Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China. Its name means Northern Capital (Nanjing foron the other hand means Southern Capital). Beijing has more than three thousand years of history and today is a city directly governed by the government, which means that it is directly subordinate to the central government and thus equated with provinces, autonomous regions and special administrative areas. The entire 16.807 square kilometers administrative area of Beijing has 21.5 million inhabitants. It is not a contiguous urban area, with its dominating rural settlement structure, it is more comparable to a province. Of the total population, there are 11.8 million registered permanent residents and 7.7 million temporary residents with temporary residence permits If the core city (high density and closed city form) is taken as the basis, live in Beijing 7.7 million people with primary residence (2007). The metropolitan area (including suburbs) has 11.8 million inhabitants (2007).
The center of the city is the Forbidden City, around which the city
extends in a ring. The old city core includes the four inner city
districts, these are
Dongcheng, the real heart of the city with the
Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square
Xicheng, the center of state
power, in Zhongnanhai is the seat of government and the seat of the
Communist Party
Xuanwu
Chongwen, here the most famous attraction
is the Temple of Heaven and the Hall of Harvest Offerings.
The
city districts follow outwards around this center
Chaoyang with the
2008 Olympic Center and the Bird's Nest
fengtai
Shijingshan
Haidian with the Summer Palace
Other quarters are grouped around
it, of which Shunyi is of interest because of the airport and Changping
because of the 13 Ming tombs. The Great Wall of China runs along the
northern edge of Beijing, worth seeing in the district of Huairou and
especially in the district of Yanqing in the town of Badaling.
Beijing has a continental climate with very cold winters and very hot summers. The best time to travel to Beijing is autumn. Then the weather is pleasant and the main season is already over. Spring is also a good time to travel, when it rains little but strong winds from north and west often occur. These are occasionally burdened with unpleasant ground dust that is blown in from the arid regions of Inner Mongolia. From May, temperatures begin to climb above 30 degrees Celsius. During the summer months, most of the annual precipitation falls during the summer monsoon and temperatures can reach over 40 degrees Celsius. Storms and heavy precipitation also occur regularly. Summer is one of the peak travel times and hotels are particularly expensive. The winter is very cold with up to minus 20 degrees Celsius, but the weather is mostly sunny with persistent high pressure. In the winter months, inversion weather conditions occur again and again, which are accompanied by high levels of air pollution (smog). Despite everything, the snow on the roofs of the Forbidden City and on the Great Wall radiates a very special atmosphere that makes a visit attractive even in winter.
There are numerous theaters, for example the People's Theater and
the Beijing Concert Hall for music events. The famous Peking Opera
is named after Beijing, which is a special mixture of different
art forms, such as singing, dancing, acrobatics and mime. The plot
is usually based on historical or mythological material.
Contemporary theater, on the other hand, is undergoing rapid
change and has recently shown Chinese translations of Western
plays and experimental productions by local dramaturges.
Spoken theater only found its way onto Chinese stages in the 20th
century. Its home was the People's Art Theater in Beijing, where
European plays with a clear social message were shown before the
Cultural Revolution. In 1968, however, this art form was banned by
Jiang Qing, Mao Zedong's third wife, with the exception of a few
plays - which were considered edifying for society. The theater
and most cinemas were closed for around ten years.
The
broadcaster China National Radio (CNR) has its own concert hall
with excellent acoustics. This concert hall is also the broadcast
hall in which many concerts are recorded or broadcast directly to
the whole country. This concert hall contains one of the largest
organs in China, which comes from Germany and was built in 1999 by
the Gebr. Oberlinger Orgelbau company based in Windesheim,
Rhineland-Palatinate.
Beijing's museums house some of the most important collections of
Chinese traditional art and archaeological finds, including the
National Art Museum and the Capital Museum. Beijing also has a
Natural History Museum and a large Museum of Technology and
Science.
The result of a Qing emperor's passion for
collecting is shown in an unusual clock museum in the Imperial
Palace in the Forbidden City. Most of the exhibits are exuberant
examples of baroque ornamentation from Great Britain and France,
but perhaps the most impressive is the huge Chinese water clock.
In recent years, Beijing has become a center of contemporary,
especially Chinese, art. A large proportion of the more ambitious
exhibitions take place in private galleries. Many are concentrated
in so-called art districts, usually in former factory buildings,
such as 798, Caochangdi or Jiuchang. In the city center, the
Courtyard Gallery in Donghuamen Dajie and the Red Gate Gallery are
the most famous.
60 kilometers north of the city is the
Aviation Museum. In a huge hangar and exhibition hall, more than
300 aircraft are on display, ranging from a replica of the Wright
brothers' plane flown by Feng Ru (1883-1912), the first Chinese
aircraft engineer and pilot in 1909, to attack helicopters used in
the First Gulf War. The collection also includes fighter planes
from the Korean War, the bomber that dropped China's first atomic
bomb in 1964, as well as Mao Zedong's personal plane and the plane
from which Zhou Enlai's ashes were scattered.
Beijing is
also home to a museum about the Anti-Japanese War.
The old town of Beijing, originally surrounded by a large wall,
was planned as an image of the cosmos - from the Greek kósmos =
the world [order] - and consisted of three rectangular districts
(Imperial, Inner and Outer City). On the main axis of the old
town, in a north-south direction, there were gate buildings,
palace and ceremonial buildings. The Forbidden City - which was
originally not accessible to the common people - houses the former
imperial palace, which was surrounded by a wall and declared a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The place served as a
residence for 24 Chinese emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties
and their families. Today the Forbidden City houses the Palace
Museum in Beijing.
The old town consisted of the Outer City
and the square Inner City in the northern part, which was built
between 1409 and 1420 and surrounded by a wide, 15-meter-high wall
with nine gates. The boundaries of the Inner City largely
corresponded to those of the capital Dadu in the Yuan Dynasty
(1271–1368). The Imperial City was located in the Inner City,
where government buildings, palaces, temples, gardens and parks as
well as the Forbidden City were located. Outside the Imperial City
were districts with markets and temples as well as residential
areas. The wall was about 25 kilometers long.
The Outer
City, located in the southern part, was built during the Ming
Dynasty between 1521 and 1566. It was rectangular and had a wall
23.5 kilometers long. There were both important temple districts
and residential districts for the common people in this area.
After the communists took power in China on October 1, 1949, the
old city walls of Beijing were torn down and replaced by main
roads; however, several of the old city gates remained.
The
Palace Museum (Gugong) in the Forbidden City is the former
residence of the imperial family and the court. This complex -
built in the 15th century - includes a series of huge halls and
palaces. To the west of this complex is the Zhongnanhai area, a
large park with lakes surrounded by a wall.
Immediately south of the Forbidden City and the Palace Museum is
Tiananmen Square (Tiananmen Gate Square), the center of the city.
The square can accommodate up to a million people. With an area of
40 hectares, it is the largest public square in the world. It
was built in its current size after the Communists seized power.
Every year, major celebrations and rallies take place here.
On the west side of the square is the Great Hall of the People
(seat of the Chinese National Assembly), on the east side is a
museum of Chinese history and revolution. A monument to the
people's heroes and the tomb of former Chairman Mao Zedong
(1893-1976) dominate the square in its center.
In its more
recent history, the square has served as the setting for numerous
historically significant mass rallies: on May 4, 1919, the first
calls for democracy and liberalism by students demonstrating
against the Treaty of Versailles; on December 9, 1935, the
anti-Japanese protests that called for a war of national
resistance; in 1966, the eight staged mass marches that marked the
beginning of the Cultural Revolution, for which around a million
Red Guards were transported to Beijing each time to be sworn in to
the revolutionary ideals and then ordered to the provinces. In
April 1976, during the Tian'anmen incident, immediately before
China's Day of Remembrance, wreaths and flowers laid out in memory
of former Prime Minister Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) were removed by
security forces due to internal party disputes.
Since the
end of the 20th century, however, the square has been known
primarily for the Tian'anmen massacre of 1989, when students and
workers demonstrated for democracy and thousands were killed by
the Chinese military on June 4 of that year.
Of the many temples, the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan) in the southern
part of the Outer City is particularly noteworthy (including the Hall of
Annual Prayers). The emperor prayed there every year for a rich harvest.
The complex is located in the Xuanwu district in the south of the
city in the middle of a large park. The most important building in this
temple complex is the Hall of Harvest Sacrifice, a building with a
circular floor plan on a three-tiered marble terrace. It was built in
1420, burned down in 1889 and was rebuilt in 1890.
Other temples
worth seeing are the Temple of Confucius, the Lama Temple and the Temple
of the White Pagoda.
The Ming tombs of the emperors from the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) are
located in the northwestern suburbs (Shisan ling). This can be reached
via an avenue lined with marble lions, elephants, camels and horses. To
the northwest of the tombs (near Badaling) is part of the Great Wall of
China.
