50 Fun Facts About Beijing

What does the name Beijing mean in Chinese?

The name was applied in 1403 to distinguish it from Nanjing, the 'Southern Capital'; the older spelling Peking dates from a 1655 Jesuit atlas.

With more than 21.8 million residents, Beijing holds what world record among capitals?

It is nonetheless only China's second-largest city by urban area.

The old spelling 'Peking' survives in the IATA code of Beijing Capital International Airport; what is it?

Peking University also keeps the old romanisation; the newer Daxing airport is coded PKX.

'Peking Man' fossils were found in caves at which site in Beijing municipality?

The Dragon Bone Hill caves are among Beijing's UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Which Mongol ruler built Dadu (Khanbaliq) on the site of Beijing as his Yuan dynasty capital?

Genghis had razed the earlier Jin capital of Zhongdu in 1215; Dadu was built from 1264 to 1293 and remnants of its rammed-earth wall still stand.

Which Ming emperor moved the capital to Beijing and built the Forbidden City?

Zhu Di, formerly Prince of Yan, had alienated Nanjing during his succession war; the Temple of Heaven and Tian'anmen date from the same building spree.

The Forbidden City was home to how many Ming and Qing emperors?

Fourteen were Ming and ten were Qing; the last, Puyi, abdicated in 1912 but stayed in the Inner Court until a 1924 coup evicted him.

The Forbidden City traditionally claims how many rooms, though experts count 8,886?

The 72-hectare complex is the largest preserved royal palace in the world.

Which institution has administered the Forbidden City since 1925?

Its collection was built on the Ming and Qing imperial holdings; the site became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

Tiananmen Square is named after the gate on its north side, whose name means what?

The gate separates the square from the Forbidden City; the square itself was laid out in 1651 and enlarged fourfold in the 1950s.

On what date did Mao Zedong proclaim the People's Republic of China from Tiananmen?

The anniversary is still observed on the square, where the flag is raised and lowered daily at sunrise and sunset.

Tiananmen Square measures roughly 765 by 282 metres; which of these buildings does NOT stand on it?

The Monument to the People's Heroes stands at its centre; the whole ensemble joined the UNESCO list in 2024 as part of the Beijing Central Axis.

Which walled compound west of Tian'anmen has housed China's top leadership since 1949?

Zhongnanhai is the headquarters of the Communist Party and the residence of its senior leaders; the Gang of Four were arrested there in October 1976.

At the Temple of Heaven, Ming and Qing emperors performed annual ceremonies of prayer for what?

Its Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is a 38-metre triple-gabled circular hall built entirely of wood without nails.

The Temple of Heaven's Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is built entirely of wood using what?

The 36-metre-wide round hall stands on three marble terraces; its columns and levels symbolise the structure of the cosmos.

The Summer Palace's Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres, was created how?

The soil dug out was piled up to make the 60-metre Longevity Hill; three-quarters of the 2.9-square-kilometre estate is water.

Empress Dowager Cixi reportedly diverted silver from what into rebuilding the Summer Palace?

Up to 22 million taels meant for the Beiyang Fleet went into the gardens; UNESCO listed the palace in 1998.

Anglo-French forces looted and burned the Old Summer Palace in 1860 during which conflict?

The Convention of Peking that ended the war let Western powers keep permanent diplomatic missions in the city for the first time.

The 1900 Battle of Peking, in which eight foreign powers reoccupied the city, was part of which uprising?

The 1901 settlement imposed a huge indemnity, and legation guards stayed until World War II.

An exchange of fire on 7 July 1937 at which crossing near Beijing triggered the Second Sino-Japanese War?

The city fell to Japan on 29 July and became seat of a puppet 'Provisional Government'.

When the Kuomintang moved the capital to Nanjing in 1928, Beijing's name was changed to what?

The name means 'Northern Peace' and had also been used by the early Ming before Beijing was made capital in 1403.

The Ming-era city wall stood until 1965, when it was pulled down to make way for what?

The Second Ring Road now traces the old wall's line; there is no official First Ring Road.

The Beijing Subway opened in which year, making it the oldest rapid-transit system in mainland China?

It had only two lines before a rapid expansion from 2002 and became the world's longest metro system by route length in December 2023.

In December 2023 the Beijing Subway passed which city's system as the world's longest?

Its 909 km of track and 541 stations set a single-day ridership record of 13.75 million in July 2019.

