| |
 Beijing
is the capital of China and a fascinating mixture of the old and new.
With an area of 16,808 square kilometers, it is today the political,
cultural and administrative center of the People¡¯s Republic which
was founded in 1949,the home of more than 13.8 million citizens and
the seat of government.
Beijing
has been in existence as a settlement for more than 3,000 years, although
the remains of ¡°Peking Man¡± show that human life existed in this part
of China half a million years ago. It has been a center of power under
the Mongols, the Ming, the Manchu and now the People¡¯s Republic of
China for a period spanning almost seven hundred years.
Beijing
one of the few inland capitals of the world not built on a major river,
it owes its long pre-eminence to its strategic geographical position.
Lying on the northwestern fringe of the Great North China Plain, Beijing
serves as a gateway to the Inner Mongolian steppes in the north, the
Shanxi plateau in the west and, through the easternmost pass of the
Great Wall at Shanhaiguan, to north-east China.
|
|
|