The Old Observatory is an interesting relic of times gone
by. The first observatory at this location was built on the orders of
Kublai Khan (1215-1294) so that astronomers could correct the
calendar, which was incorrect at the time. Later, when Islamic sciences
flourished, it came under Muslim control, and in the 17th century it
finally passed into the hands of Christian Jesuit missionaries, who
remained the owners until the 1830s.
The complex has an idyllic
garden and eight astronomical instruments from the Ming period -
beautifully crafted armillary spheres, theodolites and the like - on the
roof. There is also a small museum with an exhibition of early
astronomy-inspired pottery and navigation instruments.
Other
important sights include the 400-meter-high television tower built in
1992, the spectacular Central Chinese Television Headquarters, the
city's tallest skyscraper within the China World Trade Center at 330
meters, the Chinese National Opera and the numerous Christian churches.
The largest and most famous of these are the Eastern Church
(Wangfujing), the Western Church (Xizhimen), the Southern Church
(Xuanwumen) and the Northern Church (Xishiku). Other notable sights
include the Imperial Summer Palace (Yihe Yuan) and the ruins of the Old
Summer Palace (Yuanming Yuan).
The Great Wall of China stretches across a length of 8,850
kilometers, a monumental structure whose construction began in the 5th
century BC and continued until the 16th century. If the sections that
still exist today were put together, they would stretch from New York to
Los Angeles, and if you were to build a single wall five meters high and
one meter deep from their stones, the distance would be longer than the
circumference of the earth.
The most famous section of the wall
is near Badaling, 70 km northwest of Beijing. It was the first section
to be restored in 1957. The wall is six meters wide there and has
watchtowers from the Ming period (1368-1644) at regular intervals. It
follows the ridge of a chain of hills and could hardly have been better
strategically designed for defense, which is why this section was never
directly attacked, but was taken from the sides.
Less well known
is the Great Wall of China near Mutianyu, 90 km northeast of Beijing.
The section there, built in 1368 and restored in 1983, with its numerous
watchtowers, is two kilometers long and stretches along a ridge in a
green, gently rolling landscape. Another section of the Great Wall of
China is located in Simatai, 110 km northeast of Beijing. Most of this
wall segment, which dates back to the Ming Dynasty, has been left in its
original state and has only a few new features from later times, such as
gun emplacements and inner wall barriers drawn across the outer wall to
stop enemies who had already penetrated.
In Chinese culture, the connection between housing and nature or
imitation of nature is traditionally close. However, in urban
settlements this idea has been repeatedly pushed aside in favor of the
greatest possible use of scarce land, especially in recent years with
the advent of high-rise residential buildings in serial construction.
Only residual areas remained for green spaces near the houses. The
building density is so great that a balancing need for public parks,
sports facilities, leisure and play areas has arisen.
Recently,
the idea has become widespread that a city that is covered in smog most
of the time has little future. There are two notable countermeasures:
emission control and reduction and ventilation via green corridors. It
is now standard practice to create green strips along expressways,
which, with a width of 100 to 400 meters, even form small forest areas.
The program to expand riverbeds and canals with wide bank strips is a
particular step forward. For example, small parks, cycle paths and
recreational facilities have been scattered along the banks of the
dammed rivers around Beijing, so that the residents of the new suburban
settlements have recreational opportunities close to their homes. Even
the numerous new golf courses are worth mentioning here, although they
are less frequented as non-public areas.
Yiheyuan, commonly known
as the Summer Palace, is one of the most attractive parks in Beijing.
The huge area, two thirds of which is a lake, served the last emperors
as a summer retreat, where they and their court retreated during the
hottest months of the year.
And the location, surrounded by
hills, cooled by the lake and protected by gardens, is ideal. Imperial
pavilions have existed there since the 11th century, but the current
complex dates mostly from the 18th century and was built under the
Manchu Emperor Qianlong.
The North Sea Park (北海公園 / 北海公园, Běihǎi
Gōngyuán) to the northwest of the Imperial Palace is one of the typical
Chinese gardens. The Jin Emperor Shizong began building a summer palace
and laying out this park in 1179.
Emperor Kublai Khan made it his
residence in 1260 by moving into the "Hall of Wide Cooling". In its
place, the Qing emperors built the Lamaist "White Pagoda" from 1651
onwards, which still dominates the park today. Emperor Qianlong had
extensive expansion work carried out between 1735 and 1796. Almost all
of the buildings in this park today date from this construction period.
Other parks are the Jingshan and Ditan Parks. There are several
parks in the mountains west of the city, such as Badachu and Fragrant
Hill Park. The new and old botanical gardens of Beijing with the Valley
of Cherry are also located there. The Beijing Zoo is also worth seeing,
not only because of the giant panda, but also because of the aquarium.
To the southwest lies the approximately 40-hectare Beijing World
Park. Here, scaled-down replicas of many world-famous old and new
buildings and architectural ensembles from all continents, for example
from the Egyptian pyramids to the Eiffel Tower and the sunken New York
World Trade Center, can be viewed on different scales.
A park and
leisure landscape that exceeds all previous projects has been under
construction in the west since 2001: starting south of the Marco Polo
Bridge, a drained riverbed was first created over a length of 20 km and
a width of between 0.8 and two kilometers with public green spaces,
small lakes and several golf courses. In the south, further areas are
already being prepared as an extension of this green lung. 14 km to the
northwest, the riverbed, which narrows here, is being transformed in the
same way into a park landscape with particularly many water areas. By
the end of 2010, around 60% of the work had already been completed.
After completion of all facilities beyond the southwestern city limits
(around 2020), around 80 square kilometers of a 55-kilometer-long
landscape park near the city will be available. The art landscape, which
is probably unique in the world, is located 18 to 42 kilometers from
Beijing city center.
Nowhere on the Chinese mainland is the culinary diversity greater
than in Beijing. In addition to all Chinese cuisines, almost all Asian
and most world cuisines are represented here. In view of this abundance,
it is often overlooked that Beijing itself has its own cooking tradition
and makes a tasty contribution with specialties such as Peking duck
(北京烤鴨 / 北京烤鸭, běijīng kǎoyā) and Mongolian hot pot (火鍋 / 火锅, huǒguō).
Peking duck is served in Chinese restaurants all over the world and
consists of small pieces of meat that are dipped in sweet black bean
sauce (甜麵醬 / 甜面酱, tián miànjiàng) and then rolled in a kind of flour
dumpling with chopped spring onions.
In the Mongolian hot pot,
mutton, shrimp, Chinese cabbage (and other vegetables) and noodles cut
into thin strips are dipped into a pot of boiling broth, usually kept at
cooking temperature from below, from mild to strong. The rest is
sometimes drunk as soup at the end.
Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics and was also selected to host
the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Massive investments were made in the
city's sports infrastructure for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Among the
numerous new buildings is the Olympic Stadium, which became a new
landmark in Beijing even during the construction phase thanks to its
eye-catching architecture. The Workers' Stadium is one of the monumental
buildings built in 1959 to mark the tenth anniversary of the founding of
the People's Republic of China. The Peking Guoan football club plays in
the Chinese Super League.
As in the rest of the country, the
Chinese national sport of table tennis is popular in Beijing; the last
World Championship in Beijing was held in 1961.
The Nanshan Ski
Village is located about 65 km northeast of Beijing and is a popular
winter sports resort.
The four-square-kilometer amusement park Universal Beijing Resort opened in Beijing in September 2021 with the Universal Studios Beijing of the Hollywood entertainment company with 24 stage shows, numerous restaurants, attractions and hotels. Construction began in 2015 at a cost of 6.5 billion euros. 10 million daily visitors are expected per year.
- Walk through the old town alleys (hutongs) and around the central
lakes.
- Rent a bike for a few hours or even days and explore the
city by bike. A refreshing pleasure, especially in the old town alleys
and around the central lakes, but also very easy in the rest of the city
due to the wide streets that are usually arranged at right angles.
By plane
Beijing Daxing (PKX)
Beijing Daxing
Airport, the world's largest by area, opened at the end of September
2019. All SkyTeam alliance flights and a number of Oneworld partner
flights land here. The domestic airlines China United, China Eastern and
China Southern have moved their hubs here.
The airport can be
reached by six bus lines, long-distance trains via Beijing West and a
subway line that connects to the urban network in Caoqiao.
Beijing Capital Airport (PEK)
Since 2019, Beijing Capital Airport
(Shoudu Jichang) has only been served by Star Alliance members. It is
about 20 kilometers northeast of downtown. The airport is a hub for
domestic air traffic.
