The New Encyclopaedia Britannica in 30 Volumes - Macropaedia 14 [antikvár]

Peking Peking (Bei-jing in Pin-yin romanization) is both a very old and a very new city-old and rich in its cultural and artistic heritage but new and thriving since 1949 as the capital of the People's Republic of China. Few cities in the world have served for so long as the political headquarters and cultural focus of a country as immense as China. The city has constituted an integrál part of the history of China over the past eight centuries, and there is scarcely a building of any age in Peking that has not made its contribution toward the evolution of the country. As Peking is itself a China in miniatűré, it is impossible to understand China without a knowledge of this ancient city, which in 1970 had a population of 7,600,000 and a metropolitan area of 6,900 square miles (17,800 square kilometres). More than 2,000 years ago, a site near present-day Peking was already an important military and trading centre for the northeastern frontier of China. Not until the Mongol dynasty (ad 1279 to 1368) was a successor city-called Ta-tu-to become the administrative capital of China. During the reign of the first emperor of the Ming dynasty (1368 to 1644), Nanking became the capital, and the old Mongol capital was renamed Peip'ing (Peace in the North); the third Ming emperor, however, restored it as the Imperial seat of the dynasty and gave it a new name, Peking (Northern Capital). It remained the capital until the 20th century, when, after the successful campaign of the Chinese Nationalist troops against warlords in Peking in 1927, Nanking was selected as the national capital, and Peking once again resumed its old name-Pei-p'ing-a name still used by the Nationalist government in Taiwan. In spite of frequent political changes in China, the city throughout the earlier decades of the 20th century remained the most flourishing cultural centre in the nation. Peking's importance was never fully realized, however, until the city was chosen as the capital of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and this new political status has over the past two decades added much vitality to the ancient city. Indeed, few cities in the world have ever experienced such rapid growth in population and geographic area, as well as in industrial and other activities. Combining both historical relics of an ancient culture and new úrban construction under a socialist system, Peking has become the showplace of modern China. This article is divided into the following sections: History The contemporary city Physical organization Transportation Demography Housing and architecture The economy Political and governmental institutions Public Utilities Health Education Cultural life The média Recreation HISTORY With but few interruptions, Peking has been the capital of China for somé 700 years, and in the number of years as the Imperial capital it is exceeded only by Ch'ang-an (Hsi-an) in Shensi Province and Lo-yang in Honan Province. In prehistoric times the area around Peking was inhabited by somé of the earliest humán beings of whom we have knowledge. Between 1918 and 1939, the fossil remains of Peking man (formerly Sinanthropus pekinensis\ now known as Homo erectus pekinensis), who Iived about 500,000 years ago, and of Upper Cave man, who lived about 50,000 years ago, were unearthed at Chou-k'ou-tien, a village 34 miles southwest of Peking. While long periods in Peking's early history necessarily remain blank, it is certain that, somé 3,000 years ago, Neolithic communities settled down on or near the site where Peking now stands. During the Warring States period (481-221 bc) of the Chou dynasty (from about 1122 to 221 bc), one of the powerful feudal states, the kingdom of Yen, established its capital named Chi near the present city of Peking; this was the first capital city to be associated with the site. The city was destroyed by the troops of Shih Huang Ti, founder of the Ch'in dynasty (221 to 206 bc). During the Ch'in dynasty, the Yen capital was incorporated into one of the 36 prefectures then established throughout the country. A new town was built during the Han dynasty (206 bc to ad 220) and was known as Yen. But, throughout the Han dynasty and the turbulent centuries that followed, the place remained a provinciai town, witnessing most of the time the fateful struggle between the Han Chinese to the south and the nomadic Hsiung-nu, or Huns, to the north. During the period of Three Kingdoms (ad 220 to 264), the city was again called Yen. The northern bordér of ancient China ran close to the present city of Peking, and northern nomadic tribes frequently broke in from across the bordér. Thus the area that was to become Peking became an important strategic as well as a local political centre. For nearly 300 years (from the end of the Chin dynasty in 317 to the beginning of the Sui dynasty in 581), the northern territory, including the site where Peking now stands, was largely under the control of invading nomads. It was not until the T'ang dynasty (618 to 907) that it was recovered by the Han people and known as Yu-chou. By the middle of the T'ang dynasty, measures were taken to prevent the nomadic Tangut tribes of Tibet, the Hsi Hsia and the Khitans (a Manchurian people), from raiding the bordér lands and the local capital. The position of Yu-chou consequently became increasingly important. On the fali of T'ang China, a number of states emerged in North China. One of these states was established by the Khitans; after destroying the city of Yu-chou, the Khitans established the Liao kingdom (947 to 1125) and built one of their capitals on approximately the same site, caliing it Nanking (the Southern Capital) to distinguish it from other capitals in their Manchurian homeland (alsó distinct from the modern Nanking or Nan-ching in the Yangtze Valley). The Liao capital was bounded by a square wall, almost 14 miles in circumference and somé 32 feet high. It had eight gates and enclosed a fine Imperial palace in the centre, which indicated the strong influence of Chinese city planning. In the middle of the 12th century, when the Juchen, a Manchurian people from the Amur Valley, defeated the Liao and established the state of Chin, the Liao capital was rebuilt as the new Chin capital and renamed Chungtu (Central Capital). Chung-tu under the rule of the Juchen (Golden Tartars) was constructed on a larger scale, with spendidly decorated palaces and halls. Between 1211 and 1215 the Mongols, under the leadership of Genghis Khan, one of the great conquerors of