+ Historical Names of Beijing Year City NameDynasty Notes 11th century BCCity of Ji 蓟城State of Ji(Zhou dynasty) 7th century BCState of Yan(Zhou dynasty, Warring States)221 BCQin206 BCState of Yan202 BCHan106 BC -318 ADCity of JiYouzhou 幽州Han, Wei, Western Jin (晋)319Later Zhao350Eastern Jin (晋)352–57Former Yan370Former Qin385Later Yan397Northern Dynasties607City of JiSui616YouzhouTang742Fanyang 范阳Youzhou759Yanjing 燕京765Youzhou907Later Liang911-13Yan (Five Dynasties)913Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin (后晋)938Nanjing 南京Liao1122Northern LiaoYanjingJin (金)11221123Yanshan 燕山Song1125YanjingJin (金)1151Zhongdu 中都1215YanjingYuan1271Dadu (Khanbaliq)大都1368Beiping 北平Ming1403Beijing 北京14201644Qing1912Republic of China1928Beiping1937–40Beijing1945Beiping1949–presentBeijingPeople's Republic of China Capital of regional dynasty or kingdom Capital of China The city of Beijing has a long and rich history that dates back over 3,000 years.
Prior to the unification of China by the First Emperor in 221 BC, Beijing had been for centuries the capital of the ancient states of Ji and Yan. It was a provincial center in the earliest unified empires of China, Qin and Han. The northern border of ancient China ran close to the present city of Beijing, and northern nomadic tribes frequently broke in from across the border. Thus, the area that was to become Beijing emerged as an important strategic and a local political centre. During the first millennia of imperial rule, Beijing was a provincial city in northern China. Its stature grew in the 10th to the 13th centuries when the nomadic Khitan and forest-dwelling Jurchen peoples from beyond the Great Wall expanded southward and made the city a capital of their dynasties, the Liao and Jin. When Kublai Khan made Dadu the capital of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), all of China was ruled from Beijing for the first time. From 1279 onward, with the exception of two interludes from 1368 to 1420 and 1928 to 1949, Beijing would remain as China's capital, serving as the seat of power for the Ming dynasty (1421–1644), the Manchu-led Qing dynasty (1644–1912), the early Republic of China (1912–1928) and now the People's Republic of China (1949–present).
Prehistory The earliest remains of hominid habitation in Beijing Municipality were found in the caves of Dragon Bone Hill near the village of Zhoukoudian in Fangshan District, where the Homo erectus Peking Man (previously classified as the now-invalid species Sinanthropus pekinensis) lived from 770,000 to 230,000 years ago."Zhoukoudian" in Encyclopædia Britannica Paleolithic homo sapiens also lived in the caves from about 27,000 to 10,000 years ago.The Peking Man World Heritage Site at Zhoukoudian
In 1996, over 2,000 Stone Age tools and bone fragments were discovered at a construction site at Wangfujing in the heart of downtown Beijing in Dongcheng District.(Chinese) "北京王府井古人类文化遗址博物馆" Retrieved Aug. 23, 2011. The artifacts date to 24,000 to 25,000 years ago and are preserved in the Wangfujing Paleolithic Museum in the lower level of the New Oriental Plaza mall.
Archaeologists have discovered over 40 neolithic settlements and burial sites throughout the municipality. The most notable include Zhuannian of Huairou District; Donghulin of Mentougou District; Shangzhai and Beiniantou of Pinggu District; Zhenjiangying of Fangshan; and Xueshan of Changping District.(Chinese) 北京历史的开端-原始聚落的产生和发展 Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage 200-09-01Hou 1998: 41–42 These sites indicate that farming was widespread in the area 6,000 to 7,000 years ago. Painted pottery and carved jade of the Shangzhai and Xueshan Cultures resemble those of the Hongshan Culture further to the north.
Pre-imperial history The Districts and Counties of Beijing Municipality Old city inside the 2nd Ring Road Urban districts between the 2nd & 5th Ring Road Inner suburbs linked by the 6th Ring Road Outer suburbs and rural areas. The earliest events of Beijing's history are shrouded in legend and myth. The epic Battle of Banquan, which according to Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, occurred in the 26th century BC, may have taken place near the Upper and Lower Banquan Villages of Yanqing County on the northwestern edge of Beijing Municipality. The triumph of the Yellow Emperor over the Yan Emperor at Banquan united the two Emperors' tribes and gave rise to the Huaxia or Chinese nation, which then defeated Chiyou and the Nine Li tribes in the Battle of Zhuolu, possibly at Zhuolu, west of Yanqing in Hebei Province. This victory opened North China to settlement by the descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors.
The Yellow Emperor is said to have founded the settlement of Youling () in or near Zhuolu. The sage-king Yao founded a town called Youdu () in the Hebei-Beijing region about 4,000 years ago. You () or Youzhou () later became one of the historical names for Beijing. Yuzishan, in Shandongzhuang Village of Pinggu County, in the northeastern fringe of Beijing Municipality, is one of several places in China claiming to host the Yellow Emperor's Tomb. Yuzishan's association with Yellow Emperor dates back at least 1,300 years when Tang poets Chen Zi'ang and Li Bai mentioned the tomb in their poems about Youzhou.
