Beijing or Peking
On January 31 of 1949 during the Civil War the city was captured by Communists without a single shot. On October 1 of the same year the Communist Party of China headed by Mao Zedong on Tiananmen Square proclaimed the formation of the People’s Republic of China. Just a few days earlier, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference had made a decision to make Beiping the capital and give it back the name of Beijing (Peking).
By the time when the administrative unit of the city of central submission Beijing was formed, only the city itself and the nearest zones were included in it. The city’s zone was divided into plenty of smaller districts which were situated within what is today the Second Ring Road. Since then, several districts were added to the territory of the city of central submission, increasing its area manifold and giving its borders their current shape. The fortress wall of Beijing was destroyed in the period between 1965 and 1969 for the construction of the Second Ring Road in its place.
After the beginning of economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping the city zone of Beijing significantly enlarged. If before that it was within the limits of today’s Second and Third Ring Roads now it is gradually coming out of the recently constructed Fifth Ring Road and getting closer to the Sixth Road which is presently under construction. The area which used to be exploited for farming is now being developed for business and residential quarters. A new business center appeared in the district of Guomao while a village Zhongguancun became one of the main centers of electronic industry of China.
In recent years the spreading of the city’s territory, urbanization, and development caused many problems — traffic jams, air pollution, destruction of historical buildings and large inflow of migrants from poorer regions of the country, in particular, from the rural areas.
In the beginning of 2005 the government adopted a plan to stop the growth of Beijing in all directions. The decision was made to give up further development of the city in the form of concentric circles, concentrating it in two semicircular zones to the north and to the east of the city’s center.
Despite wars and calamities of XIX and XX centuries, including the damage done by the European invasion, Japanese occupation, and Cultural Revolution, as well as the intensive urbanization of the recent years which resulted in destruction of numerous hutuns, there is still plenty of spectacular sights in Beijing with ancient history.
The most famous of them are The Gates of Heavenly Peace as an object of interest itself and as the main entrance to the Forbidden City and also as a part of the ensemble of Tiananmen Square. Among other world-wide known sights there is the Badaling section of the Great Wall of China, the Summer Palace, and the Temple of Heavens.