The airport has the usual facilities such
as various banks offering currency exchange, ATMs, luggage storage,
hotel reservation desks, a relatively useless tourist information center
and very expensive restaurants and souvenir shops.
The way from
the plane to the exit of the airport can sometimes be a little long;
After getting off you first pass the border control (the officials
sometimes take a lot of time for the control despite "stop watches" at
the counters and it can take up to an hour to pass depending on the
rush) and then you take a cable car to the main terminal and to the
baggage claim. There is no fast track for international business or
first class passengers.
When leaving the country, you should also
be prepared for very strict controls - on the way from check-in to the
plane, the boarding pass is checked and stamped several times, and you
shouldn't be surprised at the fact that screenshots of the X-ray of
"suspicious" hand luggage ( especially electronics such as laptops) are
temporarily stored together with the boarding pass data and lighters are
rigorously confiscated.
There is the Airport Express Train
(subway line). This runs from about 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every 20 minutes
from Terminal 3 (mostly international flights) to Terminal 2 and then to
the city center with a stopover at the "Sanyuanqiao" stop to the final
station "Dongzhimen" on the 2nd ring. From there the train goes directly
back to Terminal 3. The journey costs 25 RMB (as of 03/2013). From
Sanyuanqiao you have the option of continuing on the subway line 10.
Dongzhimen connects to Subway Line 2.
There is no train
connection. The drive into the city takes about 20 minutes with little
traffic, but can easily take an hour and a half from the city center
during rush hour. This is especially important when driving back to the
airport. Various bus companies and bus lines are available at the
airport. Tickets can already be bought in the airport terminal at a
ticket counter or at a stand outside the airport building. All buses
cost a flat rate of 16 yuan for a ride downtown. Buses run practically
around the clock, but the frequency of the individual lines is
different. During the day, some lines run every 15 minutes.
A
taxi ride will cost around 70 to 100 yuan depending on traffic, plus a
10 yuan fee for using the airport shuttle. There may be an additional
charge of 2 or 3 yuan for gasoline at the moment. You get a receipt for
everything. Caution: Inside the airport building and in front of it,
newly arrived tourists are quickly approached by "taxi operators" who
charge 300-400 yuan for a ride. Be sure to take a metered taxi with a
red sticker on one of the rear windows showing the price per kilometer
(1.20, 1.60 or 2.00 yuan). And then make sure that the taximeter is
switched on by the driver at the start of the journey (see also the
relevant section under Mobility. Otherwise simply get out or photograph
the driver's license card. Discussions with the driver (even just
gesticulating) are better if you are in front It is also very likely
that when you get into a taxi at the airport, the driver (due to a lack
of local knowledge or communication problems) will not know where to go.
who can usually help.The manners in China are still much rougher than in
Europe, so that one should not be afraid to proceed a little more
vigorously here.
A curiosity is also the numerous vehicles
waiting on the hard shoulder of the motorway in front of the airport -
these are usually chauffeurs who are waiting for the telephone
information from their bosses about the landing and only then drive in
front of the terminal building at short notice.
By train
Beijing has three major train stations. It is the start or end point of
the Trans-Siberian Railway.
By bus
There are more than 1000
buses operating in Beijing. The buses have no calculable travel times. It is advisable to plan a little more time for journeys by bus.
The stops are often only written in Chinese characters. Nevertheless, it
can also be used without knowledge of Chinese. Simply take the terminal
stop with you in Chinese and the timetables of the lines can be read
like this: The names of the stops are written from top to bottom,
usually 2-5 Chinese characters. The stops are then displayed next to
each other from top to bottom. The current stop is written in red
Chinese characters. The following bus stops follow - if no other
direction of the arrow is indicated - to the right of the red bus stop.
In addition to the normal bus lines, the so-called express buses
also run on the same lines. These express buses do not stop at every
stop. The special thing about it is that the normal bus lines and the
express lines have the same bus number.
A bus ride is very cheap
by European standards and costs 1 yuan in the inner city. You have to
have the right money with you and throw it in at the front when
boarding. The driver does not give change and usually does not speak
English. The buses are not only overcrowded during rush hours and the
chance of getting a seat is just a matter of luck.
Still, it's a
great experience just getting on a bus and taking it across the city.
You can watch a lot of people during the journey and - depending on the
bus line you choose - you can also see some of the old buildings in
China's capital.
We recommend taking a taxi back (do not forget
to have the address of the accommodation in Chinese with you!). The bus
lines do not necessarily return the same route they chose on the way
there.
In the street
The German or the international driver's
license are not recognized in Beijing. If you want to drive there, you
should take a taxi and let yourself be driven. Expats who live in
Beijing for more than a year can take a Chinese driving test there and,
if they pass, obtain a Chinese driver's license.
However, driving
in Beijing is a real adventure. The rules are often ignored there and
the law of the strongest or the braver prevails, i. H. Cars generally
have the right of way over bicycles, trucks and buses have the right of
way over cars, and all together have the right of way over pedestrians.
At some Beijing intersections you can now see the efforts of the
local regulatory authorities to get the traffic chaos under control:
traffic police officers are posted to get control of the situation and
to let the traffic flow in a reasonably regulated manner.
Taxis are practically ubiquitous in Beijing's traffic
and are a cheap way to get around. The kilometer price for taxis is
indicated on a red sticker on the rear window: 1.20, 1.60 or 2.00 yuan.
As a rule, the price increases with the comfort. The 1.20 yuan taxis
usually do not have air conditioning and are usually smaller than the
more expensive ones. At night (11 p.m. - 6 a.m.) there is a 20%
surcharge. Taxi drivers are always obliged to turn on the taximeter and
you should pay attention to this if you want to avoid unpleasant
surprises. Very many taxi drivers do not speak a word of English and do
not understand the English names of different places. It is therefore
advisable - if you do not want to go to Tiananmen Square or the
Forbidden City - to have the destinations written down in Chinese
characters in advance.
Due to apparently little knowledge of the
area (Beijing is an extremely large city), it is quite possible that the
driver does not know where the destination is despite adhering to the
aforementioned measures. A map printout (e.g. from Google Maps) can
help, but is also no guarantee for problem-free transport. As a rule,
however, drivers can get help from colleagues by phone, but it can also
happen that a driver refuses to drive because he either does not know
the destination, his license is not valid for the destination district
or he is simply not interested in it destination to drive.
If
there is high demand (e.g. at night or when it rains), it is also
possible that there are hardly any taxis available or that the drivers
rigorously negotiate the fare. If you agree to it, you should be aware
of the amount of the actual fare and in particular insist on adhering to
the originally agreed fare if the driver at the destination of the
journey demands more money than negotiated at the beginning of the
journey.
Beijing's subway, the subway, is an easy way to explore
the city because it connects many of the city's attractions and is also
very easy to use.
The subway was greatly expanded before the
Olympic Games. There are currently nine lines. It is planned to expand
the network to 19 lines. One of the lines is a completely above-ground
railway (line 13). A trip costs between 3 and 7 yuan, depending on the
distance. The fares are displayed at each station on a special route map
and on the screens of the ticket machines. You first select the line
where the destination is and then the exit station, the fare is
calculated automatically. In addition, it is possible to buy tickets for
up to 10 people at once. Ticket machines accept 1 yuan coins as well as
the smallest note starting at 10 yuan, which is worth more than the fare
to be paid. The single-ride tickets must be inserted into a reader at
the starting station and are automatically retained when you leave the
destination station. The trains run every few minutes at peak times and
it can sometimes get very tight. The trains run between 5 a.m. and 11
p.m. Subway stations are identified by a sign with a D and a circle
around it (similar to the "@" sign).
The Circle Line (Line 2)
runs in a circle around downtown. Important stations are Beijingzhan
below the Beijing Railway Station (Beijing Railway Station), Qianmen at
the southern end of Tiananmen Square, Fuxingmen and Jianguomen as
transfer stations to Line 1, Xizhimen at the North Train Station
(Beijing North Train Station) and transfer station for buses to the
Summer Palace and Dongzhimen near Hepingli Railway Station (Hepingli
Train Station). The latter two are also transfer stations for line 13,
which opens up the northern city areas in a U-shape. The East-West Line
(Line 1) forms an east-west axis through Beijing. Important stations are
the transfer stations for Line 2 (Fuxingmen and Jianguomen), Wangfujing
on the shopping street of the same name and Tiananmen Dong at the north
end of Tiananmen Square and at the southern entrance to the Forbidden
City.
When entering each subway station, a security check must
also be passed. In most stations, only carry-on luggage is screened
(although nobody really pays attention to the contents), while people
without carry-on luggage can simply go through. At some heavily
frequented stations, however, there is also a very superficial scan like
at the airport, which all passengers have to undergo.
