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4 days 3 nights Beijing Imperial Tour

4 days 3 nights Beijing Classic Tour

4 days 3 nights Beijing Family Tour With Badaling Great wall

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Beijing History

As a world-renowned ancient cultural city, Beijing is said to have been the home of the "Peking Man" about 500,000 years ago. Its history as a city dates from 1045 BC, over 3000 years ago. For a span of 1000 years, Beijing was the capital of China, to be specific, the provisional capital of the Liao Kingdom (916-1125) and the capital for Jin Kingdom (1115-1234), Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. During these five periods, 34 emperors ever lived and ruled here.

Although it was often used as a capital by the constantly feuding warlords, the modern history of Beijing as a national capital began in the Yuan dynasty with Kublai Khan, grandson of Ghengis Khan. It is here that Marco Polo made his base as he served the Khan and explored the country 's vast wildernesses and resources. He spent over 20 years as a guest of the Khan before returning to Europe with his vivid descriptions of the great civilization in the east.

Most of what we see today in Beijing was built during the Ming dynasty. After seizing Beijing, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Zhu Yuanzhang, renamed the city Beiping (North Peace) and made his first capital in Nanjing (in present-day Jiangsu province). It wasn't until the reign of Emperor Yongle that the court moved back to Beijing. During Ming rule, the huge city walls were repaired and redesigned. Yongle is credited with being the true architect of the modern city, and much of Beijing's hallmark architecture, such as the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, date from his reign. The basic grid of present-day Beijing had been laid. It is a city built to inspire, to awe the populace with the power of the emperor. Built as a place to perform religious rites and ceremonies, it was viewed as an almost impregnable fortress. A change of government came with the manchus, who established the Qing dynasty in 1644 and began to build numerous suburban gardens including the well-known Summer Palace. After extensive reconstruction during the Ming and Qing, Beijing emerged as an architectural masterpiece fit to serve as the capital of the Chinese empire.

On January 31, 1949, the Chinese People's Liberation Army formally entered Beijing, opening a new chapter in the long history of the city. It was in the Tian'anmen Square on October 1st, 1949, that Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China, and the city was again designated as the capital of China.

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