Beijing

:Peking is also the name of an asteroid, see 2045 Peking.

Names

Beijing (北京) literally means "northern capital", in line with the common East Asian tradition whereby capital cities are explicitly named as such. Other cities similarly named include Nanjing (南京), China, meaning "southern capital"; Tokyo (東京), Japan, and Tonkin (東京; now Hanoi), Vietnam, both meaning "eastern capital"; as well as Kyoto (京都), Japan, and Gyeongseong (京城; now Seoul), Korea, both meaning simply "capital".

Related Topics:
Nanjing - Tokyo - Japan - Tonkin - Hanoi - Vietnam - Kyoto - Gyeongseong - Seoul - Korea

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An older Western name for Beijing is Peking. The term originated with French missionaries four hundred years ago, and corresponds to an older, now obsolete pronunciation predating a subsequent sound change in Mandarin from {{IPA|}} to {{IPA|}}. ({{IPA|}} is represented in pinyin as j, as in Beijing.)

Related Topics:
Sound change - Mandarin - Pinyin

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In China, the city has had many names. Between 1928 http://www.bartleby.com/67/2470.html and 1949, it was known as Peiping (北平, Pinyin Beiping, Wade-Giles Pei-p'ing), literally "Northern Peace". The name was changed?with the removal of the element meaning "capital" (jing or king, 京)?to reflect the fact that, with the Kuomintang government having established its capital in Nanking (pinyin: Nanjing), Peking was no longer the capital of China, and that the warlord government based in Peking was not legitimate.

Related Topics:
China - 1928 - 1949 - Pinyin - Wade-Giles - Kuomintang - Nanking

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The Communist Party of China reverted the name to Beijing (Peking) in 1949 again in part to emphasize that Beijing had returned to its role as China's capital. The government of the Republic of China on Taiwan has never formally recognized the name change, and during the 1950s and 1960s it was common for Beijing to be called Peiping on Taiwan to imply the illegitimacy of the PRC. Today, almost all of Taiwan, including the ROC government, uses Beijing, although some maps of China from Taiwan still use the old name along with pre-1949 political boundaries.

Related Topics:
Communist Party of China - Republic of China - Taiwan - Maps

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Yanjing (Wade Giles: Yenching) is and has been another popular informal name for Beijing, a reference to the ancient State of Yan that existed here during the Zhou Dynasty. This name is reflected in the locally-brewed Yanjing Beer as well as Yenching University, an institution of higher learner formerly located in Beijing. Beijing is also the Cambaluc (Khanbalik) described in Marco Polo's accounts.

Related Topics:
Wade Giles - State of Yan - Zhou Dynasty - Yanjing Beer - Yenching University - Marco Polo

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(The history section below outlines other historical names of Beijing.)

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