Beijing Normal University
北京师范大学
Motto	学为人师，行为世范
Motto in English	Learn to teach, behave to guide
Established	1902
Type	Public
President	Zhong Binglin (钟秉林)
Academic staff	1,681
Students	Over 20,000
Undergraduates	8,600
Postgraduates	9,900
Location	Beijing,  People's Republic of China
Campus	Urban, 738,779 m²
Website	Chinese Version English Version

Beijing Normal University (simplified Chinese: 北京师范大学; traditional Chinese: 北京師範大學; pinyin: Běijīng Shīfàn Dàxué), colloqiually known as 北师大 or Beishida, is a public research university located in Beijing with strong emphasis on basic disciplines of humanities and sciences. It is one of the oldest universities in China.

A normal school referred to an institution that aimed to train school teachers in early twentieth century, and this terminology is preserved in the official names of such institutions in China.

History[link]

National Peking Normal University, in 1920s

The University grew out of the Faculty of Education, Imperial Capital University that was established in 1902 on the initiative of the emperor of Qing Dynasty after the Hundred Days Reform in 1898. In 1908 the Faculty of Education was named as the Imperial Capital School of Supreme Teacher Training, and was separated from the Imperial Capital University which then developed to Peking University, another prestigious university in China.

After Republic of China was established, the Imperial Capital School of Supreme Teacher Training was named as Peking Normal College in 1912. The college had its first graduate programs in 1920 and began to recruit female students in 1921. In the year 1923 it was named as Peking Normal University, and became the first normal university in Chinese modern history. The Peking Women’s College of Education merged into Peking Normal University in 1931.

Memorial for three students killed in March 18 Massacre, 1926

When the communists established People's Republic of China in 1949, the capital of Peking was renamed Beijing and the university was therefore renamed as Beijing Normal University. During a national initiative of university rearrangement in 1952, Fu Jen Catholic University merged with Beijing Normal University. In 1954, it moved from He Ping Men to the newly established campus at Bei Tai Ping Zhuang and remains there since.

Historically, students at Beijing Normal University played a significant role in patriotic and democratic movements, particularly in the May Fourth Movement in 1919 and the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. In a New York Times article, it was described as "one of the most progressive institutions" in China.^[1]

Present[link]

The university was chosen as a Project 211 institution in 1996. In 2002 it signed an agreement with Ministry of Education and Beijing Municipal Government, and became the 10th university on the list of Project 985 to get special support from the Chinese Government, aiming to be a world prestigious university.^[2]

Campus

During its centennial celebration in 2002, an asteroid discovered in 1996 was named after the university as 8050 Beishida.

After a special visit of Premier Wen Jiabao on May 4 of 2006 to Beijing Normal University, the Chinese government implemented the Fee-Waiver Policy for teacher training programs in six normal universities that are supervised by the Ministry of Education, including Beijing Normal University.

The university also lays distinct emphasis on educational equality. The 2009 demographic composition data shows that 40% of its enrolled students are from western China, almost one third are from rural areas, a quarter are from low-income families, and ethnic minorities comprise for more than 10%.^[3]

Academics[link]

So far the university has altogether 55 undergraduate degree programs, 162 master programs, and 100 doctoral programs. 16 of them are honored as national key disciplines, including 5 general disciplines and 11 specialized disciplines, and are recognized as among the top ranked in China:

There are 74 research laboratories, including 4 National Key Labs (see below), 7 Key Labs of Ministry of Education, and 5 Key Labs of Beijing Municipality. Key research centers and bases include 7 key research bases in humanities and social sciences of Ministry of Education, 2 research centers of Engineering & Technology of Beijing Municipality, 3 research centers jointly-established with Beijing Municipality, and more than 40 other research centers of all kinds. Furthermore, the university has an institute for Proteomics which is the only one established in universities by Ministry of Education. Besides, the university has established a Science Park which covers an area of 6 hectares.

Mu Duo Gilded Bell

The university has an annual research funding in sciences of over RMB 100 Million. In 2010, 150 projects were funded by the National Natural Science Foundation, with a record high amount of RMB 62 millions (compared with 44.7 millions in 2009 and 37 millions in 2007).^[4] The research funding in humanities and social sciences has increased rapidly in the recent five years with RMB 150 Million in total, which tops the third place nationally. Since 2002 the annual increase has been over RMB 30 Million and equals to RMB 40,000 per capita. As a university strong in basic theory and research, it is fairly fruitful in fund raising for humanities and social sciences.

