History Of Beijing

 

A city with a historical and cultural inheritance that finds its roots back in history up to 3000 years.

Beijing is among China’s famous ancient cities, the other three being Nanjing, Luoyang, and Xi'an (Chang'an).

The qin dynasty was the first dynasty of Imperial China, lasting from 221 to 206 BC. If we try to find out the extremely well-maintained ancient cities in the whole world, Beijing stands among the top contenders. Beijing managed to stay as the capital city for a duration of 700 years, being the capital city of 6 powerful dynasties. The city of Beijing is the same age as London. Its age is approximately ten times that of Sydney and six times that of New York.

Thus,  making Beijing the longest inhabited city around the globe. The fossils detected by scientists tell us that civilization emerged as far back as 770,000 to 230,000 years ago. The city has a varied heritage of monuments and documents that tells the story of the city’s history and heritage. Some of the popular sites of Beijing are the Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City, Great Wall Of China, and many more.

The city was named ‘Beijing’ in the year 1403. Prior to this, the city underwent a long chain of names that flipped with different dynasties. Some of the popular names that were allotted to the city were: Yanjing - Capital Of Yan’, Zhongdu - Central Capital, Beiping - Central Peace, Jicheng - City of Ji, Nanjing- Southern Capital, Dadu- Great Capital. The 16th name that was decided upon was ‘Beijing’. Read along to find out about the largest city of Central Asia, the opium war, the imperial court in Chinese history, an old city in north china, the imperial capital, tang dynasty, qin dynasty, how Genghis khan impacted Chinese culture and the republic of china, what is Marco polo, and many more interesting topics in the history of Beijing. 

The Major Eras of Beijing History

The history of Beijing can be understood by the five major eras:

1. Pre-Qin: When talking about the pre-qin era of Beijing history, Beijing was the capital of the kingdom. If we believe the historical documents then this city during Beijing history, was the terrain of the infamous local hero, Yellow Emperor. Although there are records signifying this, many still believe it all to be a myth. It is considered that the proud Huaxia tribe of the Yellow Emperor are the ones who established the Xia Dynasty. The Xia Dynasty ruled between 2070 BC to 1600 BC. The Xia was succeeded by the Shang Dynasty which became the first known historical civilization of China. They reigned from 1600 BC to 1046 BC.

2. Qin-Sui Dynasty: During this era, Beijing remained among the major cities of three powerful empires. In the reign of Qin Shihuang, the First Qin Emperor, the empire was divided into what was called ‘prefectures’. There were a total of 36 prefectures at the time. The city of Ji was chosen to be an administrational hub of Guangyang Commandery prefecture. The Qin Empire got ruined and uprooted in 206 BC as a result of internal conflict. After the end of the Qin Empire, Western Han Dynasty took its place and Liu Bang became the ruling commander. They reigned from 206 BC to 24 BC. After the reign of the Western Han Dynasty, the Eastern Han era remained from 25 BC to 220 AD. The city saw tremendous growth in population during their reign. The city was named “Fanyang '' under the Qui-Sui Dynasty.  

3. Sui-Yuan Dynasty: Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty, which ruled over present-day China, Mongolia, Korea, and some adjacent areas. Kublai khan was the fifth khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire, reigning from 1260 to 1294. With the emergence of the large Sui Empire in 589 AD, Beijing had a major transformation when the Grand Canal linking Ji to central China and the Yangtze basin was constructed. The reason behind the canal was to form an easier way to transport supplies and troops for the war that was happening in the northeast. The result of this canal was that not only was it helpful during the war but it also helped the development and growth of the city. The Sui Empire came to an end in 618 AD and soon after that, the rule of the Tang Dynasty began which lasted till 907 AD. At the early stages of the Tang era, the population of Ji increased from 102,079 in 618 AD to 371,312 in 742 AD. After the Tang came the Liao Empire which was renamed the city “Nanjing”. Under the rule of Liao Emperor Taizong, numerous construction projects were completed. Jurchens uprooted Liao and formed the Jin Empire which reigned from 1115 AD to 1234 AD. They named the city Zhongdu.

4. Yuan-Qing Dynasty: Mongols captured the Manchu Jin Empire and then Zhongdu was seized and looted under the command of Genghis Khan. They called the city of Beijing ‘Yanjing’. The Qing Empire was founded by the Manchu invaders in 1644 AD and lasted till 1912 AD. 

5. Modern Beijing: After the reign of China by a Nationalist Army from the year 1912 to 1928, Beijing was captivated by the Japanese army. Beijing remained under captivity till 1945. Beijing was formed as the capital city of Communist China and it was here when China declared independence.

Beijing's Strategic Location

There have been many interesting aspects in Beijing's history like emperor puyi, yuan rule, royal families, palace complex, the grand capital city in northeast suburbs, Tiananmen square. There have been various cities like imperial city, modern city or the Beijing city with the Beijing municipality, a new city in modern china. The Ming Dynasty cherished Beijing for the stance it took against the northern invaders. The Great Wall of China became an important defense measure. Even though they had had to give up a large area of the northwest terrain to Jurchens. As a result, Beijing was situated in the far north and not in the geographical center of China. Beijing was far from the population after the invasion but the Great Canal became an aid as a route for people up until 1635 when Ming Dynasty came to an end. 

Chinese Civil War

The Chinese Civil War took place from 1927  upto 1950. The only instance where the war took a break was during the Japanese invasion and World War II. The Communist Party of China(CPC) was fighting against the Kuomintang(KMT), the nationalist government of China. The Chinese civil war began for a number of reasons:

• Cave in of the United Front in 1927

• Shanghai Massacre

• Opium Wars

• Structural issues

• Boxer Rising

• Insufficient reforms

• Rise of nationalist movements

• May 4 movement

• 1911 revolution

The time period from 1945 to October 1949 was regarded as the central facet of the war. A peace negotiation was organized and the ceasefire was called off right after the surrender of Japan in August 1945. The People’s Republic of China(PRC) was formed by the CCP’s leader, Mao Zedong. The Nationalist, Jiang Jieshi formed an opposing government, the Republic of China(ROC) after he was forcefully sent to Taiwan. The declaration of victory was done in 1949 by CCP.    

Modern History of Beijing

• In 1911, the republican revolution took place.

• The nationalist movement began as a desire for freedom on May 4, 1919.

• The Communist Party was established in 1921, in Shanghai.

• After the fall of Japan during WWII, a civil war started in 1945, in China.

• The People's Republic was announced by Mao Zedong on October 1, 1949.

• During the years 1058-1961, more than 30 million people were killed by mass famine.

• In 1960, a political divide occurred between the Soviet Union and China.

• The Cultural Revolution started in 1965.

• The Democracy Wall movement was dissolved in 1979 after China was officially recognized by the US.

Beijing in Zhou Dynasty

The Zhou Dynasty was established in 1045 BC and lasted till 221 BC. China saw immense growth during its reign. There were some divides in the territories but also the union because of imperialism also ensued. This was the longest-reigning dynasty. Several important religions and philosophies such as Daoism and Confucianism arose during this period. 

Three periods constituted this era:

• Western Zhou Dynasty (91045-771 BC)

• Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC)

• Warring States (475-221 BC)

The western zhou dynasty was the first half of the Zhou dynasty of ancient China. The most important written records that provide information about this dynasty are Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian and Bamboo Annals. Aside from these records, there are numerous local legends and myths surrounding this period. It was the first Zhou Emperor who made the declaration that the City of Ji was the property of the Yellow Emperor’s descendants.