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Beijing, also known as Peking, city and capital of China, encircled by Hebei Province, located in the northern part of the country, on the northern edge of the Huabei Pingyuan (North China Plain), approximately 110 km (70 mi) northwest of the Bo Hai gulf. Beijing, the second largest city in China after Shanghai, is the cultural, political, and intellectual center of the country, as well as a major industrial and commercial metropolis.
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Initially settled more than 2,000 years ago, it has been the capital of China for most of the last 700 years. The climate is seasonal, with hot summers and cold winters. Temperatures can climb higher than 38 C (higher than 100 F) in July and drop lower than -15C (lower than 5F) in January.
Beijing is an independently administered municipal district of about 16,810 sq km (6,490 sq mi). It comprises ten urban districts and eight predominantly rural counties. The urban districts include four dense city districts and six suburban districts. The suburbs are growing rapidly as new institutional, industrial, and residential buildings are constructed, converting agricultural land to urban uses. The eight rural counties continue to provide basic grain, vegetables, fruits, building materials, and water supplies to the city. However, significant industrial growth has also occurred in these areas, namely in the outlying towns of Shijingshan, Tongxian, Fengtai, and Fangshan.
The city proper consists of two older sections in the center of the city and new outlying residential, industrial, and institutional areas built mainly after 1949. The old section includes a square inner city on the north constructed between 1409 and 1420, and a rectangular outer city to the south built between 1521 and 1566. Once encircled by a wall about 24 km (15 mi) long and about 15 m (50 ft) high, the inner city has at its core the Forbidden City. Between 1421 and 1912, this was the walled palace and inner compound of Chinas imperial family and was so named because ordinary citizens were not allowed inside. It was the most sacred space in traditional, imperial China. The complex, now housing the Palace Museum (founded in 1925), was opened to the public in 1949. Beyond the Forbidden City was the Imperial City, which contained government offices, temples, gardens, palaces, and parks. Outside the Imperial City were upper-class homes, markets, and more temples. The adjacent outer city, once encircled by a wall about 23 km (14 mi) long, shared the northern part of its wall with the inner city. The outer city contained important temple areas and residential space for the commoners.
In accordance with traditional Chinese town planning, Beijing was designed along a north-south central axis; this line represented the imperial authority and it ran through many key government offices, buildings, imperial residences, and main gates. After the Communist revolution in 1949, most walls of the old city were demolished and replaced with thoroughfares. However, several of the old gates have been preserved. During the 1950s Tiananmen (the Gate of Heavenly Peace, also known as Tianan Men), located along the citys north-south axis south of the Forbidden City, was rebuilt and its square to the south was enlarged to hold crowds for parades. Major installations were added in and around Tiananmen Square, including the Great Hall of the People, built in 1959, where the national legislature meets. Several blocks east of the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square is Wangfujing Avenue, the citys most famous shopping district.
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