Beijing Normal University is also among the earliest institutions to recruit international students, and is particularly popular for its Mandarin Chinese study programs. A most prestigious program is Princeton in Beijing.^[5]

Schools[link]

• School of Chinese Language & Literature
• School of Law
• School of Economy and Business Administration
• School of Foreign Language & Culture^[6]
• School of Life Science
• School of Resources^[7]
• School of Astronomy^[8]
• School of Mathematics
• School of History
• School of Psychology^[9]
• School of Social Development and Public Policy^[10]
• School of Arts and Mass Media

Beijing Normal University has many different other majors that are not mentioned above.

Campus[link]

Qiu Jiduan Gymnasium and recreation complex, finished in 2008

Undergrads Dorm

The current campus was built in 1954. It is located in northwest downtown Beijing in Haidian district, between the second and third ring roads, and is the closest among all Haidian universities to Tiananmen Square.

The campus hosted U.S. Olympic Team during 2008 Beijing Olympics.^[11][12]

In 2002，Zhuhai campus was built in Zhuhai city，Guangdong province.

Notable alumni[link]

• Liu Xiaobo, writer and a leading dissident, 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
• Chai Ling, dissident, student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen protests.
• Wu'er Kaixi, dissident, student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen protests.
• Yuan Guiren, professor of philosophy, the current Minister of Education in the People's Republic of China.
• Xu Jialu, professor of Chinese, politician, former vice chairman of National People's Congress.
• Yu Dan, professor, well known for her popular yet controversial lectures about Analects broadcasted on China Central Television.
• Su Tong, novelist.
• Xie Jun, chess grandmaster.
• Lang Ping, gold medalist in 1984 Summer Olympics women's volleyball, former head coach of the U.S. women's national volleyball team.
• Chen Yibing, gymnast, 2008 Summer Olympics gold medalist in men's ring.
• Wang Xiaodong, biochemist at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, member of United States National Academy of Sciences.
• Timothy Geithner, the 75th and current United States Secretary of the Treasury. He was a language student studying Mandarin in 1982 as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College.^[13]

Rankings[link]

• QS World University Ranking: 300th (8th in China) ^[14]

• China Top 50 University Ranking (Renda): 9th ^[15]

• China University Ranking (Netbig): 10th ^[16]

• Humanities and Social Sciences overall ranking in China: 3rd ^[17]

Affiliated High Schools[link]

• Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University

• High School Attached to Beijing Normal University

• The Second High School Attached to Beijing Normal University

See also[link]

	People's Republic of China portal
	University portal

• List of universities in the People's Republic of China

References[link]

External links[link]

• BNU Official Site (English)
• MDJS BBS @BNU ((Chinese), telnet, ssh)
• BNU Student Forum (Chinese)

Coordinates: 39°57′26″N 116°21′45″E / 39.95722°N 116.3625°E / 39.95722; 116.3625

v t e Universities and colleges in Beijing Education, Higher education, and Universities in China National Peking University · Tsinghua University · Beijing Electronic Science and Technology Institute · Beijing Foreign Studies University · Beijing Forestry University · Beijing Institute of Technology · Beijing Jiaotong University · Beijing Language and Culture University · Beijing Normal University · Beijing People's Police College · Chinese People's Public Security University · Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics · Beijing University of Chemical Technology · Beijing University of Chinese Medicine · Beijing University of Petroleum · Beijing University of Physical Education · Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications · Central Academy of Drama · Central Conservatory of Music · Central University of Finance and Economics · China Agricultural University · China Central Academy of Fine Arts · China Foreign Affairs University · China Institute of Industrial Relations · China University of Geosciences at Beijing · China University of Mining & Technology at Beijing · China University of Political Science and Law · China Women's University · China Youth University for Political Sciences · Communications University of China · Minzu University of China · North China Electric Power University at Beijing · North China University of Technology · Open University of China · Peking Union Medical College · Renmin University of China · University of International Business and Economics · University of International Relations · University of Science and Technology Beijing Municipal Beijing Information Science & Technology University · Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology · Beijing Dance Academy · Beijing Film Academy · Beijing Institute of Clothing Technology · Beijing Institute of Machinery · Beijing International Studies University · Beijing Materials University · Beijing Technology and Business University · Beijing Union University · Beijing University of Agriculture · Beijing University of Technology · Capital Normal University · Capital University of Economics and Business · Capital University of Medical Sciences · China College of Music · North China University of Technology · Private Beijing City College See also: List of universities in China

