|
Beijing's History
Some half a million years ago, Peking man lived in
Zhoukoudian, in the southwestern suburbs of Beijing. The climate of
that time was warmer and more humid than it is today. Forests and
lakes in the area supported large numbers of living creatures. The
fossil remains of Peking man, his stone tools and evidence of use of
fire, as well as later tools of 18,000 years ago, bone needles and
article of adornment from the age of Upper Cave Man are the earliest
cultural relics on record in China today. Some four to
five thousand years ago, settlements to the southwest of Beijing were
thriving on basic agriculture and animal husbandry. Story has it that
the legendary Yellow Emperor (Huang Di) battled against the tribal
leader Chiyou in the “wilderness of the prefecture of Zhuo.” Zhuolu, a
town west of present-day Beijing, is perhaps the site of the first
metropolis in the area. Yellow Emperor’s successor, Emperor Yao, was
said to have established a legendary capital Youdu (City of Quietude)
that was where the city of Ji was actually built. During
the Warring States Period (475–221BC), the Marquis of Yan annexed the
territory of the Marquis of Ji, making the city of Ji his new capital.
The approximate location was north of Guang’ anmen Gate in present–day
Beijing near the White Cloud Temple (Baiyunguan). Early
in the third century BC, the first Emperor of Qin (Qin Shi Huang) set
about conquering six states and unifying China. The city of Ji was
named administrative center of Guangyang Commandery, one of 36
prefectures in China’s first feudal empire. For 10 centuries, through
to the end of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Ji remained a strategic
trading and military center and the object of frequent power
struggles. Two emperors during that period -- Emperor
Yang of the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and Emperor Taizong of the Tang
Dynasty -- left their mark on the city. Emperor Yang amassed troops
and supplies at Ji for expeditions against Korea. Emperor Taizong also
used the city for military training. He built the Temple for
Compassion for the Loyal (Minzhongsi), which is dedicated to troops
who died in battle. This temple was the precursor of the Temple of the
Origin of the Dharma (Fayuansi) located outside the old walls of the
city. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Ji was
little different from any other large feudal cities. Several centuries
later, however, when the Tang was nearing a state of collapse, the
Qidans (Khitans) came from the upper reaches of the Liaohe River and
moved south to occupy Ji and make it their second capital. They called
the city Nanjing (Southern Capital) or Yanjing. Emperor Taizong of the
Liao Dynasty (916-1125) carried out reconstruction projects and built
palaces, which were used as strongholds from which the Qidans set out
to conquer the central plains of China. In the early
12th century, the Nuzhen (Jurchen) conquered the Liao and established
the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). In 1153, Wan Yanliang moved the Jin
capital from Huiningfu in present– day Liaoning Province to Yanjing
and renamed it Zhongdu (Central Capital) as a challenge to the
Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), which had its capital at Lin’an
(present–day Hangzhou). Before the ascension of Wan Yanliang to the
throne, the city of Yanjing had changed little from the Liao period.
The rebuilding of the new city began in 1151 with expansion to the
east, west and south. Palaces were constructed on a scale similar to
the Northern Song (960-1127) capital at Bianliang (modern Kaifeng),
and many of the actual building materials were transported from
Bianliang. The new expanded city, with its splendid buildings in the
center measured roughly five kilometers in circumference. The
registered population of the Imperial Palace in the center measured
roughly five kilometers in circumference. The registered population of
Zhongdu amounted to 225,592 households, or approximately one million
people. Mongol armies occupied Zhongdu in 1215. At this
time, the city of Kaiping (in present–day Inner Mongolia Autonomous
Region) served as the principal Mongol capital (Shangdu), while
Yanjing was given provincial status. It was not until 1271 that Kublai
Khan formally adopted the new dynasty’s name -- Yuan -- and made
Yanjing the capital. Kublai Khan rebuilt the city and gave it the
Chinese (Han) name of Dadu (Ta-tu) or Great Capital, though in Mongol
it was known as Khanbalig (Marco Polo’s Cambaluc), the City of the
Great Khan. When the Mongols finally eliminated the Southern Song and
unified China, Dadu became the political center of the country for the
first time in history. The construction of Dadu began in
1267 and ended in 1293, extending throughout the entire period of
Kublai Khan’s rule. The magnificent palaces of the Jin capital Zhongdu
were destroyed by fire during the dynastic turnover from the Jin to
the Yuan. When the capital was rebuilt, the original site of Zhongdu
was replaced by a larger rectangular area centered in a beautiful lake
region in the northeastern suburbs. The construction of
Dadu consisted of three main projects -- the imperial palaces, the
city walls and moats, and the canal. The first stage was construction
of the palace buildings, most of which were completed in 1274. The
next stage was construction of the mansions for the imperial princes,
the government offices, the Taimiao (Imperial Ancestral Temple) and
Shejitan (Altar of Land and Grain) to the east and west of the palace,
and a system of streets for ordinary residences. In 1293, the
strategic Tonghui Canal, connecting the capital to the Grand Canal,
was completed. As the capital city of the Yuan Dynasty
(1271-1368), Dadu enjoyed great fame in the 13th century world. The
envoys and traders from Europe, Asia and Africa who paid visits to
China were astounded by the splendor and magnificence of Dadu. Marco
Polo’s description of the palaces of Cambaluc, as the called Khanbalig,
us most famous of all: “You must know that it is the
greatest palace that ever was… The roof is very lofty, and the walls
of the palace are all covered with gold and silver. They are adorned
with dragons, beasts and birds, knights and idols, and other such
things… The Hall of the Palace is so large that 6,000 people could
easily dine there, and it is quite a marvel to see how many rooms
there are besides. The building is altogether so vast, so rich and so
beautiful, that no man on earth could design anything superior to it.
