with french fries]]

Deep frying is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot oil or fat. This is normally performed with a deep fryer or chip pan; industrially, a pressure fryer or vacuum fryer may be used.

Deep frying is classified as a dry cooking method because no water is used. Due to the high temperature involved and the high heat conduction of oil, it cooks food extremely quickly.

History

Due to a lack of either resources or technology, frying was absent from some ancient cultures. Because these cultures did not have use of rotary motion, they could not reduce their quantities of peanuts or other seeds to oil. While European cultures used round wheels, Native Americans ground maize and other grains with a to-and-fro motion. After Europeans arrived, some Native Americans found the unfamiliar cooking oils and fats repulsive. In modern Latin America, with some exceptions, such as street fair food, fried tortillas, and pescado frito (fried fish), frying is not among the significant methods of cooking.

Foods, especially meats, were fried during the first century AD in many cultures around the Mediterranean. In Rome, the term "frying," or frigĕre, had two meanings: first, the toasting of grains or nuts in a dry skillet, and second, cooking in oil. From the eighth to the fifteenth century, fats and frying played an essential role in Arab cooking. Sheep tail fat was a frying delicacy; books from this region and period tell how to extract, clarify, perfume, color, and store this fat, which was used to finish-fry boiled meats. During the same period, Lebanon, Andalusia, Maghreb, and Syria were known for their olive oil, which was exported to Iraq and Egypt.

Many European scholars writing about the food among the original inhabitants of the New World could not believe that these cultures did not have oil and did not fry. During the British colonial period, frying spread from Europe to the Americas and Africa. American colonists adapted frying with great frenzy, and in a Harper's Magazine story of 1866, Americans were said to be eating, "Fried ham, fried eggs, fried liver, fried steak, fried fish, fried oysters, fried potatoes, and last, but not least, fried hash." These preparations, as well as doughnuts, pancakes, and fritters, were served "morning, noon, and night," according to the magazine contributor, who thought that Americans consumed too much fried food.

Technique

intestines]]

If performed properly, deep-frying does not make food excessively greasy, because the moisture in the food repels the oil. The hot oil heats the water within the food, steaming it from the inside out; oil cannot go against the direction of this powerful flow because (due to its high temperature) the water vapor pushes the bubbles toward the surface. As long as the oil is hot enough and the food is not immersed in the oil for too long, oil penetration will be confined to the outer surface. However, if the food is cooked in the oil for too long, much of the water will be lost and the oil will begin to penetrate the food. The correct frying temperature depends on the thickness and type of food, but in most cases it lies between 175 and 190 °C (345–375 °F).

Some fried foods are given a coating of batter or breading prior to frying. The effect of these is that the outside of the food becomes crispy and browned, while the inside becomes tender, moist, and steamed. Some foods – such as potatoes or whole, skin-on poultry – have a natural coating and do not require breading or battering.

Oil deterioration

Overheating or over-using the frying oil leads to formation of rancid-tasting products of oxidation, polymerization, and other deleterious, unintended or even toxic compounds such as acrylamide (from starchy foods). Deep-frying under vacuum helps to significantly reduce acrylamide formation, but this process is not widely used in the food industry due to the high investment cost involved.

Some useful tests and indicators of excessive oil deterioration are the following:

Sensory: Darkening, smoke, foaming, thickening, rancid taste and unpleasant smell when heating.

Laboratory: Acidity, anisidine value, viscosity, total polar compounds, polymeric triglycerides.

Instruments that indicate total polar compounds, currently the best single gauge of how deep-fried an object is, are available with sufficient accuracy for restaurant and industry use.

Disadvantages

Deep frying produces large amounts of waste oil, which must be properly disposed. Waste oil is increasingly being recycled into biodiesel.

Some deep fry shortenings contain trans fat.

Cooking oil is flammable, and fires may be caused by it igniting at too high a temperature. Attempts to extinguish an oil fire with water cause the water to flash into steam due to the high heat of the oil, in turn sending the burning oil in all directions and thus aggravating the fire. Instead, oil fires must be extinguished via fire extinguisher or by smothering. Other means of extinguishing an oil fire include application of dry powder (e.g., baking soda, salt) or fire fighting foam. Most commercial deep fryers are equipped with automatic fire suppression systems using foam.

See also

Banana chips

Deep-fried Twinkie

Deep-fried Mars Bar

Deep-fried pizza

Finger steaks

French fried potatoes

Fried pickles

References

External links

Christian Science Monitor: Backstory: If you can think of it, he can deep-fry it

Category:Cooking techniques Category:Scottish cuisine

Caption	White at the Time 100 gala in 2010
Birth name	Betty Marion White
Birth date	January 17, 1922
Birth place	Oak Park, Illinois, U.S.
Other names	Betty White Ludden
Occupation	Actress, comedian, writer
Years active	1939–present
Spouse	Dyck Barker (1945)Lane Allen (1947–1949) Allen Ludden (1963–1981; his death)

Betty White Ludden (born January 17, 1922), better known as Betty White, is an American actress, comedienne, author, and former game show personality. With a career spanning eight decades since 1939, she is best known to modern audiences for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls. , she is starring as Elka Ostrovsky in the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland. She has also released several books over the span of her career. In August 2010, she entered a deal with G.P. Putnam Sons to produce two more books, the first of which was scheduled for release in 2011.

White has won seven Emmy Awards and received 20 Emmy nominations Her mother was of Greek, English, and Welsh descent, and her father was of Danish and English ancestry. White's family moved to Los Angeles, California during the Great Depression. She attended Horace Mann School in Beverly Hills, California, and Beverly Hills High School. Hoping to become a writer, she wrote and played the lead in a graduation play at Horace Mann School and discovered her interest in performing .

Career

1939–1979

White began her television career in 1939, three months after high school graduation, when she and a classmate sang songs from The Merry Widow on an experimental Los Angeles channel. White found work modeling, and her first professional acting job was at the Bliss Hayden Little Theatre. White's career was disrupted immediately, as World War II broke out, causing her to join the American Women's Voluntary Services. In the 1940s, she worked in radio appearing on shows such as Blondie, The Great Gildersleeve and This Is Your FBI. She then got her own radio show, called The Betty White Show. In 1949 she began appearing with Al Jarvis on his daily, live variety show Hollywood on Television on KLAC in Los Angeles. Life With Elizabeth was nationally syndicated by the mid-1950s, allowing White to become one of the few women in television with full creative control in front of and behind the camera at the time.

In 1973, White made a guest appearance in season four of The Mary Tyler Moore Show as The Happy Homemaker.

After The Golden Girls The characters of Ann and Pamela Douglas (Alley Mills) disappeared after their March 27, 2007, appearance and were not mentioned again until October 19, 2007, when Ann appeared briefly. White would go on to appear in three more episodes following that, one on December 10, 2007; August 28, 2008; and October 28, 2008. She returned to the show on November 18, 2009 and in the November 19, 2009 episode her character revealed that she was dying of advanced pancreatic cancer. To date she has made 22 appearances as Ann Douglas. In the November 23, 2009 episode Ann passes away due to complications from her illness, with both of her daughters at her side on the beach at Paradise Cove.