Beijing 北京 —  Municipality  — Municipality of Beijing • 北京市 Clockwise from top: Tiananmen, Temple of Heaven, National Grand Theatre, and Beijing National Stadium Location of Beijing Municipality within China Coordinates: 39°54′50″N 116°23′30″E / 39.91389°N 116.39167°E / 39.91389; 116.39167Coordinates: 39°54′50″N 116°23′30″E / 39.91389°N 116.39167°E / 39.91389; 116.39167 Country People's Republic of China Divisions[1]  - County-level  - Township-level 16 districts, 2 counties 289 towns and villages Government  • Type Municipality  • CPC Ctte Secretary Liu Qi  • Mayor Guo Jinlong Area  • Municipality 16,801.25 km2 (6,487.00 sq mi) Elevation 43.5 m (142.7 ft) Population (2010)[2]  • Municipality 19,612,368  • Density 1,200/km2 (3,000/sq mi)  • Ranks in China Population: 26th; Density: 4th Demonym Beijinger Major ethnic groups  • Han 96%  • Manchu 2%  • Hui 2%  • Mongol 0.3% Time zone China standard time (UTC+8) Postal code 100000 – 102629 Area code(s) 10 GDP[3] 2011  - Total CNY 1.6 trillion US$ 247.7 billion (13th)  - Per capita CNY 80,394 US$ 12,447 (3rd)  - Growth 8.1% HDI (2008) 0.891 (2nd) – very high License plate prefixes 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) City trees Chinese arborvitae (Platycladus orientalis)   Pagoda tree (Sophora japonica) City flowers China rose (Rosa chinensis)   Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium) Website www.ebeijing.gov.cn This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters. Beijing Chinese 北京 Hanyu Pinyin Běijīng  [Listen] (help·info) Literal meaning Northern capital Transcriptions Hakka - Romanization Pet-kîn Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Běijīng  [Listen] (help·info) - Wade–Giles Pei3ching1 or Pei3-ching1 - Postal Map Peking Min - Hokkien POJ Pak-kiaⁿ - Min-dong BUC Báe̤k-gĭng Wu - Romanization poh入cin平 Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping bak1ging1

Beijing ( /beɪˈdʒɪŋ/; Chinese: 北京; pinyin: Běijīng, [peɪ˨˩ t͡ɕiŋ˥]), formerly romanized as Peking ( /piːˈkɪŋ/ or /peɪˈkɪŋ/), is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The metropolis, located in northern China, is governed as a direct-controlled municipality under the national government, with 14 urban and suburban districts and two rural counties.^[4] Beijing Municipality is surrounded by Hebei Province with the exception of neighboring Tianjin Municipality to the southeast.^[5]

Beijing is China's second largest city by urban population after Shanghai and is the country's political, cultural, and educational center,^[6] and home to the headquarters for most of China's largest state-owned companies. Beijing is a major transportation hub in the national highway, expressway, railway and high-speed rail network. Beijing's Capital International Airport is the second busiest in the world by passenger traffic.

Few cities in the world have been the political and cultural centre of an area as immense for so long.^[7] Beijing is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, and it has been the political centre of China for centuries.^[8] The city is renowned for its opulent palaces, temples, and huge stone walls and gates,^[9] and its art treasures and universities have made it a centre of culture and art in China.^[9]

Etymology and names[link]

Beijing, from the Chinese characters 北 for north and 京 for capital, means literally the "Northern Capital". This official English spelling is based on the pinyin romanization of the two characters as they are pronounced in Standard Mandarin, Běi Jīng. An older English spelling, Peking, is derived from the Chinese Postal Map Romanisation of the same characters pronounced in the dialects of southern China.