The first event in Beijing's history with archaeological support dates to the 11th century BC when the Zhou dynasty absorbed the Shang dynasty. According to Sima Qian, King Wu of Zhou, in the 11th year of his reign, deposed the last Shang king and conferred titles to nobles within his domain including the rulers of the city states Ji () and Yan ().Hou 1998: 38 According to Confucius, King Wu of Zhou was so eager to establish his legitimacy that before dismounting his chariot, he named the descendants of the Yellow Emperor as the rulers of Ji.The Book of Rites () He then named his kinsman, Shi, the Duke of Shao, as the vassal of Yan. Shi was preoccupied with other matters and dispatched his eldest son to take the position. This son, Ke, is considered the founder of the state of Yan. Bronzeware inscriptions have confirmed these events described in Sima Qian's history. Although the dates in Sima Qian's history before 841 BC have not yet been definitely matched to the Gregorian Calendar, the Beijing Government uses 1045BC as the official estimate of the date of this occasion.
It is believed that the seat of Ji, called the City of Ji or Jicheng (), was located in the southwestern part of present-day urban Beijing, just south of Guang'anmen in Xicheng and Fengtai Districts. Several historical accounts mention a "Hill of Ji" northwest of the city, which would correspond to the large mound at the White Cloud Abbey outside Xibianmen, about north of Guang'anmen. South and west of Guang'anmen, roof tiles used for palace construction and dense concentrations of wells lined with ceramic ring tiles have been discovered.
The capital of Yan was located about to the south of Ji, in the village of Dongjialin in Liulihe Township of Fangshan District, where a large walled settlement and over 200 tombs of nobility have been unearthed. "Liulihe Site" Archaeological dating of the site, together with mentions of the name "Yan" in Shang oracle bones, indicates that Yan had already existed as a polity during the Shang period, though its earlier rulership could have been dismissed from power when the Zhou emerged victorious. Among the most significant artifacts from the Liulihe Site is the three-legged bronze Jin Ding whose inscriptions recount the journey of Jin, who was sent by Ji Ke to deliver a batch of food and drink to his father, Ji Shi, in the Zhou capital.Hou 1998: 38–39 The father was thrilled and awarded Jin cowry shells to pay for the creation of an honorific ding to remember the event. The inscription thus confirms the appointment of King Zhou's kin to Yan and the location of Yan's capital.
Both Yan and Ji were situated along an important north–south trade route along the eastern flank of the Taihang Mountains from the Central Plain to the northern steppes. Ji, located just north of the Yongding River, was a convenient rest stop for trade caravans. Here, the route to the northwest through the mountain passes diverged from the road to the Northeast. Ji also had a steady water supply from the nearby Lotus Pool, which still exists south of the Beijing West railway station. The Liulihe settlement relied on the more seasonal flow of the Liuli River. Some time during the Western Zhou or early Eastern Zhou dynasty, Yan conquered Ji and moved its capital to Ji, which continued to be called Jicheng or the City of Ji until the 2nd century AD. Due to its historical association with the State of Yan, the city of Beijing is also known as Yanjing () or the "Yan Capital."
The State of Yan continued to expand until it became one of the seven major powers during the Warring States period (473–221 BC). It stretched from the Yellow River to the Yalu. Like subsequent rulers of Beijing, the Yan also faced the threat of invasions by the Shanrong steppe nomads, and built walled fortifications across its northern frontier. Remnants of the Yan walls in Changping County date to 283 BC. They predate Beijing's better known Ming Great Wall by more than 1,500 years.
In 226 BC, the City of Ji fell to the invading State of Qin and the State of Yan was forced to move its capital to Liaodong.CASS 1985: 13-14 The Qin eventually ended Yan in 222 BC. The following year, the ruler of Qin, having conquered all the other states, declared himself to be the First Emperor.
Early imperial history
During the first one thousand years of Chinese imperial history, Beijing was a provincial city on the northern periphery of China proper. Dynasties with capitals in the Central and Guanzhong Plains used the city to manage trade and military relations with nomadic peoples of the north and northeast.
The Qin dynasty built a highly centralized state and divided the country into 48 commanderies (jun), two of which are located in present-day Beijing. The City of Ji became the seat of Guangyang Commandery (广阳郡/廣陽郡). To the north, in present-day Miyun County, was Yuyang Commandery. The Qin removed defensive barriers dividing the Warring States, including the southern wall of the Yan, which separated the Beijing Plain from the Central Plain, and built a national roadway network.(Chinese)北京历史与文化，第三讲 屏障中原的军事重镇- Beijing Radio Television University Accessed 2013-01-06 Ji served as the junction for the roads connecting the Central Plain with Mongolia and Manchuria. The First Emperor visited Ji in 215 BC and, to protect the frontier from the Xiongnu, had the Great Wall built in Yuyang Commandery and fortified Juyong Pass.
The Han dynasty, which followed the short-lived Qin in 206 BC, initially restored some local autonomy. Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han dynasty, recognized a number of regional kingdoms including Yan, ruled by Zang Tu, who had joined the revolt that overthrew the Qin, seized the City of Ji and sided with Liu Bang in the war with Xiang Yu for supremacy. But Zang rebelled and was executed, and Liu granted the kingdom to his childhood friend Lu Wan. Later, Liu became mistrustful of Lu, and the latter fled the City of Ji to join the Xiongnu tribes of the steppes. Liu Bang's eighth son took control of Yan, which was subsequently ruled by lineal princes of the imperial family, from the City of Ji, then known as Yan Commandery (燕郡), and the Principality of Guangyang (广阳国/廣陽國). In the early Western Han, the four counties of Guangyang Principality had 20,740 households and an estimated population of 70,685.(Chinese) 第一节 北京历代人口的发展状况及其特点 Accessed 2013-01-20