters thick at their base around the city of Beiping. The
construction of palace buildings and gardens began in 1417 and was
completed in 1420. The following year, Emperor Yongle formally
transferred the capital from Nanjing to Beiping and, for the first time,
named the city Beijing (Northern Capital).

Extensive
reconstruction work was carried out in Beijing during the first years of
the Ming Dynasty. The northern city walls were shifted 2.5 kilometers
to the south. Evidence of great advances in city planning is the
district known as the Inner (Tartar) City. The Outer or Chinese City to
the south was built during the reign of Emperor Jiajing (1522-1566),
adding to the rectangular city a slightly wider "base" in the south.

When
the Manchus founded the Qing Dynasty in 1644, they began to build
suburban gardens, the most famous of which was Yuanmingyuan.
Construction over the course of an entire century, the imposing columned
palaces and open-air pavilions blended with the serenity of
wellplanned gardens to create a masterpiece of garden architecture
unrivaled in the history of China.

A city plan was first laid
out in the Yuan Dynasty. Yet only after extensive reconstruction during
the Ming and Qing (1644-1911), did the city emerge as an architectural
masterpiece fit to serve as the capital of the Chinese empire. A
north-south axis bisects the city with the Imperial Palace was knows as
Danei (The Great Within). In the Ming, it was renamed the Forbidden City
(Zijincheng), and more recently it has come to be called the Palace
Museum (Gugong Bowuyuan). Designed with thousands of halls and gates
arranged symmetrically around a northsouth axis, its dimensions and
luxuriance are a fitting symbol of the power and greatness of
traditional China.

After the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in
1911, China fell prey to the Northern Warlords and Kuomintang, Beijing
suffered the same fate as the rest of China, hobbling along like an old
camel without a sense of direction. The Chinese People's Liberation Army
formally entered Beijing on January 31, 1949, opening a new chapter in
the long history of the city. It was in Tian'anmen Square on October
1st, 1949, that Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the
People's Republic of China, with Beijing as its capital.

The
city has changed totally since then. It has expanded from its old
confines within the nine gates of the Inner City wall (Zhengyangmen,
Chongwenmen, Xuanwumen, Chaoyangmen, Dongzhimen, Fuchengmen, Xizhimen,
Andingmen and Deshengmen) to the seven outer gates (Dongbianmen,
Guangqumen, Xibianmen, Guang' anmen, Yongdingmen, Zuoanmen and Youanmen)
and out into the suburbs, Beijing now covers an area of about 750
square kilometers, which includes a dozen new living districts built on
the outskirts of town.

Tian'anmen Square is still the center of
Beijing, Chang' an Boulevard now running 38 kilometers from Shijingshan
in the west to Tongxian in the east. The palaces and city towers along
both sides have been designated cultural relics for national protection.
Former imperial residences and gardens have been opened for public
viewing.

New buildings like the International Post Office and
Bank of China have been built along the Second Ring Road, the former
line of the Inner City wall. Old living quarters and blocks of
traditional Beijingstyle buildings, such as Liulichang Culture Street,
have been restored. Large scale construction has been undertaken along
the Third Ring Road and the fourth Ring Road.

Future development
in Beijing will continue to preserve the symmetry of the old city
layout while integrating modern architectural design into the overall
plan.

(China.org.cn)



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