Through the past 3,000 years, the city has taken on numerous other names including Ji, Yanjing, Guangyang, Youzhou, Fanyang, Nanjing, Zhongdu, Dadu (Daidu), Khanbaliq (Cambaluc) and Beiping. In 1421 when the Yongle Emperor moved the capital of the Ming Dynasty north from Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, he renamed the city Beijing. In 1928, when the capital of the Republic of China was moved to Nanjing, the city was renamed Beiping, meaning "Northern Peace". Prior to the advent of the pinyin spelling, Beiping was romanized as Pei-p'ing using the Wade-Giles method. In 1949, when the Communist Party of China made the city the capital of the newly founded People's Republic of China, the city's name again reverted to Beijing.

The one-character abbreviation of Beijing is Jing (京), which appears on automobile licence plates in the city.

History[link]

Early history[link]

The museum at Zhoukoudian, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The earliest traces of human habitation in the Beijing municipality were found in the caves of Dragon Bone Hill near the village of Zhoukoudian in Fangshan District, where Peking Man lived. Homo erectus fossils from the caves date to 230,000 to 250,000 years ago. Paleolithic homo sapiens also lived there more recently, about 27,000 years ago.^[10] Archaeologists have found neolithic settlements throughout the municipality including Wangfujing in downtown Beijing.

The first walled city in Beijing was Ji, the capital of the State of Ji from the 11th to 7th century BCE, and later the capital of the State of Yan, one of the powers of the Warring States period (473–221 BCE). Ji was located to the south of Beijing West Railway Station.^[11] After the fall of the Yan, the subsequent Qin, Han, and Jin dynasties made Ji the prefectural capital of the area.^[1] During the Tang Dynasty, Ji known as Youzhou was headquarter of the Fanyang jiedushi, the military governor of what is now northern Hebei. An Lushan launched the An Shi Rebellion from Fanyang in CE 755.

Medieval period[link]

The pagoda of Tianning Temple, built by 1120 during the Liao Dynasty

In 936, the Later Jin Dynasty (936–947) of northern China ceded a large part of its northern frontier, including Youzhou, to the Khitan Liao Dynasty. In 938, the Liao Dynasty set up a secondary capital at Youzhou, which was renamed Nanjing (the "southern capital"). In 1125, the Jurchen Jin Dynasty conquered the Liao, and in 1153 moved its capital to Liao Nanjing in 1153, which was renamed Zhongdu (中都) or the "central capital".^[1] Zhongdu expanded the old City of Ji in southwest Beijing. Some of the oldest surviving relics in Beijing, such as the Tianning Temple, date to the Liao period.

Mongol forces burned Zhongdu to the ground in 1215 in what is now known as the Battle of Zhongdu.^[12] In 1264, in preparation for the conquest of all of China to establish the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan decided to build a new capital adjacent to the Jin capital.^[13] His capital, Dadu (大都, Chinese for "great capital") or Daidu to the Mongols, spelled Cambaluc or Cambuluc in Marco Polo's accounts, was completed in 1293.^[1][12] Kublai Khan's decision greatly enhanced the status of a city on the northern fringe of China proper. Dadu was centered at the Drum Tower slightly to the north of modern central Beijing, and stretched from what is today Chang'an Avenue in the south to Line 10 of the Beijing Subway in the north. Remnants of the Yuan-era earthen wall, known as Tucheng, still stand.^[14]

Ming and Qing period[link]

An Italian map applying both the names of "Peking" (Beijing) and "Xuntieu" (Shuntian) to the city, published in 1682

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.^[15] The city was renamed Beiping (北平) in the same year,^[16] and Shuntian (順天) prefecture was established in the area around the city.^[17] In 1403, the new (and third) Ming emperor – the Yongle Emperor – renamed this city Beijing,^[16] and designated it the co-capital, alongside the (then) current capital of Nanjing. Beijing was the site of a major construction project for a new Imperial residence, the Forbidden City that lasted nearly 15 years, from 1406 to 1420.^[12] When the palace was finished, the Yongle Emperor ceremoniously took up residence. From 1421 onwards, Beijing, also known as Jingshi (京师),^[16] was the "official" capital of the Ming Dynasty, while Nanjing was demoted to the status of "secondary" capital. This system of dual capitals (with Beijing being vastly more important) continued for the duration of the Ming Dynasty. Thirteen of the sixteen Ming Emperors are buried in elaborate tombs near Beijing.