Volker
Häring: Qu narrrrrr ... In: In Asia, Vol. 6 (November/December) (2007),
pp. 46-50 (German). - by taxi through Beijing
In Beijing, as everywhere in China, there is a separate market for
every product. There are markets for everything, who z. For example, if
you want to buy a computer, you go to one of the many multi-storey
electronics markets where dealer after dealer is lined up. It is
important to always have the goods demonstrated and then not to give
them out of your hands again when you want them. Clothing is best bought
opposite the zoo. Along the Xizhimen Outer Street (chin. 西直门) there are
huge clothing markets above and below ground, all of which are connected
to each other. A ceiling held up is usually used as a changing room.
If you want to buy art supplies, go southeast of Qiamen to the
Hanjia Hutong. Everything for the artist is here. Brushes, rice paper,
musical instruments, paintings, etc.
If you prefer to go shopping
in a department store, you can do that too. Almost every corner of
Beijing has department stores in a wide variety of price ranges. The
most accessible for foreign visitors are those in Xidan, west of the
Forbidden City. Here is also the largest bookshop in the city, where you
can find something on every subject.
On some occasions one can
try to bargain for prices, especially with street vendors, art or
souvenirs. This is unusual or impossible in department stores or
supermarkets. However, other travelers have had the experience that you
can also try to bargain in department stores, especially if you buy
several items.
If you are looking for a suitable souvenir or for
clothes that Europeans also consider to be pretty, you should visit the
following streets and markets. Bargaining is the top priority in the
tourist markets, unless the price is of no interest to you. In
principle, depending on skill, a 50% discount is possible. If you are
good and buy several things, you can bargain down to 40% of the original
price. Foreign tourists in particular are often ripped off. (If you buy
something from an old street vendor or in a remote area without
tourists, you should reduce bargaining to a minimum. The price does not
hurt us and the dealer is happy to have sold something to secure his
life.) If you have found something, what you really want, you should buy
it. Experience teaches you will never find anything like it again.
Sanlitun (Chinese三里屯). The quintessential tourist market, slightly
east of the Workers Stadium. With Sanlitun Village, a building complex
of the upper class has emerged in which wealthy Chinese and urban youth
gather. With flagship stores from companies such as Adidas, Apple and
Uniqlo, current and genuine goods can be found on several buildings
there. Next door in the Yashow-Market - an older shopping building -
there are supposedly cheap clothes and expensive tailors. All
salespeople there speak very good English and there are bags, clothes,
sunglasses, which of course are not always genuine, but are often sold
as such. This market is especially popular with Americans.
Wangfujing
(Chinese: 王府井, Wángfǔjǐng). This street is the tourist shopping street
in Beijing with department stores and fast food for foreign and Chinese
tourists. For foreigners there is the Foreign Language Bookstore and
various exotic dishes (from 5 p.m.). If you want to bring something nice
home with you, go to one of the many 10 yuan shops that are located
between the department stores. In mountains of jewellery, mirrors,
chopsticks, fans, etc., you can occasionally find a nice piece. You just
need a lot of patience when rummaging through the goods and with the
crowds of people who rummage with them. Right at the entrance to
Wangfujin there is a beautiful old market, which, in addition to small
snacks, has everything that makes a tourist's heart beat faster.
Qianmen (Chinese: 前门). Especially for tourists, the area behind
Tiananmen Square has been restored as it was in the Qing Dynasty. There
are nice tea houses and you can take a Peking duck with you. On the edge
of the area there is still the old market, which was dominant there
until 2008. Here you can buy very good traditional Chinese clothes.
Those who cannot do without German products should look in the
grocery stores in the large department stores. There is often a small
selection of European products from German beer to muesli.
Traditional Beijing cuisine is sweet. The most famous dish is of
course the Peking duck. However, you shouldn't eat these in the
inventor's restaurant in Qianmen, but in one of the many other duck
restaurants. There are of course all other Chinese dishes and tons of
restaurants. The only problem here could be the language. Not all
restaurants have menus in English or maps with pictures. Those who
prefer to eat Japanese will find various sushi chains that don't have to
hide behind the chains in Japan. In the urban area of Beijing you can
always find trends that combine western cuisine with Chinese cuisine. So
you can find z. B. Peking duck burger or Beijing pizza.
The
Donghuamen Night Market has been running from east Donganmen Road to
north Chenguang Road from 5pm every day since 1984. A great many special
Chinese "snacks" can be tried there, which are rather unusual for
European palates. Something similar can be found all day next to
Wangfujin Street.
Chinese Food for Beginners: Every major department
store has a floor just for food. Here you can see the finished plates
and can easily show the chef what you want. Depending on the department
store, the payment is different. You usually get a receipt, pay it and
take the stamped receipt back to the chef. On the sixth floor of the
Dongan Department Store, a large department store on Wangfujing Street,
there are two places in front of the elevators where you can deposit
money that is booked onto a plastic card (similar to a credit card). You
can use this card to make cashless payments in all restaurants and pick
up the remaining amount when you leave.
If you don't get along with
Chinese cuisine, you're in good hands here. Paulaner Bräuhaus Beijing,
Kempinski Hotel Beijing, Lufthansa Center, 50 Liangmaqiao Road, Chaoyang
District, 100125 Beijing. Phone: +86 10 6465 3388, Fax: +86 10 6465
1023, Email: beijing@paulaner-brauhaus.com. Bavarian cuisine and
Bavarian beer with some German-speaking waiters. Open: daily from 11.00
a.m. to 01.00 a.m.
The Hard Rock Cafe was closed more than two years ago, there is no new one in Beijing either!
In general, it can be said that the prices of upscale (from 4 stars)
accommodation in Beijing are significantly cheaper than in Europe. It is
not uncommon for one to get an overnight stay in such a hotel, including
breakfast, for the price of a corresponding 2-star accommodation in
Europe. In addition, one should be aware that the star classification in
Asia in general usually includes more services than the corresponding
category in European hotels.
Middle
Landmark Hotel, 8 North
Dongsanhuan Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100004. Tel: +86(10) 6590
6688, Fax: +86(10) 6590 6513, Email: rsvn@beijinglandmark.com. The hotel
is located between the airport and downtown near Lufthansa Center
(Paulaner Brauhaus) in the same building as Hard Rock Cafe Beijing.
Upscale
Kempinski Hotel Beijing Lufthansa Center, No.50
Liangmaqiao Road, Chaoyang District. Tel: +86 10 6465 3388, Fax: +86 10
6465 3366, Email: reservations.beijing@kempinski.com. Modern European
five star hotel in the northern part of Chaoyang, distinguished by its
location, service, seven restaurants and comfort. Established in 1992,
the Kempinski Hotel caters primarily to the needs of business
travellers. Check-in: 2:00 p.m. Check-out: 12:00 p.m.
Beijing is generally a very safe city. Apart from the traffic, you
will hardly find yourself exposed to any major danger, although tourists
are often the target of small rip-offs and tricks. Everywhere you pay a
price premium as a tourist and you can often find salespeople removing
price tags as soon as you inquire about the price of an item. As a rule,
you shouldn't pay more than half that outside of markets; in markets,
the starting prices are much more expensive (up to ten times the
realistic price). In general, you have to negotiate.
In
transactions of any kind, you should take a closer look at the banknotes
you are given. It will also be observed that the locals subject every
major note to a check. In fact, a fair amount of counterfeit money seems
to be in circulation. One should be suspicious when retailers try to
deliberately return larger bills by voluntarily lowering the price again
or asking for a suitable additional payment. You should never feel under
time pressure and calmly count the amount even with larger amounts of
change and especially check the 50 yuan and 100 yuan banknotes. You
should pay attention to the paper. If it feels unfamiliar, feel free to
ask for another bill. This is generally not taken as an insult and is a
normal process. The watermark should be slightly fuzzy and blurry, with
no sharp edges or borders. The green print should be noticeable as a
relief. Washed-out colors, on the other hand, do not have to be an
indicator of counterfeit money.
Everywhere in Beijing you will be
approached by so-called hawkers who want to sell you all kinds of
things, often road maps, postcards, toys and all kinds of trinkets.
Under no circumstances should you follow self-declared "art students"
who, at best, will land you in a shabby shop and more or less force you
to buy something. A degree of caution should also be exercised with
offers of Great Wall trips. Many of the cheap (and also expensive) tour
operators that flyers e.g. For example, at the Forbidden City or at the
Beijing train station, tourists drive to shops with traditional medicine
and cheap jewelry outside of Beijing, and then sometimes ask for a
surcharge for the actual trip to the wall.
