Located in northern China is not only one of the largest cities in the world, but also the capital of the largest country in the world, Beijing. Like many great cities, Beijing has had its ups and downs. It's gone from a sleepy village to a global city. It's seen its share of wars, revolutions, and historical events. Not only has it had a front seat to history, but it's also changed its name multiple times in multiple languages. Learn more about Beijing and how it's evolved over the centuries.
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integrated shipping solutions that actually save you time from startups to scale-ups online in person and on the go shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you sign up for your one dollar a month trial at shopify.com slash setup The story of Beijing goes back far beyond that of most major cities. The earliest evidence of ancient hominid settlement in the area goes back somewhere between 200,000 to 700,000 years.
In the 1920s and 30s, Swedish, Canadian, and Chinese paleontologists found fossils from early human ancestors, which were dubbed Homo erectus pekinensis, or Peking Man. The Peking man fossils were found at the Zhokudian site, a series of limestone caves about 50 kilometers or 30 miles southwest of modern Beijing. Sadly, the original fossils were shipped to the United States during World War II for safekeeping and were lost, most probably in a Japanese naval attack.
The discovery of Peking man fossils and their importance will be for another episode, but suffice it to say it showed that humans and early human ancestors had lived in the region for a very long time. And I'll get to why Peking Man was called Peking Man instead of Beijing Man in a moment. As far as recorded history goes, the earliest evidence of settlement dates back to the Shang Dynasty around the 16th to 11th century BC.
The region was home to a walled city known as Ji, which served as a trading hub and administrative center. During the Zhou Dynasty from 1046 to 256 BC, Ji became an important city in the state of Yan. one of the major powers of the Warring States period from 475 to 221 BC. When China became unified under the Qin Dynasty from 221 to 206 BC, Xi continued as a regional center but didn't have any national importance.
During the Han Dynasty from 206 BC to 220, Xi grew as a military and administrative hub. And during the Tang Dynasty from 618 to 907, Xi served as a frontier post and regional commercial center. I'm jumping over large swathes of time here, but the point is that Xi was a notable regional city, but was not an imperial capital. For most of this period,
But not all. The imperial capital of China was the modern city of Nanjing. Nanjing simply means southern capital. Things began to change for the city under the Liao dynasty. The Liao dynasty, which ruled from 907 to 1125, was founded by the Kaitan, a nomadic people from Manchuria, and it ruled over parts of northern China, Mongolia, and Manchuria. Their primary capital was known as Shangjing, which is just ruins today. However, they set up a secondary capital in Xi, which was known as Nanjing.
which is really confusing because that's the name of another city, which I just mentioned. The Liao were replaced by the Jin Dynasty, which established their capital in Xi and called it Zhongdu. It was their imperial capital from 1115 to 1234. So why did the Liao and Jin use this city as their capital and why did it remain a capital?
Many of the great Chinese cities are built on the great rivers of China that tend to flow west to east and allow navigation into the Chinese hinterland. Beijing is not on such a location. While those cities such as Shanghai and Nanjing were located on rivers and were very important, the real threat to China always came from the north. Beijing sits near China's northern frontier, historically vulnerable to invasion from nomadic groups like the Zhongnu, Qitan, Jurchen, Mongols, and Manchus.
By establishing Beijing as the capital, Chinese dynasties could more effectively defend against northern threats. The Great Wall of China was extended to reinforce and protect Beijing from Mongol and other steppe incursions. While it is in the north, Beijing remains close enough to China's core economic and cultural regions, making it a defensive administrative center without being too distant from the heartland.
When invaders from the north established a foothold in China and established dynasties, Beijing was also close to their centers of power. When the Mongols invaded and established the Yuan dynasty from 1271 to 1368 under Kublai Khan, they established their winter capital in the city, which they called Dadu, or Kanbalik.
which was yet another name for the exact same place. Their summer capital was Shangdu, which was located in what is today Inner Mongolia. It was under the Mongols that the modern city that we know as Beijing began to develop. The city was designed based on traditional Chinese feng shui principles with a grid layout that influenced later Beijing.
Construction began in 1267 and was completed by 1276, with major architects incorporating elements of previous capitals like Zhongdu under the Jin Dynasty. It was surrounded by thick city walls and had 12 gates, each facing a cardinal direction. At the heart of Dadu was the Imperial Palace, which was the predecessor to what would later be the Forbidden City. The famous Venetian traveler Marco Polo visited Dadu and described it as a city of unmatched wealth and splendor.
Dadu was a keynote on the Silk Road, linking China to Central Asia, Persia, and Europe, and the Grand Canal was also extended to connect Dadu to southern China, ensuring a steady supply of grain and goods. As the Mongols had a vast empire beyond that of just the Yuan in China, Dadu became a multicultural center with Mongols, Han Chinese, Central Asians, Persians, and Europeans.
Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, and Christianity all flourished under Yuan rule with temples and mosques built across the city. When the Yuan dynasty collapsed in 1368, their successor, the Ming dynasty, initially made Nanjing their capital. But in 1403, the Ming finally changed the name of the city to Beijing, which means Northern Capital.
the name that it has today. The reason for the name change was because the emperor ordered the construction of an imperial palace to symbolize his power and absolute rule. We know it as the Forbidden City. Construction began in 1406 and was completed by 1420, involving over one million workers, including skilled artisans, laborers, and craftsmen. The palace was truly massive.