In the broadcast of the 2007 TV Land Awards, White starred in a parody of Ugly Betty, aptly titled Ugly Betty White, in which she played America Ferrera's title character, with Charo playing White's sister Hilda, and Erik Estrada playing her father Ignacio. Her performance earned her a part on Ugly Betty as herself, the victim of Wilhelmina Slater's temper as they vie for a cab in the episode "Bananas for Betty", which aired December 6, 2007.

White had a recurring role in ABC's Boston Legal from 2005 to 2008 as the calculating, blackmailing gossip-monger Catherine Piper, a role she originally portrayed as a guest star on The Practice in 2004. The May 8 SNL episode garnered the show's highest ratings since November 1, 2008, when Ben Affleck hosted. In her opening monologue, White thanked Facebook and joked that she "didn’t know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time." The appearance earned her a 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series, her seventh Emmy win overall. Years earlier, White's character Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls in an episode from season 7 while laying in a hospital bed awaiting open heart surgery, says to her daughter; "There's something else I wanna tell you. Now lean in close, this is very important...LIVE FROM NEW YORK IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT!

In June 2010, White took on the role of Elka Ostrovsky the house caretaker on TV Land’s original sitcom Hot in Cleveland, now in its second season.

In July 2010, it was announced that she posed for her own calendar for the year 2011; the calendar also features photos from her career and her pictured with various animals. She also debuted her own clothing line on July 22, 2010, which features shirts with her face on them. All proceeds will also go to various animal charities she supports.

She guest-starred in the second-season premiere of NBC's Community as an anthropology professor. In 2010 she also guest starred in The Middle & 30 Rock. She also will have a role in Operation Secret Santa, the sequel to Prep & Landing and the second installment in Disney's "Lanny and Wayne" franchise.

Betty also starred in the Hallmark Hall of fame presentation of The Lost Valentine on January 30, 2011. This presentation garnered the highest rating for a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation in the last four years and according to the Nielsen Media Research TV rating service won first place in the prime time slot for that date.

Betty White's latest book, If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't), was released in 2011.

Charity

White is a pet enthusiast and animal health advocate who works with a number of animal organizations, including the Los Angeles Zoo Commission, the Morris Animal Foundation, and Actors & Others for Animals. Her interest in animal rights and welfare began in the early 1970s while she was both producing and hosting the syndicated series, The Pet Set, which spotlighted celebrities and their pets. and is legally known as Betty White Ludden. He proposed to White at least twice before she accepted. The couple appeared together in an episode of The Odd Couple featuring Felix's and Oscar's appearance on Password. Ludden appeared as a guest panelist on Match Game, with White sitting in the audience. (She was prompted to criticize one of Ludden's wrong answers on camera during an episode of Match Game '74). The two appeared together on the Match Game panel in 1975.

Ludden died from stomach cancer on June 9, 1981, in Los Angeles. They had no children together. White has not remarried since Ludden's death.

When asked about her real-life heroes White told Vanity Fair, "Charles Darwin."

Awards, honors and nominations

White has won seven Emmy Awards, three American Comedy Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990), and two Viewers For Quality Television Awards. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1995 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6747 Hollywood Boulevard alongside the star of her late husband Allen Ludden. at 6747 Hollywood Blvd.]] White was the recipient of the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters Golden Ike Award and the Genii Award from the American Women in Radio and Television in 1976. In 2009, White and her now deceased Golden Girls cast mates Beatrice Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty were awarded honorary Disney Legend awards. Betty was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in December 2010. In 2010 she was chosen as the Associated Press's Entertainer of the Year.

On November 9, 2010, the USDA Forest Service along with Smokey Bear made actress Betty White an honorary forest ranger, fulfilling her lifelong dream. White said in previous interviews that she wanted to be a forest ranger as a little girl but that women were not allowed to do that then. Today’s United States Forest Service is 38 percent female, including rangers, scientists and leaders at every level.

In January 2011, White received a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for her role as Elka Ostrovsky in Hot In Cleveland. The show itself was also nominated for an award as Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, but lost to the cast of Modern Family.

Filmography

{| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1945 || Time to Kill || Lou's Girl || |- | 1949–50 || Hollywood on Television || Phone Girl || |- | 1953–55 || Life with Elizabeth || Elizabeth || 12 episodes |- | 1955 || Make the Connection || || |- | 1957–58 || Date with the Angels || Vickie Angel ||33 episodes |- | 1959 || Santa Claus || || |- | 1959–62 || || || |- | 1961 || To Tell the Truth || Herself || |- | 1962 || Advise and Consent || Senator Bessie Adams || |- | 1961–75 || Password || Herself || |- | 1963 || Your First Impression || || |- | 1965 || Concentration || Herself || |- | 1967 || What's My Line? || Herself || |- | 1971 || Vanished || TV Hostess || |- | 1973–82 || Match Game || Herself || |- | 1973–77 || || Sue Ann Nivens || 42 episodes