Another way to get
money from tourists is for students who just want to improve their
English without being interested in selling anything. After a certain
time, the tourist is taken to a tea house, where they serve very, very
expensive tea, as it turns out afterwards. However, with a little
practice, most of these people are recognizable at first glance, as they
are typically ladies pacing aimlessly ("as ordered and not picked up"),
who usually distinguish themselves from their surroundings with an
exaggerated Stand out clothing style. If you are addressed by these
people ("Hello, sir, please, sir, wait a moment, sir!"), there is no
harm in practicing ignorance.
A certain level of caution is also
advisable with taxis. Apart from the sometimes very expensive airport
taxis (see Arrival), you should not negotiate a price in advance in the
city, but always insist on the taximeter. Drivers are very good at
estimating prices and would not accept a negotiated price lower than the
taximeter price. For longer trips in the surrounding area, however, you
should agree on a fixed price. Of course, you should only use taxis that
also have a red sticker on the rear side windows that states the
kilometer fare (see mobility). At the beginning of the journey, make
sure that the taximeter is switched on.
Be careful at zebra
crossings and pedestrian lights. Drivers don't necessarily obey or can
be too drunk, and turning right at a red light is either legal or just
common practice. It should also not come as a surprise that motorcycles
always have priority over pedestrians (even if they are on the sidewalk)
or sometimes drive against the actual direction of travel. If there is
an overpass or underpass, you should use that as well. In particular,
the countless electric bicycles and scooters are approaching without
being able to hear them, sometimes at considerable speeds.
Health care is certainly one of the most important areas to address
as a traveler or expat when traveling abroad.
Before the trip, it
is advisable to put together a first-aid kit containing the most common
medicines. These include: painkillers, fever-reducing preparations,
disinfectants, iodine, nasal spray, cough syrup, anti-nausea agents,
anti-diarrheal agents. Not to forget, of course, the medication that a
chronically ill person has to take regularly. In the pharmacies in
Beijing you can find everything. You can get any medication without a
prescription, even strong antibiotics. Chinese doctors also always
recommend traditional Chinese medicine.
The standard vaccinations
against polio, diphtheria and tetanus as well as a vaccination against
hepatitis A and (for longer stays > three months) B are recommended as
basic vaccinations.
You can find out more about this from your
doctor/pharmacist.
The water quality in China is not subject to
such high quality requirements as the water supply in Germany. Drinking
tap water is not recommended. Boiled water should not be drunk or used
for cooking, nor should it be used to brush your teeth. For such
purposes, water dispensers are available in most hotel and private
apartments (especially those of expats), which are freshly filled with
some kind of simple mineral water. The water from the tap is suitable
for showering without any problems. When consuming any kind of meat and
fish/seafood, care should be taken that it is well cooked and fresh. If
you are not satisfied with the quality, you should return the dish.
With fruit, make sure that the fruit is only eaten peeled. Unpeeled
fruit and vegetables should not be eaten.
Should you still fall
ill, the hospitals in Beijing are available at any time of the day or
night. “The regional medical practice of the German embassy in Beijing
is located in the French embassy together with the Center Médical (group
practice) and is open to all EU citizens. The practice has its own
laboratory, pharmacy, diagnostics (ultrasound, ECG/stress, 24-hour RR
and ECG, spirometry, audiometry) and an emergency room. All vaccines are
in stock (including yellow fever), prices according to GOÄ (doctor’s fee
schedule), payment in cash in RMB or euros.” Another option is the
International Medical Center with 24-hour service: Room 106, Beijing
Lufthansa Centre, 50 Liangmaqiao Lu, Tel. 6465 1561-3, Dental Clinic:
Tel. 6465 1384.
The use of medical services must be paid for in
full in cash or by credit card after the treatment (sometimes beforehand
as security).
It is recommended to take out international health
insurance for the duration of your stay.
Since Beijing is
generally covered by a haze, the stay can be a bit difficult for
asthmatics or small children/elderly people.
Opening hours: Banks and government offices are open five days a
week, usually from 9am to 5pm with a break for lunch. However, ATMs are
available 24 hours a day. Museums are usually also open on weekends and
some close very early. Some parks are open longer.
Most sockets
have several types of plugs, including the slim German plug. The voltage
is 220 volts at 50 Hertz AC so an adapter is not needed. If they do,
adapters can be bought at many places in Beijing.
Anyone who has
reached the age of 18 is of legal age. This is especially true for
driving. There is no legal minimum age for the consumption of alcohol or
tobacco. When it comes to drugs, Chinese authorities don't take a joke
and impose draconian penalties. In large quantities, this can also be
the death penalty.
The metric system is officially used in China.
In some cases, however, the old weight units jin (0.6 kilograms) and
liang (37.5 grams) are still found.
Credit cards are not accepted
everywhere. Large hotels and very touristy restaurants now generally
accept credit cards, but you might want to ask here as well. Credit card
fees are often added to the price (up to 4 percent). It is usually
cheaper to pay with cash. In the meantime, however, many Chinese bank
machines also support German EC cards. Here it is important to look out
for the Maestro sign on the machine. The amount is paid directly in RMB
and debited from the account at the current exchange rate. However, a
fee is due from the credit institutions, which can be three to four
euros per debit. It is advisable to check the conditions of your own
bank for this case beforehand. In the Jianguomennei Dajie there is a
branch of the Citybank with an ATM.
Money can best be exchanged
in banks, but this can sometimes take a very long time, since a number
usually has to be drawn first and the counter officials are very happy
to take their time. Some hotels also offer currency exchange. When
changing money, you should always have an ID with you. The receipts
should not be thrown away, as you may have to show them when you
exchange them at the end of your stay.
The behavior of the
residents of Beijing, especially in public spaces, can certainly be
described as ruthless and inconsiderate, although the situation has
improved in recent years. Apparently there is a Chinese saying, "Missing
a personal opportunity is worse than wasting a family fortune"; True to
this motto, there is a certain egotism, especially in larger crowds, and
people jostle wherever possible. The boarding and alighting process in
public transport has improved somewhat, where people usually wait until
other passengers have got off when boarding, but it can still be a
little tighter at rush hour. As soon as the doors open, passengers then
rush in both from the inside out and from the platform/stop. If you
don't get a tactically clever position in time or even exercise polite
restraint, you'll quickly lose out. Even when stopping a taxi, it
sometimes happens that another interested party simply gets in while you
are still negotiating with the driver.
Likewise, when crossing
streets, regardless of the traffic light phase, you should always be
aware that four-wheeled and two-wheeled road users will not stop to give
way to pedestrians. One should pay particular attention to the
frequently encountered electric bicycles and scooters, which often
approach at breakneck speed and without making any significant noise.
To put it succinctly: Anyone in China who does not speak Chinese
and/or cannot read the characters is like deaf and dumb. But don't
worry, in the course of globalization and also with regard to hosting
the 2008 Summer Olympics, English is becoming more and more widespread
in Beijing.
In western hotels, the staff often speak good
English.
On the other hand, using public transport or a taxi is
problematic. Most of the time, no English is spoken there, which means
that you have to have the address of your destination and - and this is
very important - the address of your accommodation written down in
Chinese characters so that you can find your way back.
Representatives of Homo erectus lived in the area of today's
Beijing as early as 770,000 ± 80,000 years ago; they became known as
Peking people after their remains were discovered in the 1920s and 1930s
in Zhoukoudian, 50 km southwest of the city center.
Many
Oldowan-type stone tools and bone tools were found at the site. In 1987,
Zhoukoudian was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The history of the city of Beijing goes back to the time of the Western Zhou Dynasty (1121 to 770 BC), when it was called Ji (reed). The city was first mentioned under this name in 1000 BC. Ji was a center for trade with the Mongols and Koreans, as well as various tribes from Shandong and central China at the time.
During the Warring States Period, Beijing was the capital of Yan, which is why the city was named Yanjing (Yan Capital). In 221 BC, the future first emperor Qin Shihuangdi (259–210 BC) occupied the city during his war of imperial unification. Under his rule, the northern walls were fortified.
The emperors of the Qin Dynasty changed the name again to Ji. Under
their rule, Beijing lost its status as capital to Xianyang and lost
importance.
In the following centuries, Ji developed from an
insignificant provincial town into a trading hub and important military
base for the defense of China's northern borders and was occupied
several times by steppe and nomadic peoples from the north due to its
strategic importance.
During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), a military governor ruled the
city, which was now called Youzhou. It was always in the shadow of the
then Chinese capital Chang'an. It was only under the foreign rule of the
Liao Dynasty that Beijing regained some of its former importance.
In 937, the Khitan under Te-kuang (926-947) conquered part of
northern China and established their seat of power in Beijing. In 960,
the Khitan had an equal opponent in the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty
tried to reconquer northern China in 979, but was unable to defeat the
Khitan general Yelü Hsiu-ko in front of Beijing. Yelü Hsiu-ko remained
victorious in 986.