A corner tower of the Forbidden City

By the 15th century, Beijing had essentially taken its current shape. The Ming-era city wall served as the Beijing city wall until modern times, when it was pulled down and the 2nd Ring Road was built in its place.^[18] It is believed that Beijing was the largest city in the world from 1425 to 1650 and from 1710 to 1825.^[19] Another notable building constructed during the Ming period was the Temple of Heaven (built by 1420).^[20] 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.^[21] 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.^[22]

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

When Dorgon established the Qing Dynasty as the direct successor of the Ming, Beijing remained China's capital.^[23] 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.^[24] The classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber is set in Beijing during the early years of Qing rule at the end of the 17th century.

A German postcard of Beijing from 1900

During the Second Opium War, Anglo-French forces captured the city, and looted and burned the Summer Palace and the Old Summer Palace in 1860. Under the Convention of Peking that ended the war, Western powers secured the right to establish permanent diplomatic presences in the Beijing Legation Quarter. In 1900, Beijing was again invaded by foreign powers, this time to quell the Boxer Rebellion.^[25] Some important Imperial structures in the city were destroyed during the fighting, including the Hanlin Academy and the Summer Palace.

Republican era[link]

Map of Beijing, 1914

The fomenters of the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 sought to replace Qing rule with a republic, and originally intended to establish the 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 Yuan as the president of the new Republic of China, and the capital remained at Beijing. Yuan gradually consolidated power and became by 1915 the new emperor of China, but died less than a year into his reign.^[26]

China then fell under the control of regional warlords. 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. 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 on 28 June of that year, Beijing was renamed Beiping (Peip'ing) (北平),^[27] meaning "northern peace" or "north pacified".^[6]

During the Second Sino-Japanese War,^[6] Beiping fell to Japan on 29 July 1937,^[28] 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;^[29] the government was later merged into the larger Wang Jingwei government based in Nanjing.^[30]

People's Republic[link]

Mao Zedong proclaiming the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949

On January 31, 1949, during the Chinese Civil War, Communist forces seized control of the city peacefully in the Pingjin Campaign. On October 1 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.^[31] Just a few days earlier, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference had decided that Beijing would be the capital of the new government. In the 1950s, the city began to expand beyond the old walled city and its surrounding neighborhoods, with heavy industries in the west and residential neighborhoods in the north. Many areas of the Beijing city wall was torn down in the 1960s to make way for the construction of the Beijing Subway and 2nd Ring Road.

During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), the Red Guard movement began in Beijing and the city's government fell victim to one of Mao's first purges. By the fall of 1966, all city schools were shut down and over a million Red Guards from across the country gathered in Beijing for eight rallies at Tiananmen Square with Mao.^[32] In April 1976, a large public gathering of Beijing residents against the Gang of Four and the Cultural Revolution in Tiananmen Square was forcefully suppressed. In October 1976, the Gang of Four was arrested in Zhongnanhai and the Cultural Revolution came to an end. In December 1978, the Third Plenum of the 11th Party Congress in Beijing, under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, reversed the verdicts against victims of the Cultural Revolution and instituted the "policy of reform and opening up."

Since the early 1980s, the urban area of Beijing has expanded greatly with the completion of the 2nd Ring Road in 1981 and the subsequent addition of the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Ring Roads.^[33][34] According to a 2005 newspaper report, the size of the newly developed Beijing was one and a half times larger than that of old Beijing within the 2nd Ring Road.^[35] Wangfujing and Xidan have developed into flourishing shopping districts,^[36] while Zhongguancun has become a major centre of electronics in China.^[37] 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 a significant influx of migrants from various regions of the country, especially rural areas.^[38] Beijing was also the location of many significant events in recent Chinese political history such as the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.^[39] On July 13, 2001,^[40] the International Olympic Committee selected Beijing as the host for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Geography[link]

Beijing satellite view from Landsat 5 8 August 2010

Beihai Park, 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 is framed by the Western Hills, or Xishan. 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 Western Hills and on the border with Hebei, is the municipality's highest point, with an altitude of 2,303 metres (7,556 ft).