|- | 1974–78 || Tattletales || || |- | 1977 || || || |- | 1977–78 || || Joyce Whitman ||14 episodes |- | 1978 || Liar's Club || || |- | 1978 || || || |- | 1978 || Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Betty White || || |- | 1979 || With This Ring || Evelyn Harris || |- | 1979 || || || |- | 1979 || || || |- | 1980 || || || |- | 1980 || Before and After || || |- | 1980–83 || Password Plus || Herself || |- | 1982–88 || || Herself || |- | 1982 || Eunice || Ellen || |- | 1983 || Just Men! || || |- | 1983 || Doctor Detroit || || |- | 1984 || Kill Me If You Can || || |- | 1985 || || || |- | 1983–84, 1986 || Mama's Family || Ellen Harper-Jackson ||15 episodes |- | 1984 || Body Language || Herself || |- | 1985 || Trivia Trap || Herself || |- | 1985 || Who's the Boss || Bobby Barnes || |- | 1985–88 || || Herself || |- | 1985–92 || || Rose Nylund || 180 episodes |- | 1987–99 || Super Password || Herself || |- | 1988 || Santa Barbara || Waitress ||3 episodes |- | 1988 || Another World || Brenda Barlowe || |- | 1990–91 || To Tell the Truth || Herself || |- | 1991 || Chance of a Lifetime || Evelyn Eglin || |- | 1992–93 || || Rose Nylund ||24 episodes |- | 1993 || Bob || Sylvia Schmidt || |- | 1994 || || Dora Sloan || |- | 1995 || Family Feud || Herself || |- | 1995–96 || Maybe This Time || Shirley Wallace || |- | 1996 || || || |- | 1996 || || || |- | 1997 || Hard Rain || Doreen Sears || |- | 1998 || || Hestia || |- | 1998 || Me & George || || |- | 1998 || Dennis the Menace Strikes Again || Martha Wilson || |- | 1998 || Holy Man || || |- | 1998–99 || || || (voice) |- | 1999 || || Herself || |- | 1999 || Gaia Symphony II || || |- | 1999 || Lake Placid || Mrs. Deloris Bickerman || |- | 1999 || || Lillian Jordan || |- | 1999–2000 || Ladies Man || Mitzi Stiles || |- | 2000 || Ally McBeal || Dr. Shirley Flott || |- | 2000 || || || (voice) |- | 2000 || Whispers: An Elephant's Tale || Round || |- | 2000 || Tom Sawyer || Aunt Polly || |- | 2001 || || Sophie Hunter || |- | 2001 || || Mrs. Krisper || |- | 2001 || I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus || || |- | 2002–03 || That '70s Show || Bea Sigurdson || |- | 2003 || Bringing Down the House || Mrs. Kline || |- | 2003 || || Woman in Window || |- | 2004 || Stealing Christmas || Emily Sutton || |- | 2004 || Malcolm in the Middle || Sylvia || |- | 2004 || Hollywood Squares – Game Show Week Part 2 || || |- | 2004–05 || Complete Savages || Mrs. Riley || |- | 2005 || || Catherine Piper || |- | 2005 || || Lettie || |- | 2005 || Annie's Point || Annie Eason || |- | 2005-08 || Boston Legal || Catherine Piper ||16 episodes |- | 2006 || Family Guy || Betty White || (voice) |- | 2006 || Gameshow Marathon || || |- | 2006 || : Their Greatest Moments || Herself || |- | 2006 || Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner || Herself || |- | 2007 || || || |- | 2007 || My Wife and Kids || || |- | 2007 || 34th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards || || |- | 2007 || Back to the Grind || || |- | 2007 || || Herself || (voice) |- | 2008 || Pioneers of Television || Herself || |- | 2008 || || || |- | 2008 || Million Dollar Password || Herself || |- | 2008 || Ugly Betty || ||1 episode |- | 2009 || || Grandma Annie || |- | 2009 || Wheel of Fortune || Herself || |- | 2009 || My Name is Earl || Mrs. Weezmer ||1 episode |- | 2009 || Chelsea Lately || Herself || |- | 2009 || Ponyo || || (voice) |- | 2009 || Love N' Dancing || Irene || |- | 2009 || Chelsea Lately || Herself || |- | 2009 || || || |- | 2009 || 30 Rock || Betty White ||1 episode |- | 2009–10 || Glenn Martin, DDS || Dora / Grandma Shelia Martin ||2 episodes |- | 2010 || Saturday Night Live || Herself || (Host)

|- | 2010 || || Mrs. Nethercott ||1 episode |- | 2010 || Inside the Actors Studio || Herself || |- | 2010 || Operation Secret Santa || || (voice) |- | 2010–present || Hot in Cleveland || Elka Ostrovsky || |- | 2010 || You Again || Grandma Bunny || |- | 2010 || Community || Professor June Bauer ||2 episodes |- | 2010 || Pound Puppies || Agatha McLeish || |- | 2011 || || Caroline Thomas || |- | 2012 || || Norma || (voice) |}

Books by White

1983: Betty White's Pet-Love: How Pets Take Care of Us

1987: Betty White In Person

1991: The Leading Lady: Dinah's Story

1995: Here We Go Again: My Life In Television

2011: If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won't)

References

Further reading

Tucker, David C. The Women Who Made Television Funny: Ten Stars of 1950s Sitcoms. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2007.

External links

Betty White News on Twitter

Betty White is Hot in Cleveland

The Early Betty White 1947-1971

Archive of American Television Interview with Betty White June 4, 1997

Betty White on The Museum of Broadcast Communications

Betty White to Star on Hot in Cleveland

Video of TV Academy's Salute to Betty White

Category:1922 births Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from California Category:Actors from Illinois Category:Animal rights advocates Category:American film actors Category:American game show hosts Category:American people of Danish descent Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of Greek descent Category:American people of Welsh descent Category:American soap opera actors Category:American television actors Category:American vegans Category:American voice actors Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Living people Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:People from Oak Park, Illinois Category:Women comedians

Name	Beijing
Official name	Municipality of Beijing • 北京市
Native name
Settlement type	Municipality
Total type	Municipality
Map caption	Location of Beijing Municipality within China
Coordinates display	inline,title
Coordinates region	CN
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision name	China
Parts type	Divisions - County-level - Township-level
Parts	16 districts, 2 counties289 towns and villages
Government type	Municipality
Leader title	CPC Ctte Secretary
Leader name	Liu Qi
Leader title1	Mayor
Leader name1	Guo Jinlong
Area total km2	16801.25
Elevation m	43.5
Population total	19612368
Population as of	2010
Population density km2	auto
Population blank1 title	Ranks in China
Population blank1	Population: 26th; Density: 4th
Population demonym	Beijinger
Demographics type1	Major ethnic groups
Demographics1 title1	Han
Demographics1 info1	96%
Demographics1 title2	Manchu
Demographics1 info2	2%
Demographics1 title3	Hui
Demographics1 info3	2%
Demographics1 title4	Mongol
Demographics1 info4	0.3%
Timezone	China standard time
Utc offset	+8
Postal code type	Postal code
Postal code	100000 - 102629
Area code	10
Blank name sec1	GDP
Blank info sec1	2009 estimate
Blank1 name sec1	- Total
Blank1 info sec1	US$173.7 billion (nominal) US$283.92 billion (PPP) (13th)
Blank2 name sec1	- Per capita
Blank2 info sec1	US$10,070 (nominal) US$17,063 (PPP) (2nd)
Blank3 name sec1	HDI (2008)
Blank3 info sec1	0.891 (2nd) — high
Blank4 name sec1	License plate prefixes
Blank4 info sec1	京A, C, E, F, H, J, K, L, M, N, P 京B (taxis)京G, Y (outside urban area)京O (police and authorities)京V (in red color) (military headquarters,central government)
Blank name sec2	City trees
Blank info sec2	Chinese arborvitae (Platycladus orientalis)
Blank1 name sec2
Blank1 info sec2	Pagoda tree (Sophora japonica)
Blank2 name sec2	City flowers
Blank2 info sec2	China rose (Rosa chinensis)
Blank3 name sec2
Blank3 info sec2	Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium)
Website	www.beijing.gov.cn
Footnotes	}}

Beijing (, , ), also known as Peking ( or ), is a metropolis in Northern China, and the capital of the People's Republic of China. Governed as a municipality under direct administration of the central government, Beijing borders Hebei Province to the north, west, south, and for a small section in the east, and Tianjin Municipality to the southeast. Beijing is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China.

