Beijing dialect, or Pekingese (simplified Chinese: 北京话; traditional Chinese: 北京話; pinyin: Běijīnghuà), is the dialect of Mandarin spoken in the urban area of Beijing, China. It is the phonological basis of Standard Chinese, which is used by the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Singapore.

Although the Beijing dialect and Standard Chinese are highly similar, various differences generally make clear to Chinese speakers whether an individual is a native of Beijing speaking the local Beijing variant or is an individual speaking Standard Chinese.

The term "Beijing dialect" usually refers to the dialect spoken in the urban area of Beijing only.^{[citation needed]} However, linguists^[who?] have given a broader definition for Beijing Mandarin (simplified Chinese: 北京官话; traditional Chinese: 北京官話; pinyin: Běijīng Guānhuà) that also includes some dialects closely akin to that of urban Beijing.^{[citation needed]}

For example, the topolect of Chengde, Hebei, a city to the north of Beijing, is considered^[who?] sufficiently close to Beijing dialect to be put into this category. Standard Chinese is also put into this category,^{[citation needed]} since it is based on the local dialect of Beijing.

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. Beijing Municipality is surrounded by Hebei Province with the exception of neighboring Tianjin Municipality to the southeast.

Beijing is China's second largest city by urban population after Shanghai and is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, 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.