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 Beijing Botanical Garden

The urban area of Beijing is in the south-central part of the municipality and occupies a small but expanding portion 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 two), passes through several satellite towns. Tian'anmen and Tian'anmen Square are at the centre of Beijing, directly to the south of the Forbidden City, the former residence of the emperors of China. To the west of Tian'anmen is Zhongnanhai, home to the paramount leaders of the PRC. Running through central Beijing from east to west is Chang'an Avenue, one of the city's main thoroughfares.

Climate[link]

Beijing has 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.^[41] Spring can bear witness to sandstorms blowing in from the Mongolian steppe, accompanied by rapidly warming, but generally dry, conditions. Autumn, like spring, sees little rain, but is crisp and short. The monthly daily average temperature in January is −3.7 °C (25.3 °F), while in July it is 26.2 °C (79.2 °F). Precipitation averages around 570 mm (22.4 in) annually, with the great majority of it falling in the summer months. Extremes have ranged from −27.4 to 42.6 °C (-17 to 109 °F).^[42]

Air quality[link]

Joint research between American and Chinese researchers in 2006 concluded that much of the city's pollution comes from surrounding cities and provinces. On average 35–60% of the ozone can be traced to sources outside the city. Shandong Province and Tianjin Municipality have a "significant influence on Beijing's air quality",^[44] partly due to the prevailing south/southeasterly flow during the summer and the mountains to the north and northwest.

Heavy air pollution has resulted in widespread smog. These photographs, taken in August 2005, show the variations in Beijing's air quality.

In preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics and to fulfill promises to clean up the city's air, nearly 17 billion USD was spent. Beijing also implemented a number of air improvement schemes for the duration of the Games, including stopping work on all construction sites, closing many factories in and around Beijing, closing some gas stations,^[45] and cutting motor traffic by half by limiting drivers to odd or even days (based on their license plate numbers)^[46] 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,^[47] and although the scheme was eventually lifted on 21 September 2008, it was replaced by new restrictions on government vehicles^[48] and a new restriction that does not allow the use of a car once a week.^[49][50] In addition, staggered office hours and retail opening times have been encouraged to avoid the rush hour, and parking fees were increased.

Beijing became the first city in China to require the Chinese equivalent to the Euro 4 emission standard.^[51] Some 357,000 "yellow label" vehicles – those that have too high emission levels – have been banned from Beijing altogether.^[49][52]

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^[53] 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.^[54] Beijing has added 3,800 natural gas buses, one of the largest fleets in the world.^[54] Twenty percent of the Olympic venues' electricity comes from renewable energy sources.^[55] 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 Games. Nonetheless, Beijing still faces air pollution problems.^[56][57] The US embassy recorded levels of pollution beyond measurable levels on 21 February 2011, and advised people to stay indoors as a thick smog was covering the city.^[58]

Daily pollution readings at 27 monitoring stations around the city are reported on the website of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau (BJEPB).^[59] The United States Embassy in Beijing also reports hourly fine particulate (PM2.5) and ozone levels on twitter.^[60] Although the BJEPB and US Embassy measure different pollutants according to different criteria the media has noted that pollution levels and the impact to human health reported by the BJEPB are often lower than that reported by the US Embassy.^[60]

Dust storms[link]

Dust from the 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.^[61] In the first four months of 2006 alone, there were no fewer than eight such storms.^[62] In April 2002, one dust storm alone dumped nearly 50,000 tons of dust onto the city before moving on to Japan and Korea.^[63]

Politics and government[link]

Municipal government is regulated by the local Communist Party of China (CPC), led by the Beijing CPC Secretary (北京市委书记). The local CPC issues administrative orders, collects taxes, manages the economy, and directs a standing committee of the Municipal People's Congress in making policy decisions and overseeing the local government.

Government officials include the mayor and vice-mayor. Numerous bureaus focus on law, public security, and other affairs. Additionally, as the capital of China, Beijing houses all of the important national governmental and political institutions, including the National People's Congress.^[64]

Administrative divisions[link]

Beijing Municipality currently comprises 16 administrative county-level subdivisions including 14 urban and suburban districts and two rural counties. On July 1, 2010, Chongwen (崇文区) and Xuanwu Districts (宣武区) were merged into Dongcheng and Xicheng Districts, respectively.