The Forbidden City was built following the principles of feng shui and traditional Chinese cosmology, aligning with the cardinal directions and sacred spatial organization. The main halls were built using rare Phoebe, Zhenan wood transported from Sichuan and Yunnan. The grand marble terraces and pathways came from quarries near Beijing. Golden yellow roof tiles symbolized imperial authority and special glazed gold color floor bricks were used in the main halls.
The Forbidden City covers 720,000 square meters or 180 acres and consists of 980 surviving buildings with over 8,700 rooms. It's enclosed by a 10-meter or 30-foot high wall with a 52-meter or 170-foot wide moat ensuring security. There were originally 9,999 rooms, reflecting the mythology that only heaven could have 10,000 rooms. Upon completion in 1421, the Emperor Yongle formally moved the capital to Beijing.
The Ming era saw the expansion of Beijing city walls, the construction of key landmarks like the Temple of Heaven, and the establishment of Beijing as the political and cultural center of China. Beijing and the Forbidden City served as the imperial seat for 14 Ming emperors. It was damaged by fires and rebuilt multiple times because almost everything was made out of wood.
In 1644, the Manchurian Qing Dynasty took control of China and retained Beijing as their capital. The city expanded and its architectural grandeur was enhanced with structures like the Summer Palace. Beijing became a cosmopolitan hub, hosting diverse cultures and influences from across the Qing Empire.
By the 19th century, however, Beijing faced challenges from foreign invasions, including the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion, which devastated parts of the city. And I've covered these topics in previous episodes. If you remember back to my episode on the Boxer Rebellion, many Western countries had embassies in the city, and an entire section of the city was cordoned off just for them. The seizure of the Westerners was dramatized in the 1963 movie,
55 days at Peking. Following the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912, Beijing was renamed once again, this time to Biping, which means Northern Peace. The name change was to signify its loss of capital status during the early Republic of China era as the capital moved back to Nanjing. The city remained a cultural and political battleground during the Warlord Era, the Sino-Japanese War, and the Chinese Civil War.
With the conclusion of the Chinese Civil War, Beijing was reinstated as the capital in 1949 with the establishment of the People's Republic of China. And this is as good a time as any to explain the whole Peking versus Beijing thing. While the city currently known as Beijing has changed its name several times, as I've mentioned, it's never been known as Peking in Chinese. Peking was the name used by many non-Chinese-speaking countries.
The name Peking came from an older Romanization system, particularly the French-influenced transcription of the Chinese name. The pronunciation in older Chinese dialects is closer to what Westerners encountered during the Ming and Qing dynasties and influenced the spelling of Peking. In 1958, the People's Republic of China adopted Pinyin.
a standardized romanization system. Pinyin is designed to more accurately reflect the modern standard Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese words using the Roman alphabet. Under Pinyin, the city name is pronounced as Beijing. Under the Communists, the city saw its greatest change since the Mongols and the Mings defined the original capital city.
On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People's Republic of China from the Gate of Heavenly Peace, also known as the Tiananmen in Beijing. This is probably the most famous view of Beijing as it is the gate and entrance to the Forbidden City where Mao's photo has been for decades. The city was restructured to serve as the political and ideological center of communist China.
The government promoted Soviet-style urban planning, emphasizing large boulevards, state-controlled housing, and industrial zones. Old Babyshing had a vast system of city walls, gates, and hutongs, which are traditional alleys with courtyard homes. In the 1950s, the government demolished the outer city walls to make way for new roads, highways, and ring roads. Hutong neighborhoods were cleared for modern apartments, and socialist-style housing blocks replaced many traditional courtyard homes.
Heavy industry was developed in the western and southern parts of the city, and Soviet-style factories and housing complexes were built to support a growing working-class population. The Cultural Revolution led to massive destruction of historical and religious sites. Temples, palaces, and historic structures were damaged or repurposed. The forbidden city, the Temple of Heaven, and other landmarks survived, but they were closed to the public for a period of time.
Because of the importance of Beijing to the People's Republic of China, the population of the city exploded. In 1950, there were approximately 1.6 million people in Beijing. By 1980, there were 5.3 million people, 10.2 million people in 2000 and 20.4 million in 2020. While the purposeful destruction of historic buildings mostly ended after the death of Mao, the pressures to expand the city continued. China changed dramatically in the 1980s and 90s, and it was reflected in Beijing.
The first Beijing subway line opened in 1969, but it was expanded significantly in the 80s and 90s. Ring roads were built around the city to accommodate growing traffic, replacing older streets. Skyscrapers in commercial districts began appearing, especially around the central business district. With all of this growth, Beijing suffered some of the worst air pollution in the world.
The pollution was so bad that it became difficult to breathe on many days, and this resulted in the implementation of a Blue Skies initiative that significantly did improve air quality by closing coal plants, limiting car traffic, and promoting clean energy. Beijing has subsequently gone on to become the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Beijing has come a long way.
From the stomping grounds of Peking Man hundreds of thousands of years ago, to a provincial administrative capital, to then an imperial capital, its history, role, and size have made it one of the most important cities on Earth. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Benji Long and Cameron Kiever. I want to give a big shout out to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon, including the show's producers.
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