Beijing is divided into 14 urban and suburban districts and two rural counties. Beijing is a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads and motorways passing through the city. It is also the destination of many international flights arriving in China. Beijing is recognized as the political, educational, and cultural center of the People's Republic of China, while Hong Kong and Shanghai predominate in economic fields. The city hosted the 2008 Olympic Games.

Few cities in the world besides Beijing have served as the political and cultural centre of an area as immense as China for so long. The Encyclopædia Britannica describes it as "one of the world's great cities," and declares that the city has been an integral part of China’s history for centuries; there is scarcely a major building of any age in Beijing that does not have at least some national historical significance. Its art treasures and universities have long made the city a centre of culture and art in China. ( is represented in pinyin as j, as in Beijing. The latter is best approximated in English as "bay-DJING", rather than the hyperforeign pronunciation "bay-ZHING".)

The pronunciation "Peking" is also closer to the Fujianese dialect of Amoy or Min Nan spoken in the city of Xiamen, a port where European traders first landed in the 16th century, while "Beijing" more closely approximates the Mandarin pronunciation of the city's name.

The city has been renamed several times. During the Jin Dynasty, the city was known as Zhongdu (), and then later, under the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, as Dadu () to the Chinese and Daidu to Mongols (also recorded as Cambuluc There were cities in the vicinities of Beijing by the 1st millennium BC, and the capital of the State of Yan, one of the powers of the Warring States Period (473-221 BC), Ji (薊/蓟), was established in present-day Beijing.

After the fall of the Yan, the subsequent Qin, Han, and Jin dynasties set up local prefectures in the area. Later in 1264, in preparation for the conquest of all of China to establish the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan decided to rebuild it slightly north to the center of the Jin capital, and in 1272, he made this city his capital as Dadu (大都, Chinese for "great capital"),

Ming and Qing period

In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang, soon after declaring himself the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, sent an army toward Dadu, still held by the Yuan. The last Yuan emperor fled north to Shangdu, and Zhu razed the Yuan palaces in Dadu to the ground. The city was renamed Beiping (北平) in the same year, and Shuntian (順天) prefecture was established in the area around the city. In 1403, the new (and third) Ming emperor - the Yongle Emperor - renamed this city 'Beijing', It is believed that Beijing was the largest city in the world from 1425 to 1650 and from 1710 to 1825. Other notable buildings constructed during the Ming period include the Temple of Heaven (built by 1420). Tiananmen, now a state symbol of the People's Republic of China and featured on its emblem, was first built in 1420, and rebuilt several times later. Tiananmen Square was built in 1651 and enlarged in 1958. Jesuits finished building the first Beijing-area Roman Catholic church in 1652 at the Xuanwu Gate, where Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) had lived; the modern Nantang (南堂, Southern Cathedral) has been built over the original cathedral.

The end of the Ming came in 1644 when, for 40 days, Li Zicheng's peasant army captured Beijing and overthrew the Ming government. When the powerful Manchu army arrived at the outskirts of the city, Li and his followers abandoned the city and as a result the Manchu forces, under Prince Dorgon, captured Beijing without a fight.

Prince Dorgon established the Qing Dynasty as a direct successor to the Ming, and Beijing remained China's capital. The Qing Emperors made some modifications to the Imperial residence, but in large part, the Ming buildings and the general layout remained unchanged. Beijing at this time was also known as Jingshi, which corresponded to the Manchu Gemun Hecen with the same meaning. The classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber is set in Beijing during the early years of Qing rule (the end of the 17th century). as photographed in the early 20th century]]

During the Second Opium War, Anglo-French forces captured the city, looted and burned the Summer Palace and Old Summer Palace in 1860. Under the Convention of Peking that ended the war, Western powers secured the right to establish permanent diplomatic presence in the Beijing Legation Quarter. In 1900, Beijing was again invaded by foreign powers to quell the Boxer Rebellion. Some important Imperial structures in the city were destroyed during the fighting, including the Hanlin Academy and Summer Palace.

Republican era

The Xinhai Revolution of 1911, aimed at replacing Qing rule with a republic, originally intended to establish its capital at Nanjing. After high-ranking Qing official Yuan Shikai forced the abdication of the Qing emperor in Beijing and ensured the success of the revolution, the revolutionaries in Nanjing accepted that Yuan should be the president of the new Republic of China and the capital remains at Beijing. Yuan gradually consolidated power and became by 1915 the new emperor of China, but died less than a year into his reign. China then fell under the control of regional warlords, and the most powerful factions fought frequent wars (the Zhili-Anhui War, the First Zhili-Fengtian War, and the Second Zhili-Fengtian War) to take control of the capital at Beijing. Following the success of the Kuomintang (KMT)'s Northern Expedition, which pacified the warlords of the north, Nanjing was officially made the capital of the Republic of China in 1928, and Beijing was renamed Beiping (Peip'ing) (北平) on 28 June that year, in English meaning "northern peace" or "north pacified". and was made the seat of the Provisional Government of the Republic of China, a puppet state that ruled the ethnic Chinese portions of Japanese-occupied northern China; the government was later merged into the larger Wang Jingwei Government based in Nanjing.

People's Republic

proclaiming the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949]]

On 31 January 1949, during the Chinese Civil War, Communist forces entered Beijing without opposition. On 1 October of the same year, the Communist Party of China, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, announced in Tiananmen the creation of the People's Republic of China and renamed the city back to Beijing. Just a few days earlier, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference had decided that Beijing would be the capital of the new government.

At the time of the founding of the People's Republic, Beijing Municipality consisted of just its urban area and immediate suburbs. The urban area was divided into many small districts inside what is now the 2nd Ring Road. The Beijing city wall was torn down to make way for the construction of the 2nd Ring Road, which was finished by 1981 in accord with the 1982 city plan. That road was the first of a series of new ring roads intended for motor vehicles rather than for bicycles.

Following the economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping, the urban area of Beijing has expanded greatly. Formerly within the confines of the 2nd Ring Road and the 3rd Ring Road, the urban area of Beijing is now pushing at the limits of the recently constructed 5th Ring Road and 6th Ring Road, with many areas that were formerly farmland now developed residential or commercial districts. According to a 2005 newspaper report, the size of the newly developed Beijing land was one and a half times larger than the land of old Beijing within the 2nd Ring Road. Wangfujing and Xidan have developed into flourishing shopping districts, while Zhongguancun has become a major centre of electronics in China. In recent years, the expansion of Beijing has also brought to the forefront some problems of urbanization, such as heavy traffic, poor air quality, the loss of historic neighbourhoods, and significant influx of migrants from various regions of the country, especially rural areas.

