Beijing is an ancient capital with a history of more than 3,000 years, with the change of dynasties, there are more than 60 original names and nicknames before and after, which is the most historical name among Chinese and foreign cities. Among them, the two names of Beijing and Beiping are widely known.
The origins of the city of Beijing can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty. During the Yin Shang Period, the descendants of the Yellow Emperor clan established the Ji Kingdom in the Beijing area, and after the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, the Ji State accepted the Zhou Tianzi division and was all in Jicheng (in the area of present-day Guang'anmen in Beijing). In the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Ji State was annexed by the neighboring Yan State, and in 657 BC, Jicheng officially became the capital of the Yan State. Although the State of Yan has not been a powerful princely state, the state is really long, from 1044 BC to 222 BC, and the national fortune has lasted for 822 years!
The second to build a capital in Beijing was the Liao State. After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Liao state established by the Khitan tribe in the north became increasingly powerful, and after occupying Beijing, which was then known as Youzhou, five capitals in the southwest of the Upper Middle East were established in one go, of which the "Nanjing" of the Liao state was chosen in Youzhou. Since then, the Liao state has successively moved government agencies to Nanjing Youzhou, which gradually became the political center of Liao.
The name Ofan in Liaoning was used for more than 200 years until the rise of the Jin Dynasty established by the Jurchens in the northeast. After the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Liao, it also fell in love with the treasure land of Liao "Nanjing" and directly chose this place as its capital, but the name was always to be changed, and the Liao "Nanjing" became the capital of Jinzhong, and Beihai Park was the royal garden formed by the Jin Dynasty.
Ruins of the Yuan Capital City Wall
At the beginning of the 13th century, the Mongol cavalry swept across eurasia, and Jinzhong was reduced to rubble in the war. The Mongols rebuilt a more majestic city in the northeast of Zhongdu, the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty, which was also the capital of Beijing's history to unify China.
Thistle Gate Smoke Tree
So why is Beijing called "Beiping" in history? This has to start with Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty.
In the last year of the Yuan Dynasty, the great peasant revolt against the Mongol rulers, such as a storm swept through the country, Zhu Yuanzhang annexed the forces of the rebel chen youyi and Zhang Shicheng, occupied half of the jiangnan province, and in the 27th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1367), he sent the generals Xu Da and Chang Yuchun to lead the Northern Expedition. In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang took Ying Tianfu (present-day Nanjing) as his capital division, and his founding name was Daming and his era name was Hongwu. On August 2 of that year (September 12), the Ming army captured the capital of Yuan and renamed it Beiping Province. In the third year of Hongwu (1370), Zhu Yuanzhang's fourth son Zhu Di (朱棣) was made the King of Yan in Beiping to consolidate the northern guards and defend against the Mongols' southern invasions.
In the thirty-first year of Hongwu (1398), Zhu Yuanzhang died, and the emperor's grandson Zhu Yunjiao took the throne, with the era name Jianwen. In 1399, Zhu Di, the King of Yan, launched the Battle of Jingnan and fought with his nephew Zhu Yunjiao for the throne, and by the end of the war in 1402, Zhu Yunjiao's defeat and whereabouts were unknown, and Zhu Di ascended the throne as emperor.
The Battle of Jing
After Zhu Di ascended the throne, the main threat facing the Ming Dynasty was still the remnants of the Mongols from outside Sai, so Zhu Di first moved the capital to Beiping, and renamed Beiping beijing, and Ying Tianfu as the capital. The construction of the Ming Dynasty City began in the fourth year of Yongle (1406) and was basically completed in the eighteenth year of Yongle (1420), which lasted for fifteen years. In the first month of the nineteenth year of Yongle (1421), the capital was officially moved to Beijing.
Floor plan of Beijing City in the Ming Dynasty
In 1644, the Qing army entered the customs, the Ming Dynasty fell, and the Qing Dynasty also established a capital in Beijing, also known as the Beijing Division Shuntianfu, which was directly subordinate to the province. And the implementation of the flag people separation policy, that is, the eight flags live in the inner city, Han and Hui people live in the outer city.
The rulers of the Qing Dynasty completely followed the Ming Dynasty's Beijing City, and there was no change, even the Forbidden City, but also some reconstruction and partial and small-scale reconstruction and addition work on the buildings. For more than 200 years, the Qing Dynasty developed a large-scale garden scenic area in the northwest suburbs of Beijing, and built an unprecedented scale and extraordinary palace complex, which is commonly known as the "Three Mountains and Five Gardens" in the northwest suburbs, namely the Yuquan Mountain Jingming Garden, the Xiangshan Jingyi Garden, the Wanshou Mountain Qingyi Garden (Summer Palace) and the Changchun Garden and the Yuanmingyuan. The Emperor of the Qing Dynasty observed the landscape here, handled the government affairs, and became another political center that was on a par with the Forbidden City in Beijing. Many of the major historical events that took place during the Qing Dynasty were closely related to the gardens in this area. Some people call Beijing in the Qing Dynasty a "two-city" system of one south and one north, which is not unreasonable.
In 1911, the Xinhai Revolution broke out and the Qing Dynasty collapsed. On January 1, the Republic of China set the capital nanjing, and in March of the same year moved to Beijing, until 1928, when Chiang Kai-shek led the Northern Expedition Revolutionary Army to capture Beijing, and the Beiyang government collapsed. At first, the local system in Beijing was still based on the Qing system, called Shuntianfu. In 1913, Shun tianfu was changed to Jingzhao Prefecture, which was directly under the Beiyang government. During this period, Beijing built a new tram system and a number of excellent cultural and educational institutions, such as Tsinghua University, Yenching University, Peking University, and Union Medical College.
A corner of Beijing in the Qing Dynasty
On June 4, 1928, Zhang Zuolin, the marshal of the Beiyang government, was killed in a bombing at Huanggutun on his way back from Beijing to Shenyang. On the same day, the National Government in Nanjing appointed Yan Xishan as the commander-in-chief of the Beijing-Tianjin garrison, responsible for presiding over the reception of Beijing affairs. On June 11, Yan Xishan and Bai Chongxi led the Northern Expeditionary Army into Beijing from Baoding. After that, the National Government in Nanjing announced on June 15 that "reunification is completed.". On June 20, it was announced that the province would be directly subordinated to Hebei Province; Chen Lifu proposed that the capital of the Kuomintang was in Nanjing, and that It was not appropriate for Beijing to use the Jing characters, so he changed Beijing to Beiping, a special city, and abolished the Jingzhao area.
Summer palace
In June 1930, Beiping was demoted to a municipality under the jurisdiction of Hebei Province, and in December of the same year, it was re-upgraded to a municipality under the jurisdiction of the yuan. During this period, Beijing lost its status as the capital, but still had considerable advantages in culture and education, and was called "China's Boston" by foreigners.
After the July 7 Incident in 1937, on July 29, Peiping was occupied by the Japanese invaders, and the Japanese puppet government changed Peiping to Beijing on October 12.
On August 21, 1945, Sun Lianzhongbu of the 11th Theater of the Nationalist Army recaptured Beijing, and after the Japanese surrendered in Beijing, it was changed to Beiping.
In September 1949, after the liberation of Peiping, it was renamed Beijing and was identified as the capital of New China.