CChronica Maps

Beijing: History, Former Names & Timeline

Ancient city at the north end of the North China Plain: secondary capital of the Liao and Jin, imperial capital of the Yuan, Ming and Qing, and capital of the People's Republic of China.

Map showing Beijing in 1900Beijing
Border map for 1900. See the world in 1900.

Explore Beijing in the interactive map

Former names of Beijing

FromNameNote
1045 BCJi
AD 938Nanjing (Liao) / Yanjing
1153ZhongduJin capital
1267Dadu / KhanbaliqYuan capital
1403Beijing
1928Peiping
1949Beijing

Timeline of Beijing

YearEvent
1267Kublai Khan builds Dadu
1421The Yongle Emperor formally moves the Ming capital to Beijing; the Forbidden City is completed
1644Li Zicheng takes Beijing and the Qing army enters China
1900The Eight-Nation Alliance occupies Beijing
1937The Marco Polo Bridge Incident starts full-scale war between China and Japan
1949The People's Republic of China is proclaimed

Who ruled Beijing

Derived from the border maps; each row runs until the next recorded border change.

PeriodState
500 BC–201 BCZhou states
200 BC–2 BCHan Empire
1 BC–299Han
300–399Jin
400–499Sixteen Kingdoms
500–599Toba Wei
600–799Sui Empire
800–999Tang Empire
1000–1299Liao
1300–1491Great Khanate
1492–1499Ming Empire
1500–1649Ming Chinese Empire
1650–1782Manchu Empire
1783–1814Qing Empire
1815–1919Manchu Empire
1920–1937Chinese Warlords
1938–1944Chinese warlords
1945–todayChina

Battles and sites near Beijing

Nearby cities