On 13 July 2001, the International Olympic Committee selected Beijing as the host for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Geography

2010-08-08]] , an extensive imperial garden in the center of Beijing]]

Beijing is situated at the northern tip of the roughly triangular North China Plain, which opens to the south and east of the city. Mountains to the north, northwest and west shield the city and northern China's agricultural heartland from the encroaching desert steppes. The northwestern part of the municipality, especially Yanqing County and Huairou District, are dominated by the Jundu Mountains, while the western part of the municipality is framed by the Xishan Mountains. The Great Wall of China, which stretches across the northern part of Beijing Municipality, made use of this rugged topography to defend against nomadic incursions from the steppes. Mount Dongling in the Xishan ranges and on the border with Hebei is the municipality's highest point, with an altitude of 2303 m. Major rivers flowing through the municipality include the Yongding River and the Chaobai River, part of the Hai River system, and flow in a southerly direction. Beijing is also the northern terminus of the Grand Canal of China which was built across the North China Plain to Hangzhou. Miyun Reservoir, built on the upper reaches of the Chaobai River, is Beijing's largest reservoir, and crucial to its water supply. The urban area of Beijing is situated in the south-central part of the municipality and occupies a small but expanding part of the municipality's area. It spreads out in bands of concentric ring roads, of which the fifth and outermost, the Sixth Ring Road (the numbering starts at 2), passes through several satellite towns. Tian'anmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace) and Tian'anmen Square are at the centre of Beijing, and are directly to the south of the Forbidden City, former residence of the emperors of China. To the west of Tian'anmen is Zhongnanhai, residence of the paramount leaders of the People's Republic of China. Running through central Beijing from east to west is Chang'an Avenue, one of Beijing's main thoroughfares.

Climate

The city's climate is a rather dry, monsoon-influenced humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dwa), characterised by hot, humid summers due to the East Asian monsoon, and generally cold, windy, dry winters that reflect the influence of the vast Siberian anticyclone.

Air quality

Joint research between United States and Chinese researchers in 2006 concluded that much of the city's pollution comes from surrounding cities and provinces. According to the research, 34% of PM_2.5 and on average 35-60% of ozone can be traced to sources outside the city. Shandong Province and Tianjin Municipality have a "significant influence on Beijing's air quality", partly due to the prevailing south/southeasterly flow during summer and the mountains to the north and northwest.

In preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics and after promising to clean up the city's air, nearly US$17 billion was spent. Beijing implemented a number of air improvement schemes for the duration of the games. This included stopping work on all construction sites, closing many factories both in and around Beijing, closing some gas stations, and cutting motor traffic by half. Two new subway lines were opened and thousands of old taxis and buses were replaced to encourage residents to use public transport. The Beijing government encouraged a discussion to keep the odd-even scheme in place after the Olympics, and although the scheme was eventually lifted on 21 September 2008, it was replaced by new restrictions on government vehicles and a new restriction that does not allow the use of a car once a week based on the last number of the license plate. In addition to the vehicle restrictions, staggered office hours and retail opening times have been encouraged to avoid the rush hour, and parking fees were increased.

Beijing was the first city in China to require the Chinese equivalent to the Euro 4 emission standard. Some 357,000 "yellow label" vehicles — those that have too high emission levels — have been banned from Beijing altogether.

The government regularly uses cloud-seeding measures to increase the likelihood of rain showers in the region to clear the air prior to large events as well as to combat drought conditions in the area.

According to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), China has spent 17 billion over the last three years on a large-scale green drive. Beijing has added 3,800 natural gas buses, the largest fleet in the world. Twenty percent of the Olympic venues' electricity comes from renewable energy sources. The city has also planted hundreds of thousands of trees and increased green space in an effort to make the city more livable.

One year after the 2008 Olympics, Beijing's officials reported that the city was enjoying the best air quality this decade because of the measures taken during the Olympic Games. Nonetheless Beijing still faces air pollution problems.

Dust storms

Dust from erosion of deserts in northern and northwestern China results in seasonal dust storms that plague the city; the Beijing Weather Modification Office sometimes artificially induces rainfall to fight such storms and mitigate their effects. In the first four months of 2006 alone, there were no fewer than eight such storms. In April 2002, one dust storm alone dumped nearly 50,000 tons of dust onto the city before moving on to Japan and Korea.

Cityscape

Administrative divisions

, in northwestern Beijing at night]] area]] in Beijing's Chaoyang District]] , located in the Xicheng District, is traditionally considered one of Beijing's most beautiful and charming scenic areas.]] Major neighbourhoods in urban Beijing include the following. Neighbourhoods may overlap across multiple districts (see below):

Neighborhoods Qianmen Tian'anmen Di'anmen Chongwenmen Xuanwumen Fuchengmen Xizhimen Deshengmen Andingmen Sanlitun Dongzhimen Chaoyangmen Yongdingmen Zuo'anmen You'anmen Guangqumen Guang'anmen Dongbianmen Xibianmen Hepingmen Fuxingmen Jianguomen Gongzhufen Fangzhuang Guomao Hepingli Ping'anli Beixinqiao Jiaodaokou Kuanjie Wangjing Wangfujing Dengshikou Wudaokou Xidan Dongdan Zhongguancun Panjiayuan Beijing CBD Yayuncun

Subdivisions Beijing Municipality comprises 16 administrative sub-divisions, county-level units governed directly by the municipality (second-level divisions). Of these, 14 are districts and 2 are counties. On July 1, 2010 Chongwen District () and Xuanwu District () were merged into Dongcheng District and Xicheng District respectively. The urban and suburban areas of the city are divided into six (6) districts: Miyun County Yanqing County

Towns Towns within Beijing Municipality but outside the urban area include (but are not limited to): Changping Huairou Miyun Liangxiang Liulimiao Tongzhou Yizhuang Tiantongyuan Beiyuan Xiaotangshan

Several place names in Beijing end with mén (), meaning "gate", as they were the locations of gates in the former Beijing city wall. Other place names end in cūn (), meaning "village", as they were originally villages outside the city wall.

Beijing's 18 districts and counties are further subdivided into 273 lower (third)-level administrative units at the township level: 119 towns, 24 townships, 5 ethnic townships and 125 subdistricts.

Architecture

Three styles of architecture predominate in urban Beijing. First, the traditional architecture of imperial China, perhaps best exemplified by the massive Tian'anmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace), which remains the People's Republic of China's trademark edifice, the Forbidden City, the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Temple of Heaven. Next there is what is sometimes referred to as the "Sino-Sov" style, built between the 1950s and the 1970s, with structures tending to be boxy and sometimes poorly constructed. Finally, there are much more modern architectural forms — most noticeably in the area of the Beijing CBD and Beijing Financial Street.

Beijing of the early 21st century has witnessed tremendous growth of new building constructions, showing various modern styles from international designers. A mixture of both old and new styles of architecture can be seen at the 798 Art Zone, which mixes 1950s design with a blend of the new.

