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| Home - City Guide - Beijing - City Overview | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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City Overview Beijing An intriguing marriage of the ancient and the modern, the city of Beijing (Peking) is a fast-growing, dynamic metropolis that, while courting foreign businesses and visitors, maintains a firm grip on its rich cultural heritage and a strictly Communist social order. Boasting the best of everything China has to offer - the smartest hotels, the best food, the most efficient transport and the most stunning temples and squares, the capital city of the People's Republic is a monolithic showcase which can give a distorted view of China to Western visitors. On first impact, Beijing is a modern city with high-rise buildings, shopping malls and vast international hotels all connected by an intricate freeway system crisscrossing the city. In the rush hour, traffic jams can match those of any major city around the world and the ringing of mobile phones is incessant. Fashion trends are followed closely and miniskirts, designer clothes and accessories are commonplace, confining the old blue Mao suit to the history books. However, Beijing is not a realistic window on China. The rapid modernisation of the city which took off at frenzied pace in preparation for the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1999, conceals traditional hutongs, parks and numerous treasures, which bear witness to China's rich cultural heritage. Beijing became China's capital in 1421 and was to remain so throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties until the collapse of the imperial regime in 1911. It was not until the late nineteenth century that Westerners were allowed to reside there and all trading links had previously been restricted to Canton. From 1911 to 1949 Beijing suffered, as did the rest of China, from the wars fought between various factions trying to take control of the whole country. The Japanese invasion in 1931 was followed by a bitter civil war, which finally led to Communist supremacy and the founding of the PRC in 1949 under Mao Tse Tung. The first ten years of his rule were successful in many ways. Stability returned to the whole country and great advances were made in industry, agriculture, education and health care. In 1966, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, an attack on his more liberal political colleagues, which was to result in several years of anarchy throughout the country. Fortunately, the major monuments in Beijing were spared serious attacks at this time. Following Mao's death in 1976, China gradually began to open up, welcoming foreigners as investors and as tourists and local Chinese were granted permission to set up businesses. Beijing is now keen to prove what a thriving commercial capital it has become. Beijing is at its best in late spring and autumn. Autumn is a particularly pleasant time to visit as the days are warm and the leaves of the many trees in the city turn glorious shades of red and gold. The heat and humidity of the summers and the biting wind in winter can be quite extreme. |
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