History of Beijing

The earliest remains of hominid habitation in Beijing Municipality were found in the caves of Dragon Bone Hill near the village of Zhoukoudian in Fangshan District, where the Homo erectus Peking Man (previously classified as the now-invalid species Sinanthropus pekinensis) lived from 770,000 to 230,000 years ago.

[26] Several historical accounts mention a "Hill of Ji" northwest of the city, which would correspond to the large mound at the White Cloud Abbey outside Xibianmen, about 4 km (2.5 mi) north of Guang'anmen.

[26] The capital of Yan was located about 45 km (28 mi) to the south of Ji, in the village of Dongjialin in Liulihe Township of Fangshan District, where a large walled settlement and over 200 tombs of nobility have been unearthed.

[36][Note 22] In 106 BC, under Emperor Wu, the country was organized into 13 prefectural-provinces, or zhou (州), and the City of Ji served as the provincial capital for Youzhou (幽州), the territories of which extended from what is now central Hebei Province to the Korean Peninsula.

[73] When disease broke out within the Mongol ranks, Genghis Khan sent Muslim envoy Ja'far into the city to negotiate, and the Jin court agreed to a peace treaty by ceding territory and accepting vassal status.

A number of foreign travelers including Giovanni di Monte Corvino, Odoric of Pordenone, Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta left written accounts of visits to the city.

Yuan rule was severely weakened by a succession struggle in 1328 known as the War of the Two Capitals in which the Dadu-based claimant to the throne prevailed over his Shangdu-based rival, but not after heavy fighting around Dadu and across the country among Mongol princes.

In June 1900, the Qing forces including Manchu Bannerman and Muslim fighters from Gansu and the Boxers besieged the Legation Quarter, which sheltered several hundred foreign civilians and soldiers and about 3,200 Chinese Christians.

On October 23, 1924, Feng seized the capital, imprisoned President Cao Kun, restored Duan Qirui as the head of state and invited Sun Yat-sen to Beijing for peace talks.

Zhang Zuolin controlled the Beiyang Government until June 1928 when the Nationalists on the Northern Expedition led by Chiang Kai-shek and allies Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang jointly advanced on Beijing.

[180] On August 15, 1945, immediately following the Japanese Emperor's announcement of surrender, Unit 1855 began removing or destroying evidence of its existence and departed the city ten days later leaving few traces of its activities.

[184] The Marshall Mission was headquartered in Beiping where a truce was brokered on January 10, 1946, and a three-person committee, consisting of a Nationalist, a Communist and an American representative, was created to investigate breaches in the ceasefire in North China and Manchuria.

As the PLA continued to gain control over the rest of the country, Communist leaders, friendly Nationalists and third party supporters convened the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference at Zhongnanhai in Beiping on September 21.

At a planning conference in November 1949, chaired by mayor Nie Rongzhen, renowned architect Liang Sicheng proposed to preserve the architectural integrity of the old walled city by building a new urban area and government center in Wukesong, Sanlihe, and Diaoyutai 10 km (6.2 mi) west of Tiananmen.

The Great Leap Forward sought to overcome China's shortage of capital through mass mobilization, using large-scale collectivized farms to boost agricultural output and the food surplus to free up labor for industrial development.

At the so-called 7,000 Cadre Conference held from January 11 to February 7, President Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping reported the severe decline in the economy and called for urgent course correction, citing numerous policy failures.

The first target was Wu Han, the deputy mayor of Beijing and historian, whose book Hai Rui Dismissed from Office, adapted from a Peking opera about an incorruptible Ming-era official, had been praised by Mao in the early 1960s.

The scope of attack then expanded to the "Three Family Village", so-named for a column in the People's Daily jointly written by Wu Han, Deng Tuo, the editor of the newspaper, and Liao Mosha, another Beijing literary figure and official.

On May 25, 1966, several junior faculty at Peking University led by Nie Yuanzi, wrote a "big-character poster" accusing the school administrators of obstructing the Cultural Revolution and calling on the masses to destroy counter revolutionary and pro-Khrushchev elements.

After Lin's death, colleges were reopened to "Worker-Peasant-Soldier students" and some of the purged old guard leaders such as Deng Xiaoping were partially rehabilitated, but radical Gang of Four, led by Jiang Qing, continued to hold sway.

At the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CCP Central Committee held in December 1978, the Party, under Deng's leadership, rehabilitated the victims of Cultural Revolution, reversed the verdict of the April Fifth Incident, and adopted a policy course of economic reforms.

[219] Victims of the Cultural Revolution sought justice—some called for the release of those jailed in the April Fifth Incident of 1976; some criticized Mao and Hua Guofeng's continuation of the Maoist line; and others complained of youth unable to return from the countryside.

In April 1980, in reviewing the city's application for infrastructure funding, Hu Yaobang, the newly designated CCP General Party Secretary set forth the guiding principles for Beijing's development.

The student-led demonstrations in the spring of 1989, which drew broad support from city residents, attracted worldwide attention and exposed deep divisions within the country's leadership, ended in bloodshed on June 3–4, as conservative leaders ordered a military crackdown of unprecedented force.

On April 23, as Zhao Ziyang was departing for a trip to North Korea, he told Li Peng to restore normalcy, avoid worsening tensions with students and refrain from using force, except against those who commit offenses against life and property.