Politics and government

Municipal government is regulated by the local Communist Party of China (CPC) in issuing administrative orders, collecting taxes, and operating the economy. The local party authority is headed by the Beijing CPC Secretary (北京市委书记). The local CPC also directs a standing committee of the Municipal People's Congress in making policy decisions and overseeing local government. Local government figures include a mayor, vice-mayor, and numerous bureaus focusing on law, public security, and other affairs. Additionally, as the capital of China, Beijing houses all the important national governmental and political institutions, including the National People's Congress.

Economy

, Park Hyatt, Yintai, CCTV Headquarters, Jingguang]] , the economic centre of Beijing]] is one of the busiest streets in Beijing, with nearly 100,000 visitors daily (August 2008).]] is a technology hub in Haidian District]]

Beijing is amongst the most developed cities in China with tertiary industry accounting for 73.2% of its GDP; it was the first post industrial city in mainland China. Finance is one of the most important industries of Beijing. By the end of 2007, there were 751 financial organizations in Beijing that generated 128.6 billion RMB revenue accounting for 11.6% of the total financial industry revenue of the entire country. It also accounts for 13.8% of Beijing's GDP, the highest percentage of that of all Chinese cities. Beijing is home to 26 Fortune Global 500 companies, the third most in the world behind Tokyo and Paris.

In 2010, Beijing's nominal GDP reached 1.37 trillion RMB. Its per capita GDP was 78,194 RMB. In 2009, Beijing's nominal GDP was 1.19 trillion RMB (US$174 billion), a year-on-year growth of 10.1% from the previous year. Its GDP per capita was 68,788 RMB (US$10,070), an increase of 6.2% from the previous year. In 2009, Beijing's primary, secondary, and tertiary industries were worth 11.83 billion RMB, 274.31 billion RMB, and 900.45 billion RMB. Urban disposable income per capita was 26,738 yuan, a real increase of 8.1% from the previous year. Per capita pure income of rural residents was 11,986 RMB, a real increase of 11.5%. Per capita disposable income of the 20% low-income residents increased 16.7%, 11.4 percentage points higher than the growth rate of the 20% high-income residents. The Engel's coefficient of Beijing's urban residents reached 31.8% in 2005 and that of the rural residents was 32.8%, declining 4.5 percentage points and 3.9 percentage points, respectively, compared with 2000.

Beijing's real estate and automobile sectors have continued to boom in recent years. In 2005, a total of 28.032 million square metres of housing real estate was sold, for a total of 175.88 billion RMB. The total number of cars registered in Beijing in 2004 was 2,146,000, of which 1,540,000 were privately owned (a year-on-year increase of 18.7%).

The Beijing CBD, centred at the Guomao area, has been identified as the city's new central business district, and is home to a variety of corporate regional headquarters, shopping precincts, and high-end housing. The Beijing Financial Street, in the Fuxingmen and Fuchengmen area, is a traditional financial centre. The Wangfujing and Xidan areas are major shopping districts. Zhongguancun, dubbed "China's Silicon Valley", continues to be a major centre in electronics and computer-related industries, as well as pharmaceuticals-related research. Meanwhile, Yizhuang, located to the southeast of the urban area, is becoming a new centre in pharmaceuticals, IT, and materials engineering. Urban Beijing is also known for being a centre of pirated goods and anything from the latest designer clothing to the latest DVDs can be found in markets all over the city, often marketed to expatriates and international visitors.

Major industrial areas include Shijingshan, located on the western outskirts of the city. Agriculture is carried out outside the urban area of Beijing, with wheat and maize (corn) being the main crops.

Specially designated industrial parks in Beijing include: Zhongguancun Science Park, Yongle Economic Development Zone, Beijing Economic-technological Development Area, and Tianzhu Airport Industrial Zone.

Demographics

The registered population of Beijing municipality consists of people holding either Beijing hukou permits (permanent residence), or temporary residence permits. The 2010 census revealed that the total population in Beijing reached 19.6 million.

After Chongqing and Shanghai,

Most of Beijing's residents belong to the Han Chinese majority. Other ethnic minorities include the Manchu, Hui, and Mongol. A Tibetan-language high school exists for youth of Tibetan ancestry, nearly all of whom have come to Beijing from Tibet expressly for their studies. A sizable international community exists in Beijing, many attracted by the highly growing foreign business and trade sector, others by the traditional and modern culture of the city. Much of this international community lives in the areas around the Beijing CBD, Sanlitun, and Wudaokou. In recent years there has also been an influx of South Koreans (estimate 200,000 in 2009) who live in Beijing predominantly for business and study purposes. Many of them live in the Wangjing and Wudaokou areas.

Excludes members of the People's Liberation Army in active service.

Culture

dish from the Qing dynasty]]

People native to urban Beijing speak the Beijing dialect, which belongs to the Mandarin subdivision of spoken Chinese. This speech is the basis for putonghua, the standard spoken language used in mainland China and Taiwan, and one of the four official languages of Singapore. Rural areas of Beijing Municipality have their own dialects akin to those of Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing Municipality.

Beijing opera, or Peking opera (Jīngjù, 京剧), is well-known throughout the nation. Commonly lauded as one of the highest achievements of Chinese culture, Beijing opera is performed through a combination of song, spoken dialogue, and codified action sequences, such as gestures, movement, fighting and acrobatics. Much of Beijing opera is carried out in an archaic stage dialect quite different from Modern Standard Chinese and from modern Beijing dialect.

Siheyuans line hutongs (), or alleys, which connect the interior of Beijing's old city. They are usually straight and run east to west so that doorways can face north and south for Feng Shui reasons. They vary in width — some are very narrow, enough for only a few pedestrians to pass through at a time.

Once ubiquitous in Beijing, siheyuans and hutongs are now rapidly disappearing, as entire city blocks of hutongs are leveled and replaced with high-rise buildings. Residents of the hutongs are entitled to live in the new buildings, in apartments of at least the same size as their former residences. Many complain, however, that the traditional sense of community and street life of the hutongs cannot be replaced. Residents, however, have limited control over their own property, as the government usually owns it. Some particularly historic or picturesque neighbourhoods of hutongs are being preserved and restored by the government, especially for the 2008 Olympics.

Beijing cuisine is the local style of cooking in Beijing. Peking Duck is perhaps the most well-known dish. The Manhan Quanxi is a rare traditional banquet originally intended for the ethnic-Manchu emperors of the Qing Dynasty; it remains very prestigious and expensive. The Fuling Jiabing is a traditional Beijing snack food, a pancake (bing) resembling a flat disk with filling, made from fu ling (Poria cocos (Schw.) Wolf, or "tuckahoe"), an ingredient common in traditional Chinese medicine. Teahouses are also common in Beijing. Chinese tea comes in many varieties and some rather expensive types of Chinese tea are said to cure an ailing body extraordinarily well.

