Brief History of Beijing

King Wu was the first to declare Beijing the capital city in 1057 BC. Subsequently, the city has gone by the
names of Ji, Zhongdu, Dadu, and finally Beijing when the Ming Dynasty Emperor ChengZu chose the
name in 1421. Beijing was also known as Peking by the Western world before 1949.

Beijing City is an independently administered municipal district. She is situated in the northeastern part of
China at an elevation of 43.5m above sea level. The climate in Beijing is of the continental type, with cold
and dry winters and hot summers. January is the coldest month (-4 Celsius), while July the warmest (26
Celsius).

Beijing has a whole area of 16808 sq km (about 6500 sq mi), stretching 160 kilometres from east to west
and over 180 kilometres north to south. She has 18 districts and counties with Dongcheng, Xicheng,
Xuanwu, Chongwen, Chaoyang, Haidian, Fengtai and Shijingshan in the surburbs and Fangshan,
Mengtougou, Changping, Tongxian, Shunyi, Daxing, Huairou, Miyun, Pinggu and Yianqing in the outer
suburbs. Population in Beijing is about 12 million.

Today, Beijing is the second largest city in China and continues to grow. The city has been chosen to host
the 2008 Summer Olympics, igniting patriotism throughout the nation.