History

Beijing has a long and tumultuous past. Archaeological evidence unearthed at nearby Zhoukoudian introduced the world to Peking Man, a hominid who inhabited the area half a million years ago. More recently, the city has seen imperial dynasties come and go along with wars, rebellions, foreign invasions and revolution. Since the 13th Century Beijing has dominated as the capitol of China under the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and serves as capitol today for the People's Republic of China.

The earliest records of human settlement in Beijing date back to 1000 BC. During the Warring States Period (453-221 BC) the town of Ji served as a trade outpost for Koreans and northern tribes. Ji became Yanjing, or the capital of the Kingdom of Yan, and its strategic position led to struggles for control between Mongolians and Manchurians.

In 1215 AD, the city fell to the Mongolian empire builder Genghis Khan. By 1267 it became Khanbaliq (Khan's Town) or Dadu (Chinese for Great Capital), and capitol of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), from which Genghis' grandson Kublai would rule one of four Mongolian khanates, Beijing served as capitol to most of South and East Asia. It is believed that the outer wall of the city at the time ran along the canals near Xueyuan Lu near Qinghua and Beijing Universities.

In 1368 mendicant monk Zhu Yuanzhang led an uprising against the Yuan Dynasty and seized the Khan's great city. Thus began the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Under Zhu's control, the city changed its name to Beiping (Northern Peace) and was replaced as imperial capital by Nanjing (Southern Capital) in the Jiangsu Province. In the early 1400s, the third ruler and usurper to the throne Yong Le (reign 1403-1425), fearing the ghosts of his recently executed political rivals in Nanjing, returned to his base of power in the north and renamed it Beijing (Northern Capital). Because the Mongolian capitol had been completely wasted at the end of the Yuan, it was at this time that the foundations for the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, and the Bell Tower were laid.

The Sinicized northern Manchu tribe put an end to the Ming in 1644, establishing the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Under the Qing, Beijing was further expanded and modernized with the construction of the Old Summer Palace and the (new) Summer Palace. The popularity of Chinese tea and silk in Europe brought prosperity to China during the Qing, but the court was unable to adjust to western style trade and diplomacy, which served to destabilize the Confucian social order. By the end of the 19th century, wars, foreign occupation, and rebellions had weakened the Qing court, then ruled by the Emperess Dowager Cixi (1835-1908). The Qing Dynasty finally collapsed in 1911. With the leadership of Sun Yat-sen, the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) rose to power and the Republic of China was founded. Warlord power and foreign influence limited the control of the Nationalist government and encouraged corruption. Modernizers and intellectuals flirted with new ideas, such as democracy, Marxism, and modern science. The blending of nationalism and education culminated in the May Fourth Movement of 1919, based at Beijing University, and writers such as Lu Xun encouraged the updating of the Chinese written style to more accurately reflect life in modern China.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party was founded in Shanghai in 1921. During the war with Japan, the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek, allied with the Communists to seize control from the warlords and foreigners to reunify China. The alliance was never whole hearted and World War II lead to civil war. Defeated, Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists fled to Taiwan, and on October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was formally declared by Mao Zedong (1893-1976) from Tiananmen Gate.

Under Mao's leadership, China struggled to create social equity and collectivity, erase the effects of feudalism and build a new nation. Progress met with hiccups of power struggle such as the Great Leap Forward (1958-1960) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), both of which led to disastrous results for Beijing and the country. In an attempt to eradicate all capitalist or exploitative influences, the youth-lead Red Guards destroyed temples, monuments and works of art, and persecuted intellectuals and writers. Political infighting and power struggles within the Party further contributed to the chaos, which remained until Mao's death in 1976.

In 1979, Party leader Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) launched the four modernizations which began the shift to market socialism. The effects were felt politically in Beijing and the creation of the Democracy Wall in Xi Cheng was representative of the student- and worker- lead Democracy movement that abruptly ended in July 1989 in the Tiananmen Square Incident. At the turn of the 21st Century, Beijing is once again being revitalized as a new center of culture. The fireworks that accompanied the announcement of World Trade Organization membership in 2001 and fanfare surrounding the 2008 Summer Olympics have encouraged the massive updating of infrastructure and reinterpretation of cultural importance for post-Mao China.