The cloisonné (or Jingtailan, literally "Blue of Jingtai") metalworking technique and tradition is a specialty of Beijing's cultural art, and is one of the most revered traditional crafts in China. Cloisonné making requires elaborate and complicated processes which includes: base-hammering, copper-strip inlay, soldering, enamel-filling, enamel-firing, surface polishing and gilding. Beijing's lacquerware is also well known for its sophisticated and intrinsic patterns and images carved into its surface, and the various decoration techniques of lacquer includes "carved lacquer" and "engraved gold".

Younger residents of Beijing have become more attracted to the nightlife, which has flourished in recent decade, breaking prior cultural traditions that practically restricted it to the upper class.

Places of interest

At the heart of Beijing's historical centre lies the Forbidden City, the enormous palace compound that was the home of the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties; the Forbidden City hosts the Palace Museum, which contains imperial collections of Chinese art. Surrounding the Forbidden City are several former imperial gardens, parks and scenic areas, notably the Beihai, Shichahai, Zhongnanhai, Jingshan and Zhongshan. These places, like the Beihai Park are described to be masterpieces of Chinese gardening art, and are popular tourist destinations with tremendous historical importance; Zhongnanhai during the modern era has also been the political heart of various Chinese governments and regimes and is now the headquarters of the Communist Party of China. From Tiananmen Square, which is located right across the Forbidden City, there are several notable sites, such as the Tiananmen, Qianmen, the Great Hall of the People, National Museum of China, Monument to the People's Heroes, and Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. The Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace both lie at the western part of the urban city of Beijing; the Summer Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, displays a comprehensive collection of imperial gardens and palaces that functioned as the summer retreat for the Qing Dynasty emperors.

Among the best known religious sites in the city is the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan), located in southeastern Beijing, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties made visits for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest; located in the opposite direction of the Temple of Heaven at the northern part of the city are the Temple of Earth (Ditan), and the Temple of the Sun (Ritan) and Temple of the Moon (Yuetan), both respectively located in the eastern and western parts of the urban area. Other well-known temple sites located in Beijing include the Dongyue Temple, Tanzhe Temple, Miaoying Temple, White Cloud Temple, Yonghe Temple, Fayuan Temple, Wanshou Temple and the Big Bell Temple. The city also has its own Confucius Temple, and a Guozijian. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception was built in 1605, and is the oldest Catholic church in Beijing. The Niujie Mosque is also the oldest mosque in Beijing, with a history over a thousand years old.

Beijing contains several well-preserved pagodas and stone pagodas, such as the towering Pagoda of Tianning Temple, which was built during the Liao Dynasty from 1100–1120, and the Pagoda of Cishou Temple, which was built in 1576 during the Ming Dynasty. Several historically important stone bridges are also located in Beijing, including the 12th century Lugou Bridge, the 17th century Baliqiao bridge and the 18th century Jade Belt Bridge. The Beijing Ancient Observatory displays pretelescopic spheres dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Fragrant Hills (Xiangshan) is a popular scenic public park that consists of natural landscape areas as well as traditional and cultural relics. The Beijing Botanical Garden exhibits over 6,000 species of plants, including a variety of trees, bushes and flowers, and an extensive peony garden. The Taoranting Park, Chaoyang Park, Haidian Park and Zizhu Yuan are all popular recreational parks that consist of a variety of natural landscapes. The Beijing Zoo is a center of zoological research that also contains rare animals from various continents, including the giant panda of China.

Beijing is also known for its siheyuan (courtyard houses) and hutong (alleys), although they are increasingly disappearing due to the growth of city constructions and are giving way to high-rises. The city has several well-preserved neighborhoods of siheyuan, including some of the more grand courtyard houses, such as the Prince Gong Mansion. There are over one hundred museums in Beijing, and aside from the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City and the National Museum of China, other major museums include the National Art Museum of China, the Capital Museum, the Beijing Art Museum, the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution, the Geological Museum of China, the Beijing Museum of Natural History and the Paleozoological Museum of China. The archaeological Peking Man site at Zhoukoudian is another World Heritage Site within the Beijing municipality, and it contains a wealth of discoveries, including one of the first specimens of Homo erectus, and an assemblage of bones of the gigantic hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris. There are several sections of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Great Wall of China located in the municipality, most notably Badaling, Jinshanling, Simatai and Mutianyu.

Media

Television and radio

Beijing Television (BTV) broadcasts on numbered channels 1 through 10. Three radio stations feature programmes in English: Hit FM on FM 88.7, Easy FM by China Radio International (CRI) on FM 91.5, and the newly launched Radio 774 on AM 774. Beijing Radio Stations is the family of radio stations serving the city audience; its stations include the music station on 97.4 FM as well as a series of other stations focused on news, sports, educational programming, and others.

Press

The well-known Beijing Evening News (Beijing Wanbao, 北京晚报), covering news about Beijing in Chinese, is distributed every afternoon. Other newspapers include The Beijing News (Xin Jing Bao, 新京报), the Beijing Star Daily, the Beijing Morning News, and the Beijing Youth Daily (Beijing Qingnian Bao), as well as English-language weeklies Beijing Weekend and Beijing Today (the English-language edition of Youth Daily). People's Daily and China Daily (English) are published in Beijing as well. Nationally circulated Chinese newspapers are also available in Beijing.

Publications primarily aimed at international visitors and the expatriate community include the English-language periodicals Time Out Beijing, City Weekend, Beijing This Month, Beijing Talk, That's Beijing.

The international press, including English and other languages' newspapers and magazines, are available in major international hotels and friendship stores, and content often appears complete.

Sports

Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Paralympics. City officials relocated 350,000 people for the construction of the Beijing National Stadium, which was completed on 28 June 2008. Professional sports teams based in Beijing include:

Chinese Super League

* Beijing Guoan

Chinese Football Association Jia League

* Beijing Baxy

* Beijing Institute of Technology FC

Chinese Basketball Association

* Beijing Ducks

Women's Chinese Basketball Association

* Beijing Shougang

Asia League Ice Hockey

* China Sharks

China Baseball League

* Beijing Tigers

The Beijing Olympians of the ABA, formerly a CBA team, kept their name and maintained a roster of primarily Chinese players after moving to Maywood, California in 2005.

Transport

With the growth of the city following economic reforms, Beijing has evolved as the most important transport hub in the People's Republic of China, and within the larger East Asian region. Encircling the city are five ring roads, nine expressways and city express routes, eleven China National Highways, several railway routes, and an international airport.

Railways

Beijing has long been the largest railway hub in China. There are railway lines from Beijing to Shanghai, Guangzhou, Kowloon, Harbin, Qinhuangdao, Baotou, Yuanping, Chengde, and Tianjin. As of 2010 July 1, Beijing Railway Station has 173 trains stopping daily, while Beijing West Railway Station has 232 trains, Beijing South has 163 trains, Beijing North has 22. The state-of-the-art Beijing South Railway Station re-opened in August 2008, and serves as the Beijing terminus for the Beijing-Tianjin high-speed train, one of the fastest regular passenger train service in the world, as well as all other high-speed CRH trains. International trains to cities in Mongolia, Russia, Vietnam and North Korea, all run through Beijing.