[239] On May 4, he also told the board of the Asian Development Bank that there would not be turmoil in China, that the students, who accepted the country's reforms, were not fundamentally opposed to party leadership and socialism, but simply wanted leaders to correct errors in their work.

Also in 1995, Beijing's city government was shaken by a leadership scandal as Chen Xitong, party secretary and a member of the politburo, was removed from office and deputy-mayor Wang Baosen committed suicide.

[260] The crisis was diffused after U.S. President Bill Clinton issued an apology for the airstrike, which the Pentagon blamed on outdated maps, and agreed to pay $32.5 million to the victims of the bombing and to compensate for the damage to the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.

[263] To improve environmental quality, the city added nine sewage treatment plants, dredged 290 km (180 mi) of waterways and built waste incineration and wind power generation facilities.

In the five years after the Olympics, Beijing's economy continued to grow rapidly, and the government's massive economic stimulus program in response to the global recession added enormous wealth to the city.

Celadon figurines from the Wei Kingdom of Three Kingdoms Period, discovered in Balizhuang of Haidian District , now located in the Haidian Museum.
The Tanzhe Temple in Western Hills , founded in 307 in the Jin dynasty (266–420) , is the oldest Buddhist temple in Beijing.
The Fayuan Temple in Xicheng District was first established by Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty in 645
The mysterious Guyaju cave dwellings in Yanqing County are believed to be abode of the Xi people during the Tang and Five Dynasties period. [ 47 ]
Map showing the change of the city walls in Beijing throughout Liao, Jurchen Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.
The Lugou Bridge , first built in 1189, dates to the Jin (金) dynasty (1115–1234) .
The Yinshan Pagoda Forest in Yanqing became a Buddhist sanctuary in the early 9th century. Of the seven pagodas standing today, five date to the Jin (金) dynasty (1115–1234) and two to the Yuan . [ 63 ]
The Confucius Temple in Dongcheng District , firstly built in 1302 under Temür Khan (Emperor Chengzong) is the second largest in China. The temple houses 198 stone tabulets engraved with the names of 51,624 jinshi scholars of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.
Beijing's Ancient Observatory , established in 1442, as depicted by Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville in 1737. In the Qing dynasty, Jesuit directors of the observatory, Johann Adam Schall von Bell and Ferdinand Verbiest , built many of the instruments.
Map of Beijing in Qing Dynasty
1912 map of Beijing showing city walls, railways and stations. Nei Ch’eng refers to the Inner City and Nan Ch’eng refers to the Outer City.
Republican troops fighting to retake the Forbidden City on July 12, 1917, during the short-lived Manchu Restoration .
Students marched through Beiping on December 9, 1935 calling on the Nationalist Chinese government to resist Japanese expansion into northern China.
After prostitution was banned in Beijing in 1949, former brothels were converted into centers for women's production and education, where former prostitutes received reeducation, career training and medical treatment. At the time, over 90% of prostitutes in Beijing had venereal diseases . [ 193 ]
Mao-era slogans adorn the walls of Plant No. 798, built in 1952 with East German assistance. In 2002, the plant's bauhaus -style warehouses were converted into 798 Art Zone , a modern art community.
Documentary film of daily life in Beijing in 1958. Part 1 of CIA film on the Great Leap Forward
Mao Zedong and Lin Biao surrounded by rallying Red Guards in Beijing. Source: China Pictorial
Tiananmen Square on September 15, 1966, the occasion of Chairman Mao's third of eight mass rallies with Red Guards in 1966. [ 206 ] Source: China Pictorial
A 1968 city map showing streets and landmarks renamed during the Cultural Revolution . For example, Andingmen Inner Street became "Great Leap Forward Road"; Taijichang Street became the "Road for Eternal Revolution"; Dongjiaominxiang, the main street of the former Legation Quarter , was renamed "Anti-Imperialist Road"; Beihai Park was renamed "Worker-Peasant-Soldier Park" and Jingshan Park became "Red Guard Park". Most of the Cultural Revolution-era name changes were later reversed.
The New China Gate to Zhongnanhai on Chang'an Avenue between Tiananmen Square and Xidan. Shortly after Hu Yaobang 's death in April 1989, university students staged a silent sit-in outside the gate, demanding dialogue with the leadership. The sit-in was dispersed by police and provoked the first large-scale student march on April 21.
A bronze replica of the Goddess of Democracy statue in Washington, D.C. The original plaster of paris statue, created by students and teachers of the Central Academy of Arts , stood in Tiananmen Square for six days from May 30 to June 4, 1989, and was torn down by the military enforcing martial law.
The Hall of Tanks inside the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution , on Chang'an Avenue in western Beijing. At nearby Muxidi on the night of June 3, soldiers of the 38th Army opened fire on civilian demonstrators. The following morning, the 28th Army was surrounded at Muxidi by angry residents showing bloody clothing from the massacre the night before. The 28th Army's commanders defied orders to counterattack and instead had troops retreat into the museum, leaving their vehicles to be burned by protesters outside. [ 242 ]
The East Building of the Beijing Hotel , built in 1974, was the tallest building in city until 1984. On June 5, 1989, from the hotel's porches overlooking Chang'an Avenue, foreign press took the iconic image of the lone protester standing in front a column tanks .
Armored column in the parade celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the PRC on Oct. 1, 1999.
To decrease congestion and pollution, the city accelerated the expansion of the subway network . Schema showing the development of the Beijing Subway from 1971 to 2013