Acknowledgements

1. Acknowledgements The following presentation is prepared by Ms Lee Tuen Yee Lydia, teacher from United Christian College (East Kowloon). The Education Bureau has made amendments on the flow of learning and word usage, while keeping the author’s original meaning.

2. Beijing’s Tourist Attractions - A case study An Overview of Beijing

3. Abbreviation: Jing Administrative division: Direct-controlled Municipality City flower: Chinese rose, Chrysanthemum City tree: Chinese Arborvitae, Pagoda tree Area: 16,410 km2 (Covering 0.18% of the Mainland’s total area, the 29th biggest city of China). Total population:14.927 million (2004) (1.1% of the Mainland’s total population, the 26th most populated city) Neighbouring cities: Hebei, Tianjin An Overview of Beijinghttp://english.gov.cn/about.htm

4. http://english.gov.cn/links/brief20050923.htm Beijing

5. An Overview of Beijinghttp://english.gov.cn/about.htm Climate Beijing lies in the temperate monsoonal continental climate zone, i.e. with marked seasonal distinctions, a fairly brief spring and autumn and a longer winter and summer. The annual average temperature is 12.3°C . The lowest average temperature is -3.7°C in January, and the highest being 26.2°C in July. In recent years, Beijing and Northern China have experienced heavy dust storms in spring, which has a negative effect to Beijing’s image.

6. An Overview of Beijing Functions Capital of the People’s Republic of China; the political, cultural and international business centre of the country. Beijing is one of the most famous cultural and historical centres of the world, it is also the national cultural, technology and education hub. History Starting from 221 B.C., the year when Emperor Qin Shi Huang unified China, until 937 B.C., Beijing has always been an important city in North China and a capital of the regional government. Beijing was also named the capital city throughout the Chinese history, including the Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, for a total of 650 years. On 1st October,1949, the People’s Republic of China was founded and Beijing became the capital of the new China.

7. Administrative Divisions • Beijing city is one of the 4 direct-controlled municipalities of the People’s Republic of China. • Beijing is divided into 16 districts and 2counties. • Historically, the inner city refers to the four districts, Dong Cheng, Xi Cheng, Chong Wen and Xuan Wu located inside Beijing 2nd Ring Road. • The planned urban area of Beijing city lies within Beijing 5th Ring Road (former Gong Lu Yi Huan). Due to the rapid urbanization in recent years, a few counties have now become “districts”. Since Beijing positions itself as a political and cultural centre, its industrial infrastructures are slowly moving out of the centre. • Districts: Dong Cheng District, Xi Cheng District, Chong Wen District, Xuan Wu District, Chao Yang District, Feng Tai District, Shi Jing Shan District, Hai Dian District, Men Tou Gou District, Fang Shan District, Tong Zhou District, Shun Yi District, Chang Ping District, Da Xing District, Huai Rou District, Ping Gu District. • Counties: Mi Yun County and Yan Qing County.

8. Yan Qing County Huai Rou District Hai Dian District Mi Yun County Chang Ping District Xi ChengDistrict Chao YangDistrict Men Tou Gou District Ping Gu District Shi Jing Shan District Shun Yi District Fang ShanDistrict Dong ChengDistrict Xuan Wu District Tong ZhouDistrict Feng Tai District Da Xing District Chong WenDistrict

9. Populationhttp://english.gov.cn/links/brief20050923.htm • Until the end of December 2004, Beijing’s total population has risen to 14.927 million, among which 11.629 million are registered citizens. • Beijing is home to 56 ethnic groups, of which the Han Race makes up 95.7% of the population, with 12.984 million people. The population of the ethnic minorities is 585,000, i.e. 4.3% of the total population.

10. Language • On 31st October 2000, the “Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language” stated that Putonghua is the country’s official language as well as the common language for Chinese People. • The standard pronunciation of Putonghua is based on the Beijing dialect.

11. Economy • Beijing’s Gross National Productwas only second to that of Shanghaiin 2005. • The scale of its tertiary sector has surpassed that of Shanghai, being the first among all Chinese cities. According to the standard of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Beijing has developed into a “Well-being” society. However, the poverty gap in Beijing is still widening. • Beijing is one of China’s most important financial andcommercial centre, and the home to the four major state-runcommercial banks. Due to the rapid economic development in China, Beijing has managed to attract many multinational corporations to set up regional headquarters in here. • Beijing is still having problems with its economic structure. The main problem rests in the over-expansion of population such that the growth rate of Beijing’s per capita labor productivity still lags behind other major cities. • In the “Beijing Overall Urban Planning (2004 to 2020)” approved by the State Council in 2005, Beijing was classified as a ”National Capital, International city, Cultural Centre and Residential city”.

12. Culture • Beijing is a classical city and a cultural centre in the East. It is home to a number of famous academic institutions such as the Beijing University and the Tsinghua University etc. • All kinds of museums can be found in Beijing: the largest library in Asia, 24-hour radio and TV broadcasting and first-class artistic performance groups. • The Eastern Opera, also known as Beijing opera, is a well-known artistic performance in Beijing and is considered as the quintessence of Chinese culture. Beijing’s Chang An Theatre is one of the most famous and traditional theatres in China. • Acrobatics, one of the most ancient Chinese performing art, is also very popular among tourists from all over the world.