Several other railway stations in urban Beijing handle regular passenger traffic: Beijing East and Qinghuayuan. Fengtai stations had been closed for renovation. There are also a number of other stations serving suburban areas. Passenger trains in China are numbered according to their direction in relation to Beijing.

Roads and expressways

:See: Ring Roads of Beijing, Expressways of Beijing and China National Highways of Beijing for more related information.

Beijing is connected via road links from all parts of China as part of the National Trunk Road Network. Nine expressways of China connect with Beijing, as do eleven China National Highways. Due partly to its design as an ancient capital, roads in Beijing often are in one of the four compass directions.

Beijing's urban transport is dependent upon the five "ring roads" that successively surround the city, with the Forbidden City area marked as the geographical center for the ring roads. The ring roads appear more rectangular than ring-shaped. The 1st Ring road is not officially defined. The 2nd Ring Road is fully located in Beijing's inner city areas. Ring roads tend to resemble expressways progressively as they extend outwards, with the 5th Ring Road and 6th Ring Road being full-standard National expressways - linked to other roads only with interchanges. Expressways to other regions of China are generally accessible from the 3rd Ring Road outward.

One of the biggest concerns with traffic in Beijing involves its traffic jams. Even outside of rush hour, several roads still remain clogged up with traffic. Urban area ring roads and major thoroughfares, especially near Chang'an Avenue, are normally cited as high-congestion areas.

Exacerbating Beijing's traffic problems is its relatively underdeveloped mass transit system. Beijing's urban design layout further complicates the situation of the transport system. The authorities have introduced several bus lanes where, during rush hour, all vehicles except for public buses must keep clear. In the beginning of 2010, Beijing had 4 million registered automobiles. For the end of 2010, the government expects 5 million cars in Beijing. In 2010, new car registrations in Beijing averaged 15,500 per week.

Towards the end of 2010, the city government of Beijing announced a series of drastic measures to tackle traffic jam, including limiting the number of new plates issued to passenger cars to 20,000 a month and barring cars of non-Beijing plates from entering areas within the Fifth Ring Road during rush hours.

Air

's new Terminal 3]]

Beijing's primary airport is the Beijing Capital International Airport (IATA: PEK; near Shunyi), which is about 20 km northeast of city centre. Beijing Capital International Airport is the 2nd busiest airport in the world (after Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport) and the busiest in Asia in 2009. With renovations for the 2008 Olympics, the airport now boasts three terminals, with Terminal 3 being one of the largest in the world. Most domestic and nearly all international flights arrive at and depart from Capital Airport. Capital Airport is the main hub for Air China and a hub for China Southern and Hainan Airlines. The capital links Beijing with almost every other Chinese city with regular air passenger service. It is linked to central Beijing by the Airport Expressway and is a roughly 40-minute drive from the city centre during good traffic hours. Prior to the 2008 Olympics, another expressway, the 2nd Airport Expressway, was built to the Airport, as well as a light rail system, which is now connected to the Beijing Subway.

Other airports in the city include Liangxiang, Nanyuan, Xijiao, Shahe and Badaling. Nanyuan serves as the hub for only one passenger airline, and these airports are primarily for military use and less well-known to the public.

Public transit

The Beijing Subway opened in 1971, and had only two lines until the opening of Line 13 in 2002. Since then, the subway has expanded to fourteen lines. Line 1 and Batong Line, its eastern extension, crosses almost all of urban Beijing from east to west. Lines 4 and 5 serve as two north-south axial lines. Fare is 2 yuan flat with unlimited transfers except for the Airport Express line, which costs 25 yuan per trip. There are nearly 700 bus and trolleybus routes in Beijing, including three bus rapid transit routes. All public transport can be accessed with the Yikatong card, which uses radio frequencies to be scanned at subway stations and on public transit buses. In May 2010, Beijing's municipal government announced plans to add 21 new subway lines by the year 2020. The plan calls for 30 subway lines and 450 stations in Beijing, reaching 1,050 kilometers in distance. When implemented, residents within the Fourth Ring Road will be able walk to a station in 10 to 15 minutes. The suburbs will be connected by new radial lines.

Registered taxis can be found throughout Beijing, a large number of unregistered taxis also exist. As of 30 June 2008, all fares on legal taxis start at 10 Renminbi for the first 3 km and 2.00 Renminbi per additional kilometer, not counting idling fees. Most taxis are Hyundai Elantras, Hyundai Sonatas, Peugeot Citroëns and Volkswagen Jettas. After 15 km, the base fare is increased by 50% (but only applied to the portion of the distance over 15 km, so that the passenger is not retroactively charged extra for the first 15 km). Between 11 pm and 5 am, the fee is increased by 20%, starting at 11 RMB and increasing at a rate of 2.4 RMB per km. Rides over 15 km and between 11 pm and 6 am apply both charges, for a total increase of 80% (120%*150%=180%).

Bicycles

Beijing has long been well-known for the number of bicycles on its streets. Although the rise of motor traffic has created a great deal of congestion and bicycle use has declined bicycles are still an important form of local transport. Large numbers of cyclists can be seen on most roads in the city, most of the main roads have dedicated bicycle lanes. Beijing is a relatively flat city which makes cycling possible for people of normal fitness. The rise of electric bicycles and electric scooters, which have similar speeds and use the same cycle lanes, may have brought about a revival in bicycle-speed two-wheeled transport. It is possible to cycle to most parts of the city and, compared to many western cities, conditions are relatively safe. Because of the growing traffic congestion the authorities have indicated more than once that they wish to stimulate cycling in Beijing but it is not clear whether there is sufficient will to translate that into action on a significant scale.

Education

is a top university in mainland China]] Beijing is home to a great number of colleges and universities, including several well-regarded universities of international stature, such as Peking University and Tsinghua University (two of the National Key Universities).

Partner cities

Beijing has two partner cities, both in Europe:

See also

Large Cities Climate Leadership Group

List of hospitals in Beijing

List of mayors of Beijing

Tourist attractions of Beijing

2045 Peking - the name of an asteroid

Notes and references

Further reading

Cammelli, Stefano Storia di Pechino e di come divenne capitale della Cina, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2004. ISBN 9788815099105

Harper, Damian, Beijing: City Guide, 7th Edition, Oakland, California: Lonely Planet Publications, 2007.

Harper, Damian, Beijing: City Guide, 6th Edition, Oakland, California : Lonely Planet Publications, 2005. ISBN 1740597826.

External links

Beijing Government website and

Economic profile for Beijing at HKTDC

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Category:Capitals in Asia Category:Host cities of the Summer Olympic Games Category:Independent cities Category:Metropolitan areas of China Category:Municipalities of the People's Republic of China Category:North China Plain Category:Articles including recorded pronunciations