After the conquest by the Jurchen in 1153, Beijing became the capital of the Jin Dynasty and was magnificently expanded under the name Zhongdu (“Middle Capital”). Over 100,000 workers were hired to expand the city.
In 1215, the armies of Genghis Khan (1162–1227) took Beijing. They plundered the city and set it on fire. Kublai Khan later had Dadu (the great capital) built on the old ruins, which also became known as Khanbaliq (City of the Khan, Cambaluc in Marco Polo). With the creation of the Mongol Empire, the city achieved a dominant position in the course of the 13th century.
During the reign of Kublai Khan (1215–1294), the founder of the Yuan
Dynasty, Beijing was planned and developed as the capital of the Yuan
under the name Dadu or Cambaluc. The city was the main residence of the
Mongols from 1264 to 1368. At that time, almost all of East Asia was
under the control of Genghis Khan's grandson and the first Europeans -
among them, according to his own account, Marco Polo (1254–1324) - came
to Beijing via the famous Silk Road.
Marco Polo, who was Kublai's
guest and worked in the city for a while, was extremely impressed by the
great sophistication: "The houses and people are so numerous that no one
could tell their number... I believe there is no place in the world that
sees so many traders, so many precious and peculiar goods and treasures,
as come to it from all directions..."
The city's wealth was due
to its location at the starting point of the Silk Road, and according to
Polo's descriptions, "almost every day more than a thousand carts loaded
with silk" arrived in the city to continue their journey to lands west
of China.
In a display of style and splendor unprecedented for
the Great Khans, who were later called Emperors, Kublai built himself a
palace of enormous proportions, protected on all sides by walls and
accessible via marble stairs.
In 1368, the Yuan Dynasty was replaced by the Ming Dynasty. Hongwu
(1328–1398), the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, had his capital
built in Nanjing (Southern Capital) on the Yangzi River and changed the
name of Dadu to Beiping (北平, Běipíng, Pei-p'ing – “Northern Peace”).
In 1408, Emperor Yongle began to completely rebuild the city under
its new name Beijing (Northern Capital). Among other things, he created
the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, with which Yongle outlined
important elements of the city's development. In 1421, Yongle named
Beijing the new capital of the Ming Dynasty. During the subsequent Qing
Dynasty (1644–1911), the city was expanded with further temples and
palaces. This period was marked by the rise and fall of the Manchus and
the Qing Dynasty.
The capital experienced its greatest heyday
during the first half of the 18th century under the emperors Kangxi,
Yongzheng and Qianlong. At that time, the Qing also built the legendary
Summer Palace north of the city, a garden complex for the nobility that
was unique in the world, with 200 pavilions, temples and palace
buildings against the backdrop of a sprawling landscape of artificial
lakes and hills. Together with the Imperial Palace, it formed the centre
and symbol of Chinese glory and power.
However, in 1860, during
the Second Opium War, British and French troops advanced to the walls of
the capital, and the Summer Palace was first plundered and then set on
fire by the British, burning it practically to the ground. While the
imperial court lived in a separate, walled city in spacious spaces, the
civilian population had to live in inhumane conditions.
In 1884,
the Dowager Empress Cixi (1835–1908) began building a new summer palace
for herself, using funds originally intended for the modernization of
the Chinese navy. Her project was the last great symbol of the end of
imperial architectural splendor and patronage - and, like its
predecessor, was devastated by fire from foreign soldiers during the
Boxer Rebellion in 1900. At that time, the empire and the imperial
capital were on the verge of collapse as a result of successive waves of
foreign occupation.
After the Manchus abdicated and the Republic of China was founded in
1912, Beijing remained the political center of China until 1928. Then
Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975) established the capital in Nanjing. Beijing
was under the control of rival warlords and was renamed Beiping
(Northern Peace) by the Kuomintang in 1928 to make it clear that it was
not a capital.
During the turbulent 1920s, Beijing saw mass
demonstrations by residents, first in 1925 to protest the massacre of
Chinese demonstrators in Shanghai by British soldiers, and in 1926 to
express their displeasure at the government's ignominious surrender to
Japan in the Manchurian Crisis. As the demonstrators marched toward
government authorities, soldiers opened fire on them.
The city
was occupied by the Japanese army during the Marco Polo Bridge
(Lugouqiao) incident at the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War on
July 19, 1937. It was not until the end of the Pacific War that the city
was liberated by the Kuomintang and U.S. Marines in 1945.
In January 1949, the communists took Beijing - nine months before
Chiang Kai-shek's flight to Taiwan made final victory a certainty.
Following the founding of the People's Republic of China by Mao Zedong
on October 1, 1949, the communist government declared Beijing the
capital again.
The reconstruction of the capital and the removal
of the symbols of previous regimes were the top priority for the new
rulers. In order to free themselves from the past and build a modern
capital for the people, a large part of the valuable old buildings were
destroyed or repurposed. For example, the Temple of Cultivated Wisdom
was converted into a wire factory and the Temple of the Fire God
manufactured light bulbs. In the 1940s, the city still had 8,000 temples
and monuments; by the 1960s, this number had shrunk to 150.
Beijing became the scene of a massive popular uprising in 1989, when
between April and June of that year almost a million demonstrators
expressed their displeasure at the slow pace of reforms, the lack of
freedom and the widespread corruption on Tiananmen Square in the center
of the city. A huge statue, the goddess of freedom, who was made to
carry a torch in both hands, was made by art students and placed
opposite the portrait of Mao Zedong in Tiananmen Square.
The
Chinese government then imposed martial law on May 20 of that year. On
June 4, 1989, the peacefully demonstrating democracy movement was
bloodily suppressed by the army; thousands of civilians were killed.
On October 20, 1998, the country's first human rights conference
opened in Beijing. More than 100 representatives from 27 countries
attended the conference. – In July 2001, the International Olympic
Committee declared Beijing to be the host city for the 2008 Summer
Olympics.
The biggest problems the city is facing today due to a
misguided (modern) urban planning policy are the growing immigration,
air pollution caused by outdated factories and the excessive traffic,
which is bringing the city to the brink of a traffic collapse and
contributing to the poor air quality.
As early as 1450, 600,000 people lived in Beijing. By 1800, the
city's population had risen to 1.1 million. After a temporary decline to
693,000 people by 1900, the number of inhabitants grew to 1.6 million by
1930 and to 2.8 million by 1953. In 2007, 7.7 million people lived in
the core city (high building density and closed town form), two and a
half times as many as in 1953. The population density is 5,639
inhabitants per square kilometer. In Berlin, by comparison, it is 3,800.
In 2007, 11.8 million people lived in the Beijing metropolitan region,
which also includes the suburban belt surrounding the city proper. The
population density in 2007 was 1,337 inhabitants per square kilometer.
The entire administrative area of the central government
municipality of Beijing, which also includes extensive rural areas, had
a population of about 21.5 million in 2016. In 2015, the population was
21.7 million, of which 13.5 million were registered permanent residents
(戶口 / 户口, hùkǒu) and 8.2 million temporary residents (流動人口 / 流动人口,
liúdòng rénkǒu) with a temporary residence permit (暫住證 / 暂住证,
zànzhùzhèng).
Anyone who wants to stay in the city for longer
than three days must report to the Public Security Bureau and be
registered there. The applicant then receives a temporary residence
permit for three months, which must be extended after the period has
expired. A certificate from the place of residence must be presented to
the authorities, confirming that the person is registered there. There
are also around a million guest workers in the city, mostly unskilled
migrant workers and illegal immigrants who are not recorded in official
statistics. Since the birth rate is low, population growth is mainly due
to immigration. The natural growth of the population with permanent
residence in Beijing is currently 0.9 per 1,000 inhabitants, birth rate:
6.0 per 1,000 inhabitants, death rate: 5.1 per 1,000 inhabitants.
Around 95.7% of the population are Han. The largest ethnic minority,
with over 1.8% of the population, are the Manchus; the Muslim Hui
Chinese are in second place with 1.74%. There are also notable groups of
Mongolians (0.3% of the Beijing population) and Koreans (0.15%). All of
China's ethnic groups are represented in small numbers among the
inhabitants of Beijing; In quantitative terms, the De'ang, a Mon-Khmer
people, are last with four inhabitants. The Chinese spoken in Beijing
largely corresponds to standard Chinese (Putonghua), the official
language of the People's Republic of China, with some colloquial slurs.
The following overview shows the population figures of the core city
(excluding the suburban belt). The registered residents with their main
residence in Beijing are listed.
According to Forbes' 2009 list of the World's Most Expensive Cities
To Live, Beijing is considered a city with a very high cost of living
and one of the most expensive cities in the world. In a ranking of
cities based on their quality of life in 2018, Beijing ranked 119th out
of 231 cities worldwide.
