"Beijing" is from pinyin Běijīng, which is romanized from , the Chinese name for this city. The pinyin system of transliteration was approved by the Chinese government in 1958, but the pinyin romanization of the city was little used by either the Chinese government or the international community until 1979.Lost Laowai. "From Peking to Beijing: A Long and Bumpy Trip ". Accessed 21 October 2012.

Etymology

The Chinese characters ("north") and ("capital") together mean the "Northern Capital". The name was first used during the reign of the Ming dynasty's Yongle Emperor, who made his northern fief a second capital, along with Nanjing (, the "Southern Capital"), in 1403 after successfully dethroning his nephew during the Jingnan Campaign. The name was restored in 1949 at the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Peking

Portugal was the first European country to contact China in modern times. In Portuguese, the city is called Pequim. This name appeared in the letters of Francis Xavier in 1552.Xavier, Francis, Letter to Didaco Perriera, 12 Nov 1552. Epistolae S. Francisci Xaverii aliaque eius scripta , vol. 2. Xavier gives the name as "Paquim."For another early usage, see Gaspar da Cruz, Tractado em que se co[m]tam muito por este[n]so as cousas da China, co[n] suas particularidades, [e] assi do reyno dormuz, 1569. It transferred to English as "Pekin"Raleigh, Sir Walter, and Robert O. Dougan, (1596) The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtiful Empyre of Guiana, Volumes 1-3, p. 50. and to French as Pékin.

Jesuit missionary Martino Martini used "Peking" in De bello Tartarico historia (The Tartary [Manchu] War) (1654) and Novus Atlas Sinensis (New Atlas of China) (1655).Martini, Martino, De bello Tartarico historia, 1654.Martini, Martino (1655), Novus Atlas Sinensis, "Prima Provencia Peking Sive Pecheli," p. 17. In 1665, Martini's work was reissued as part of Atlas Maior (great atlas), a much-praised atlas by Dutch publisher Joan Blaeu.

In English, both "Pekin" and "Peking" remained common until the 1890s, when the Imperial Post Office adopted Peking.Lane Harris, "A 'Lasting Boon to All': A Note on the Postal Romanization of Place Names, 1896–1949 ". Twentieth Century China 34.1 (2008): 99.

Beginning in 1979, the PRC government encouraged use of pinyin. The New York Times adopted "Beijing" in November 1986. The Associated Press and United Press International, which provided most world news coverage in American media, jointly agreed to adopt the "Beijing" spelling beginning on 1 March 1987."It's No Longer Peking", United Press International, via Syracuse Post-Standard, 2 March 1987, page A-3. The BBC switched in 1990. "Peking" is still employed in terms such as "Pekingese", "Peking duck", "Peking Man" and various others, as well as being retained in the name of Peking University.

Historical names of Beijing + Historical Names of Beijing Year City NameDynasty Notes 1045BCCity of Ji 薊城Zhou,Warring States221 BCQin106 BC - 318 ADCity of JiYouzhou 幽州Han, Wei, Western Jin (晉)319Later Zhao350Eastern Jin (晉)352–57Former Yan370Former Qin385Later Yan397Northern Dynasties607Zhuojun 涿郡Sui616YouzhouTang742Fanyang 範陽759Yanjing 燕京765Youzhou907Later Liang911Yan (Five Dynasties)913Later Liang923Later Tang936Later Jin938Nanjing 南京Liao1122Northern LiaoYanjingJin (金)11221123Yanshan 燕山Song1125YanjingJin (金)1151Zhongdu 中都1215YanjingYuan1271Dadu 大都1368Peiping 北平Ming1403Shuntian 順天14211644Qing1912Republic of China1914Jingzhao 京兆地方1928Peiping1937PekingProvisional Government (Japanese occupation)1940Wang regime (Japanese occupation) 1945PeipingRepublic of China1949–presentBeijingPeople's Republic of China Capital of regional dynasty or kingdom Capital of China

The city has had many other names. The chronological list below sets out both the names of the city itself, and, in earlier times, the names of the administrative entities covering the city today. Ji: The first major known settlement was the eponymous capital of the ancient Ji state between the 11th and 7th centuries BC. The settlement was also known as Jicheng. It was located in the current city's Guang'anmen neighborhood south of the Beijing West railway station. Ji: Jicheng: Jixian: Yan: Ji was conquered by Yan around the 7th century BC but was employed as its conqueror's new capital. Although the official name remained as Ji, the city also became known as Yan and Yanjing ("Capital of Yan"). The name was employed in the titles of An Lushan (as Emperor of Yan), Liu Rengong (as King of Yan), and the Princes of Yan. The Khitans of the 10th- to 12th-century Liao dynasty fully restored the name Yanjing, and it remains a name for Beijing in literary usage today, as reflected in the locally brewed Yanjing Beer and the former Yenching University (since merged into Peking University). Yan: Yanjing: Guangyang: After the Qin conquest, Ji was made the capital of the Guangyang Commandery.

Youzhou and Fanyang: Under the Tang dynasty, being the seat of the You Prefecture, the city generally employed Youzhou as its name. During the Tianbao Era of Emperor Xuanzong, however, You Prefecture was renamed Fanyang Commandery, and the name Fanyang became associated with the city as well.