Beijing Daxing International Airport, opened in September 2019, is described as the world's largest what?

It lies 46 km south of the city, while Capital Airport was Asia's busiest for the decade before the pandemic.

The Beijing National Stadium, built for the 2008 Olympics, is nicknamed what?

Ai Weiwei was artistic consultant; the steel lattice hides the supports for a planned retractable roof.

Which Swiss architecture firm won the 2003 competition to design the National Stadium?

The design grew from a study of Chinese ceramics; the stadium cost US$428 million and seats 80,000.

By hosting the 2022 Games, Beijing became the first city to have done what?

The 2022 events were held without spectators because of the pandemic; the 2008 Games remain the only Beijing Olympics with crowds.

How many gold medals did host China win at the 2008 Beijing Olympics?

China took 100 medals in all; Michael Phelps won more golds than any athlete at a single Games and Usain Bolt set world records in the sprints.

The 2008 Games were the third Olympics held in East Asia, after which two cities?

They ran from 8 to 24 August 2008, with 10,942 athletes from 204 committees competing in 302 events.

What are the narrow alleys formed by lines of traditional courtyard houses in Beijing called?

The courtyard houses themselves are siheyuan; many alleys were bulldozed in the 20th century before protection began.

The word for these alleys comes from a Mongolian term meaning what?

They generally run east–west so that doorways face north and south for good feng shui.

Peking duck is prized chiefly for which part, sliced before diners by the cook?

Ducks bred for the dish are slaughtered at 65 days and roasted in a closed or hung oven, then eaten in pancakes with spring onion, cucumber and sweet bean sauce.

Bianyifang, the first restaurant specialising in Peking duck, opened near Qianmen in which year?

Quanjude, founded in 1864, later developed the hung oven and has served the dish to Fidel Castro and Helmut Kohl among others.

Which two Beijing universities were ranked 12th and 13th in the world by Times Higher Education in 2025?

They are the top two in the whole Asia-Oceania region; Beijing has led the Nature Index for research output since 2016.

Beijing's tallest building, at 528 metres, is called what?

The CCTV Headquarters won the CTBUH best tall building award in 2013; Zhongguancun is the city's tech hub.

Which spring weather event blows into Beijing from the Gobi Desert across the Mongolian steppe?

Winter smog is the other notorious hazard; the city's first smog red alert shut most industry in December 2015.

Beijing sits at the northern end of which ancient waterway linking it with Hangzhou?

The modern South–North Water Transfer Project also brings water from the Yangtze basin to the thirsty capital.

Beijing is almost entirely surrounded by which province?

Together with neighbouring Tianjin municipality the three form the Jing-Jin-Ji cluster.

Which of these is NOT one of the sections of the Great Wall near Beijing?

Jiayuguan lies at the wall's far western end in Gansu; Simatai is the fourth Beijing-area section named.

How many UNESCO World Heritage Sites does Beijing have?

They include the Ming Tombs, the Peking Man site and the Central Axis alongside the palaces, temple and Great Wall.

Beijing opera is performed largely in what?

It differs from both standard Mandarin and the everyday Beijing dialect that native residents speak.

Which thoroughfare between Tian'anmen and the square forms Beijing's main east–west axis?

Wangfujing and Xidan are the big shopping streets; Sanlitun and Houhai are nightlife spots.

Which 1950s-industrial district has become Beijing's best-known contemporary art hub?

Its neofuturist galleries sit in old factory halls; the National Center for the Performing Arts is another modern landmark.

Beijing hosts how many foreign embassies?

It is also headquarters of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the SCO.

Whose peasant army captured Beijing in 1644, ending the Ming, only for the Manchus to arrive 40 days later?

Li's Shun court fled without a fight before Prince Dorgon's Qing troops, and Beijing became the Qing capital that year.

How many Red Guards gathered for the series of rallies with Mao in Tiananmen Square in 1966?

All the city's schools were shut that autumn.

Beijing's urban core lies on plains at an elevation of roughly how many metres?

Mountains ring the municipality on three sides, one reason emperors chose it as a defensible seat.

Which numbered ring road traces the line of Beijing's demolished old city walls?

Completed in 1981, it was followed by the 3rd through 6th; the outermost connect satellite towns as full expressways.

Beijing's oldest mosque, Niujie Mosque, was founded in 996 under which dynasty?

The city has about 70 recognised mosques, and the Islamic Association of China is headquartered next door to Niujie.