Many elements of modern urban planning
policy have had devastating consequences for the population and created
more problems than they solved. A large part of the traditional
courtyard houses (Siheyuan) in the narrow streets (Hutongs), which were
considered a breeding ground for individualists, have been demolished
since 1949. They have been replaced by anonymous new buildings made of
concrete with often inadequate sanitation and hardly any running water.
When extensive renovation work on the buildings seemed urgently
necessary at the end of the 1960s, an underground network of tunnels was
built instead to provide protection in the event of war. Millions of
man-hours were invested in the project, which could not provide
protection against modern bombs and ultimately only led to the lowering
of the water table.
In 1950, the government ordered the killing
of all dogs in the Chinese capital. The killing of numerous sparrows in
1956 - the measure was originally intended to protect grain supplies -
only resulted in the insects being able to reproduce more rapidly. To
counteract this, the city administration ordered the removal of all
green spaces in the capital, which in turn caused dust storms in the
windy winter months.
At the beginning of the new millennium,
major urban redevelopment projects were underway to prepare Beijing for
the 2008 Summer Olympics. Various efforts to curb air pollution had
already been made; factories that could not be further modernized had to
close. Open spaces have been brought back to life through extensive
greening. The polluted canals have been dredged.
As a guiding
star on China's path to modernity, Beijing is taking a pioneering role
in the transformation of the country. Buildings are being demolished and
new ones built at a rapid pace, as the white character 拆 (chāi for
demolition) on old houses and the many construction cranes bear
impressive witness to. In the city center, modern concrete and glass
buildings are being built, and numerous office complexes are being built
along the wide main roads. The apartments there are unaffordable for the
poorer sections of the population. They are being pushed out to the
outskirts of the city.
Most of Beijing's residents live in
high-rise buildings. Two residential areas are particularly important
for this: the Wangjing area in the northeast and the Huilongguan
residential area in the northwest. To tackle the problem of
overpopulation, a series of satellite cities, each with more than
500,000 inhabitants, are being built and planned as part of large-scale
construction projects.
Beijing is located 110 kilometers northwest of the Gulf of Bohai in
the middle of Hebei Province, but is an independently administered city
under direct government control with an area of 16,807.8 km², which is
roughly equivalent to the area of the Free State of Thuringia or
Styria. Of this, only 1,369.9 km² (8%) belong to the core city (high
building density and closed town form). 15,398.4 km² (92%) consist of
suburbs and areas with a rural settlement structure. The Beijing
metropolitan region, including the suburban belt surrounding the actual
city, has an area of 8,859.9 km².
The city is located on the
northwestern edge of the densely populated North China Plain, an average
of 63 meters above sea level, and is surrounded by mountains (Mongolian
Plateau). The highest elevation in the administrative area of Beijing
is the Ling Shan (more precisely: Dongling Shan 東靈山 / 东灵山) at 2303
meters. The area stretches over 180 km from north to south and over 170
km from east to west. Other large cities in the administrative area of
Beijing are (as of January 1, 2007): Mentougou 205,574 inhabitants,
Tongzhou 169,770 inhabitants, Shunyi 122,264 inhabitants, Huangcun
109,043 inhabitants and Fangshan 100,855 inhabitants.
The North China Plain (Great Plain), in which Beijing is located, is
geologically a slump field that was later filled by the delta formations
of the North China rivers. It consists of alluvial loess and sands that
have been brought by rivers from the western mountainous countries. The
plain is therefore a continuation of the loess land.
In terms of
climate - hot, humid summers and dry, cold winters with dust storms -
and in terms of plant geography - parkland with steppe-like features -
it is similar to the neighboring loess mountain countries. The North
China Plain is a huge alluvial cone that the Huang He, the most muddy
river on earth, has piled up over the course of many millennia and whose
branches reach the Yellow Sea north and south of the Shandong Peninsula.
The area is exposed to strong tectonic tensions that repeatedly lead
to earthquakes, which is why the Jiufeng earthquake station was set up
in 1930. The cause is the slow shift of the Indian continental plate
northwards into the Eurasian continental plate. The speed of plate
tectonics is on average around four centimeters per year.
On July
28, 1976, the most devastating earthquake of the 20th century occurred
in Tangshan, 140 km east of Beijing (see 1976 Tangshan earthquake). It
had a magnitude of 8.2 on the Richter scale. The official figure given
by the government of the People's Republic of China for the number of
deaths is 242,419, but some estimates put the number at up to 800,000
deaths, and the official magnitude is only 7.8. The earthquake also
caused damage in Beijing and other cities in the region.
The inner city of Beijing (marked in red and blue) without the
suburban belt is made up of six urban districts. On July 1, 2010, the
Chongwen District (崇文區 / 崇文区, Chóngwén Qū) was incorporated into the
Dongcheng District and the Xuanwu District (宣武區 / 宣武区, Xuānwǔ Qū) was
incorporated into the Xicheng District. Chaoyang (朝陽區 / 朝阳区, Cháoyáng
Qū),
Dongcheng (東城區 / 东城区, Dōngchéng Qū),
Fengtai (豐台區 / 丰台区,
Fēngtái Qū),
Haidian (海澱區 / 海淀区, 'Hǎidiàn Qū),
Shijingshan (石景山區 /
石景山区, Shíjǐngshān Qū),
Xicheng (西城區 / 西城区, Xīchéng Qū),
In the
vicinity of downtown Beijing (marked in green) there are six more city
districts. These were converted from counties into city districts
between 1986 and 2001.
Mentougou (門頭溝區 / 门头沟区, Méntóugōu Qū),
Fangshan (房山區 / 房山区, Fángshān Qū) – Fangshan County until 1986,
Tongzhou (通州區 / 通州区, Tōngzhōu Qū) – Tongxian County until 1997,
Shunyi (順義區 / 顺义区, Shùnyì Qū) – Shunyi County until 1998,
Changping
(昌平區 / 昌平区, Chāngpíng Qū) – Changping County to 1999,
Daxing (大興區 /
大兴区, Dàxīng Qū) – Daxing County until 2001.
Further away from the
inner city area there are four other city districts (marked in yellow).
These were formed from former counties in 2001 and 2015.
Pinggu
Municipality (平谷區 / 平谷区, Pínggǔ Qū) – Pinggu County until 2001.
Huairou Municipality (懷柔區 / 怀柔区, Huáiróu Qū) – Huairou County until
2001.
Miyun Municipality (密雲區 / 密云区, Mìyún Qū), – Miyun County until
2015.
Yanqing Municipality (延慶區 / 延庆区, Yánqìng Qū). – Yanqing County
until 2015.
Although Beijing is only about 150 kilometers from the coast, it has
a temperate, continental climate due to its location in the westerly
wind belt, that is, warm, humid summers and cold, dry winters. The
average annual precipitation is 578 mm, of which about 62% falls in the
months of July and August.
The average annual temperature is 11.8
°C. The warmest month is July with an average daily maximum temperature
of 30.8 °C and an average daily minimum temperature of 21.6 °C. The
coldest month in the Beijing area is January with an average daily
maximum temperature of 1.6 °C and an average daily minimum temperature
of −9.6 °C.
In winter, temperatures can drop to −20 °C and there
is an icy wind blowing from the plains of Inner Mongolia. Summer (June
to August) is humid and hot with temperatures up to 40 °C, the short
spring (April and May) is dry but windy. Autumn (September and October)
is dry and mild.
When the wind comes from the south or southeast,
visibility is poor, especially from June to August. On the other hand,
when the wind comes from the north, it gets very cold in winter and then
there are sandstorms in spring. The highest temperature was officially
recorded on June 15, 1942 at 42.6 °C, and the lowest on February 22,
1966 at -27.4 °C.
The Chinese capital is struggling with numerous environmental
problems. These include excessive river pollution, problems with the
drinking water supply, air pollution, shortcomings in local public
transport and excessive traffic congestion. Since the early 1990s, the
government has been making increased efforts to promote environmental
protection. Laws have been passed on recycling, environmental impact
assessment, increasing energy efficiency and air pollution control.
To improve air quality, stricter emissions regulations have been
passed. Since January 1, 2003, only passenger cars that meet the Euro 2
standard have been registered. Since March 1, 2008, all new cars have
had to meet the Euro IV standard. Numerous diesel-powered buses have
been replaced by natural gas buses. In addition, the proportion of
electric trolleybuses among the total of 18,000 buses in Beijing has
risen to around five percent. Rail-based local transport, especially the
subway network, is also being expanded significantly. However, air
pollution in the metropolis remains a concern. The high levels of fine
dust and other air pollutants are a major problem.
As part of the
Clean Air Plan, all of the city's coal-fired power plants were shut down
between 2013 and 2017 and replaced by low-emission gas-fired power
plants. A program was also launched that aims to convert residential
buildings heated with coal to electric heat pump heating.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the capital's air
quality is one of the worst in the world. The causes lie in the numerous
factories and power plants as well as in traffic and private households.