Nanjing: In the 10th and 12th centuries, the northerly Liao dynasty restored the name Yanjing. They also knew the city as Nanjing as it was the southernmost of their secondary capitals.

Zhongdu: During the 12th-century Later Jin dynasty, it was known as Zhongdu.

Khanbaliq: The Mongolian Yuan dynasty originally restored the name Yanjing before constructing a new capital adjacent to the former settlement. This settlement was called Dadu in Chinese and Daidu in Mongolian.Denis Twitchett, Herbert Franke, John K. Fairbank, in The Cambridge History of China: Volume 6, Alien Regimes and Border States (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p 454. (As Khanbaliq, it was noted as Cambuluc by Marco Polo.) This city gradually absorbed the former settlements around the area.

Peiping: Under the Ming dynasty, the city itself was initially known as Peiping, or in pinyin, Beiping. The name reads literally as "Northern Peace", although its usage and connotations are closer to the idea of "Northern Plains".

Shuntian: When the usurping Yongle Emperor established his base of Beiping as a secondary capital in 1403, he renamed the town Shuntian and the province surrounding it Beizhili to mimic the names of Yingtian (modern Nanjing) and the province of Zhili that surrounds it.Hucker, Charles O. "Governmental Organization of The Ming Dynasty ", p. 56. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 21 (December 1958). Harvard-Yenching Institute. Accessed 20 October 2012. Shuntian: Jingshi and Beijing: When the palace was finally completed in 1420, the Yongle Emperor moved the majority of his court north. The name Jingshi ceased to be used for Yingtian and was now employed for Shuntian. The area around Yingtian became known as Nanjing while Beijing was used to describe the area directly administered by the capital (generally modern Hebei). Jingshi: Jingdu: ) was declared the official name of Beijing by the Beiyang government in January 1918, and remained so until 1928. Quoted in Westerners continued to call the city Peking. Peiping, in both its connotations, was restored as the name in 1928 by the Republic of China following its reconquest of Peking from the warlords during the Northern Expedition. The occupying Japanese in 1938 imposed the name Peking, then with their surrender in 1945, the Nationalist Government restored "Peiping" by 1 September 1945. In 1949, the official name again reverted to "Peking" (the Postal Romanization) when the Chinese Communist Party conquered it during the Chinese Civil War and made it capital of their newly founded People's Republic of China. As noted above, the pinyin romanization, "Beijing", was adopted for use within the country in 1958, and gradually for international use since 1979. The United States government continued to follow the Republic of China government in using "Peiping" until the late 1960s.

Abbreviation In Chinese, the abbreviation of Beijing is its second character ("Capital"). This is employed, for example, as the prefix on all Beijing-issued license plates.

In the Latin alphabet, the official abbreviation are the two initials of the region's characters: BJ.Standardization Administration of China (SAC). "GB/T-2260: Codes for the administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China ".

Beijing Capital International Airport's IATA code is PEK, based on the previous romanization, Peking. The new airport, Beijing Daxing International Airport, uses PKX as its code.

Similarly named cities The history of China since the Tang dynasty has also been full of secondary capitals with directional names. Under the Tang, these were Beidu ("north capital", at Taiyuan in Shanxi); Nandu ("south capital", first, Chengdu in Sichuan and, later, Jiangling in Hubei); Dongdu ("east capital", Luoyang in Henan); and Xidu ("west capital", Fengxiang in Shaanxi).Theobald, Ulrich. China Knowledge. "Chinese History - Tang Dynasty 唐 (618-907): Map and Geography ". Accessed 19 October 2012.

There were two previous Beijings: one, the northern capital of the Northern Song at modern Daming in Hebei;Theobald, Ulrich. China Knowledge. "Chinese History - Song Dynasty 宋 (960-1279): Map and Geography ". Accessed 19 October 2012. the other, the northern capital of the Jurchen Jin located at Ningcheng in Inner Mongolia.

The Nanjing of the Northern Song was located at Shangqiu in Henan. The Jurchen Jin located theirs at Kaifeng,Theobald, Ulrich. China Knowledge. "Chinese History - Jin dynasty 金 (1115–1234): Map and Geography ". Accessed 19 October 2012.) which had been the Northern Song's "Dongjing". The Jurchen Jin also had a Dongjing ("Eastern Capital"), which was, however, located at Liaoyang in Liaoning. Apart from these, there were two Xijings (, "Western Capital"): one was the "Western Capital" of the Northern Song dynasty, located at Luoyang; the other was held by the Liao and Jurchen Jin at Datong. Liaoyang was the Zhongjing (, "Central Capital") of the Liao dynastyTheobald, Ulrich. China Knowledge. "Chinese History - Liao Dynasty 遼 (907-1125): Map and Geography ". Accessed 19 October 2012. and, finally, another Zhongdu ("Central Capital") was planned but never completed. It was the proposed capital of the Ming dynasty mooted by the Hongwu Emperor in the 14th century, to be located on the site of his destroyed childhood village of Zhongli (), now Fengyang in Anhui.Eric N. Danielson, "The Ming Ancestor Tomb ". China Heritage Quarterly, No. 16, December 2008.

Notes

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