beijing city guide: History
Peopled some 500,000 years ago, the area that makes up today's Beijing sprouted a frontier trading town for the Mongols, Koreans and tribes from Shandong and central China around 1000 BC. Burnt to the ground by Genghis Khan in 1215 AD, the resurrected city was passed on to Kublai Khan (Genghis's grandson) as Dadu, or Great Capital. The mercenary Zhu Yanhang led an uprising in 1368, taking over the city and ushering in the Ming Dynasty. The city was renamed Beiping (Northern Peace) and for the next 35 years the capital was shifted to Nanjing. When it was shunted back again, Beiping became Beijing (Northern Capital) and up went such foreboding structures as the Forbidden City.
Under the Manchu invaders, who established the Qing Dynasty in the 17th century, Beijing was thoroughly renovated and expanded. From the beginning, however, it was obvious that any city proclaimed China's heart was to endure a tumultuous existence. While invaders have dwindled since the days when Anglo-French troops were razing the Old Summer Palace or the Japanese army was in occupation in the 1930s, internal power struggles will always dog this fiery nation's capital.
With Mao Zedong's proclamation of a 'People's Republic' in Tiananmen Square in 1949, the Communists stripped back the face of Beijing. Down came the commemorative arches, along with several outer walls, in the interests of solemnity and traffic circulation. Soviet town-planning know-how was employed at the time, which explains the Stalinesque features of many prominent buildings and landmarks.
Beijing's darkest modern moment came in 1989 when a massive pro-democracy student protest in Tiananmen Square was brutally, bloodily crushed by Deng Xiaoping's government forces. That such an atrocity could happen while capitalist-style reforms flooded the city with shopping malls and foreign money typifies Beijing--a moody city of contrasts and contradictions. These days, both the Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen Square massacre are taboo topics among officials.
Nonetheless, in 1994 the Chinese leadership was confident that their nation had re-established its reputation on the world stage. When cities were being polled to host the 2000 Olympics, the Chinese assumed Beijing would win. They took the rebuff badly when Sydney was chosen.
Nor did the Chinese win many friends in 1995 when Beijing played host to the United Nations' Conference on Women. Having lobbied the UN hard to get the conference, the Chinese then denied visas to at least several hundred people who wanted to attend because they were regarded as politically incorrect. Things have cooled and Beijing has been trying to polish its image. By the end of March 1999 officials had abolished the last of the off-limit areas, established in the 50s, that quarantined the cultural revolution from foreign influences. The funeral of the paramount leader Deng Xiaoping in early 1997 was a momentous event, with huge crowds of grieving Beijingers lining the streets.
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