Due to rapid urbanization, the sharp increase in traffic volume and the
concentration of industry in the metropolitan area, excessive emissions
and smog pose a serious threat to public health. During inversion
weather conditions, respiratory diseases in particular increase among
the capital's population.
Chen Jining (* 1964) has been the mayor of Beijing since May 2017.
His predecessor was Guo Jinlong from November 2007 until his resignation
in July 2012. Guo was born in Nanjing in July 1947 and was most recently
party secretary of Anhui and is a member of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China. His predecessor was Wang Qishan, born in July
1948 in Shanxitian Township near the city of Qingdao. He took over the
office on April 22, 2003 from Meng Xuenong, who was removed from his
post by the Chinese Communist Party for misconduct during the outbreak
of the lung disease SARS in the capital.
Meng Xuenong was accused
of being responsible for a policy of cover-up and silence with which he
sought to conceal the outbreak of SARS for a long time. Several thousand
people in Beijing fell ill with SARS and hundreds died. Meng Xuenong
took over the office of mayor from Liu Qi on January 19, 2003.
Other members of the Beijing city government are the secretary of the
party committee Liu Qi, the chairman of the Standing Committee of the
People's Congress Yu Junbo and the chairman of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Cheng Shi'e. The CPPCC is made
up of the National Committee and the local committees at various levels.
The city government is responsible for the governments of 16 city
districts and two counties. The city districts are in turn divided into
street districts, and in some cases also into townships, large townships
and "sub-districts" (at the township level). The counties, on the other
hand, are made up of townships and large townships; only in Miyun
County, which has developed a small urban center, are there two street
districts. At the bottom of Beijing's administrative pyramid are the
so-called resident communities (社區 / 社区, shèqū) in the urban areas,
which are administered by the resident committees (居民委員會 / 居民委员会, jūmín
wěiyuánhùi), and in the rural regions the villages (村, cūn), which are
administered by village committees (村民委員會 / 村民委员会, cūnmín wěiyuánhùi).
According to a study from 2014, Beijing generated a gross domestic
product of 506.1 billion US dollars (GDP). This put it in 11th place in
the ranking of the world's strongest economic metropolitan regions. The
GDP per capita was 23,390 US dollars, making Beijing one of the richest
cities in China. Beijing is the city with the highest number of Fortune
Global 500 companies.
Beijing is now the second largest
industrial center in the country. Important industries have been located
in the satellite cities: the production of petrochemical products in
Fangshan, machine manufacturing in Fentai, iron and steel manufacturing
in Shijingshan and motor vehicle manufacturing in Tongxian.
Over
two million workers in the province are employed in industry. Clothing,
canned goods, cotton and synthetic fabrics, paints, paper, lubricants
and electronic products are manufactured. Since the start of economic
reforms in 1978, the construction industry has become increasingly
important. Around 700,000 construction workers are employed in it.
Around 900,000 people work in the agricultural sector in the city
under direct control of the government. Agricultural products include
poultry and pork, grain, vegetables (cabbage, tomatoes, eggplants,
carrots and onions), milk and eggs.
Numerous commercial and
service companies have settled in Beijing in recent years (over a
million employees). The city is a shopping and fashion center. There are
several modern shopping districts (for example on Wangfujing Street).
Gold enamel work (cloisonné), jade carving and carpet weaving are among
the traditional industries.
Since the economic reforms in the
1980s and 1990s, there have also been companies supported by foreign
investors. Many private companies have been established. In Beijing
there are around 100,000 privately employed workers (Getihu) in
commercial enterprises. The service industry has over 30,000 companies
with around 200,000 employees.
In a ranking of the most important
financial centers in the world, Beijing was ranked 11th (as of 2018).
As a transport hub, Beijing has airports and rail connections to all
parts of the country as well as an intercontinental route to Europe via
the Trans-Mongolian Railway (Ulan Bator) and the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Beijing plays a central role in the expansion and new construction plans
for the state railway's high-speed rail network.
The Beijing City
Rail also has a suburban rail network similar to an S-Bahn, which
currently consists of four lines.
The Beijing Capital Airport is located in the Shunyi area, around 20
kilometers northeast of the city center.
In 2011, it was
announced that another airport, Beijing Daxing Airport with a capacity
of 120 million passengers and up to seven runways, was being planned; it
opened as planned on September 25, 2019. Beijing Daxing is one of the
largest airports in the world.
In the south of the city, until
the new major airport opened in 2019, there was another, smaller
airport, Beijing Nanyuan, with around one million passengers per year.
Grand Canal
The Grand Canal connects Beijing to the Yellow River
(黄河, Huáng Hé) and the Yangtze.
Beijing is connected to other cities in China by nine highways.
Beijing's highway network is constantly being expanded. Five ring roads
and several through roads are available for inner-city traffic. The city
center is classified as the part of Beijing that lies within the 2nd
Ring Road and the greater Beijing area as the part that lies within the
5th Ring Road.
Similar to Moscow, Beijing is developing in the
form of rings. This has caused problems for road traffic. Traffic jams
are frequent and the construction and expansion of ring roads does not
seem to solve the traffic problem. The registration of new cars is
therefore subject to quotas. In 2023, only 100,000 Beijing license
plates will be issued. The waiting time is up to 10 years. Electric cars
are given priority when issuing license plates. Cars without Beijing
license plates may be driven in Beijing a maximum of twelve times a year
for up to seven days each time, and only outside rush hour.
There are almost a thousand bus and trolleybus lines within the city. The first trolleybus ran in the city on February 26, 1957. The first electric trams ran in Beijing on June 24, 1899, but operations were stopped during the Boxer Rebellion on June 13, 1900. The system was reinstated on December 17, 1924. This time the trams ran until May 6, 1966.
The first section of the Beijing subway was opened on October 1,
1969. After that, the system was expanded very slowly. It was not until
several subway lines were put into operation in 2008 for the Olympic
Games that the network grew to eight lines. This marked the start of a
rapid expansion, so that by 2010 there were already 14 lines. In 2014,
the route network measured 527 km. In 2022, there were 25 lines on a 783
km network.
A single ticket costs the equivalent of about 90
cents. (As of January 2018)
The bicycle has long been an outstanding means of inner-city transport in Beijing, with dedicated bike lanes for the approximately ten million private bicycles. In recent times, it has been increasingly displaced by private cars. In order to reduce air pollution, traffic congestion and bicycle theft, the city administration is now focusing on building a network of bicycle rental stations, which provided 50,000 bikes by the 2008 Summer Olympics. Thanks to the emergence of a number of dockless app-based bike rental systems such as Mobike, Bluegogo and Ofo, cycling has regained popularity.
Of the city's many higher education institutions, Peking University
(北京大學 / 北京大学, Běijīng Dàxué, founded in 1898) and Tsinghua University
(清華大學 / 清华大学, Qīnghuá dàxué, founded in 1911) are the most popular most
famous. The Chinese People's University (人民大學 / 人民大学, Rénmín dàxué), the
University of Foreign Economics and Trade (對外經濟貿易大學 / 对外经济贸易大学, Duìwaì
Jīngjì Màoyì Dàxúe) and the Beijing University of Education (北京師範大學 /
北京师范大学, Běijīng Shīfàn Dàxué). At the BLCU (北京語言文化大學 / 北京语言文化大学, Běijīng
yǔyán wénhuà dàxué, formerly the Language Institute; founded in 1962),
around three quarters of the students are foreigners studying Chinese.
Equally interesting is the Beijing Sports University (北京體育大學 /
北京体育大学, Běijīng tǐyù dà xué), the most important sports university in
China, which is particularly popular with foreigners for studying Wushu,
often in combination with language studies. There is also the Chinese
Academy of Sciences and a number of research institutes under its
control. The Beijing Foreign Languages University (北京外國語大學 / 北京外国语大学,
Běijīng wàiguóyǔ dàxué) is one of the best foreign language universities
in the country.
The China Central Academy of Fine Arts is the
name of the art academy in Beijing, it is the oldest art academy in
China. The Research Institute for Music of the Chinese Academy of Arts
is also located in Beijing.
Over 250,000 people are employed in
the scientific and technical fields. Around 500,000 people work in
education and communications. The Beijing Library is the most important
in the People's Republic of China (around ten million volumes; with
holdings from the libraries of the Sung, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties).
Most universities are located in Haidian District (海澱區 / 海淀区,
Hǎidiàn qū) in the northwest of the city. There are more than twenty
universities there alone.
The China Rehabilitation Research Center is a state-run rehabilitation clinic in Beijing and also a center for training and research in the field of rehabilitation in China.