The outside of the roof is all colored with vermilion and yellow and
green and blue and other hues, which are fixed with a varnish so fine
and exquisite that they shins like crystal, and lend a resplendent
luster to the palace as seen for a great way around.”
The new Dadu was a rectangular city more than 30 kilometers in
circumference. In the later years of Kublai Khan’s rule, the city
population consisted of 100,000 households or roughly 500,000 people.
The layout was the result of uniform planning, the broader streets all
24 paces wide, the narrow lanes half this width. The regular
chessboard pattern created an impression of relaxed orderliness.
Achievements in stone and plaster sculpture and painting at this time
reached great heights. The names of two contemporary artisans have
come down to us: the sculptors Yang Qiong and Liu Yuan. The latter was
known for the plaster statues he created for temples. Liulansu Lane at
the northern end of Fuyou Street in present-day Beijing was named
after Liu Yuan. On August 2, 1368, Ming troops seized
Dadu and renamed it Beiping (Northern Peace). Zhu Yuanzhang, the
founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), however, made
Nanjing his first capital. Beginning in 1406, Emperor Yongle of the
Ming Dynasty spent 15 years constructing walls 12 meters high and 10
meters thick at their base around the city of Beiping. The
construction of palace buildings and gardens began in 1417 and was
completed in 1420. The following year, Emperor Yongle formally
transferred the capital from Nanjing to Beiping and, for the first
time, named the city Beijing (Northern Capital).
Extensive reconstruction work was carried out in Beijing during the
first years of the Ming Dynasty. The northern city walls were shifted
2.5 kilometers to the south. Evidence of great advances in city
planning is the district known as the Inner (Tartar) City. The Outer
or Chinese City to the south was built during the reign of Emperor
Jiajing (1522-1566), adding to the rectangular city a slightly wider
“base” in the south. When the Manchus founded the Qing
Dynasty in 1644, they began to build suburban gardens, the most famous
of which was Yuanmingyuan. Construction over the course of an entire
century, the imposing columned palaces and open-air pavilions blended
with the serenity of well–planned gardens to create a masterpiece of
garden architecture unrivaled in the history of China. A
city plan was first laid out in the Yuan Dynasty. Yet only after
extensive reconstruction during the Ming and Qing (1644-1911), did the
city emerge as an architectural masterpiece fit to serve as the
capital of the Chinese empire. A north-south axis bisects the city
with the Imperial Palace was knows as Danei (The Great Within). In the
Ming, it was renamed the Forbidden City (Zijincheng), and more
recently it has come to be called the Palace Museum (Gugong Bowuyuan).
Designed with thousands of halls and gates arranged symmetrically
around a north–south axis, its dimensions and luxuriance are a fitting
symbol of the power and greatness of traditional China.
After the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, China fell prey to the
Northern Warlords and Kuomintang, Beijing suffered the same fate as
the rest of China, hobbling along like an old camel without a sense of
direction. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army formally entered
Beijing on January 31, 1949, opening a new chapter in the long history
of the city. It was in Tian’anmen Square on October 1st, 1949, that
Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People’s
Republic of China, with Beijing as its capital. The city
has changed totally since then. It has expanded from its old confines
within the nine gates of the Inner City wall (Zhengyangmen,
Chongwenmen, Xuanwumen, Chaoyangmen, Dongzhimen, Fuchengmen, Xizhimen,
Andingmen and Deshengmen) to the seven outer gates (Dongbianmen,
Guangqumen, Xibianmen, Guang’ anmen, Yongdingmen, Zuoanmen and
Youanmen) and out into the suburbs, Beijing now covers an area of
about 750 square kilometers, which includes a dozen new living
districts built on the outskirts of town. Tian’anmen
Square is still the center of Beijing, Chang’ an Boulevard now running
38 kilometers from Shijingshan in the west to Tongxian in the east.
The palaces and city towers along both sides have been designated
cultural relics for national protection. Former imperial residences
and gardens have been opened for public viewing. New
buildings like the International Post Office and Bank of China have
been built along the Second Ring Road, the former line of the Inner
City wall. Old living quarters and blocks of traditional Beijing–style
buildings, such as Liulichang Culture Street, have been restored.
Large– scale construction has been undertaken along the Third Ring
Road and the fourth Ring Road. Future development in
Beijing will continue to preserve the symmetry of the old city layout
while integrating modern architectural design into the over–all plan. |
