Video #13 - China: Modern Beijing
Monday, January 09, 2006BACKGROUND INFORMATION
"Located in northwestern China, Beijing is both an ancient and modern city. While boasting a history of over 1000 years as the political and cultural center of China, Beijing now also serves as the source of change spreading across China."
Lehman, Lee and Xu.
The area of China known today as Beijing was first settled around 500,000 years ago. By 1,000 B.C., Mongols, Koreans and the tribes from Shandong and central China used the location as a trading town. Genghis Khan is said to have burnt it down in 1215 A.D., and passed on the rebuilt city to his grandson Kublai Khan as Dadu, or Great Capital. He founded the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) in the new capital, which was still under construction. The city was described as "matchless in the world" by Marco Polo. During the Ming Dynasty, the city was renamed Beiping (Northern Peace). By the time it was named Beijing (Northern Capital), to distinguish it from Nanjing (Southern Capital) during the Ming dynasty (1368-1420), the Forbidden City was being built. The city was the capital of China from 1421 until 1911, but it was the Manchu invaders who established the Qing Dynasty in the 17th century, who thoroughly renovated and expanded Beijing. As the gateway to Mongolia and Manchuria, it was often a war prize.
Beijing's Tiananmen Square was the place from which Mao Zedong proclaimed China as the "People's Republic" in 1949, with Beijing as the capital. The same square was also the stage of the bloody massacre of pro-democracy students protesting in 1989. Amazingly, this act took place while capitalist reforms were evident all over the city through shopping malls, and foreign money exchanges.
Modern Beijing has grown beyond its original location and now has suburbs. A subway was completed in 1969 and improved in the 1980's. Nevertheless, buses, trolleys and bicycles are still the major forms of travel within the city. Since the late 1970's the government has restored and attempted to preserve many of the important artistic and architectural works in Beijing. The former emperor's palace, the Forbidden City, is a UNESCO World Culture Heritage Site and has recently opened to tourists.
The municipality of Beijing has 13 million residents who live in about 6500 square miles. Industries include engineering and production of steel, vehicles, textiles, and petrochemicals. Changes in economic policy after 1979 have attracted the head offices of foreign companies and agencies. These businesses, added to national corporations formed from state-owned industries, have strengthened the city's role as an administrative and financial center based on service industries. The area northwest of Beijing, known as Haidian, not only houses many of the city's universities but is also home to China's domestic computer software and information technology industry.
Xinhua News Agency reported in October of 2002 that: "Beijing municipality has witnessed economic growth in its overall economy this year, with its GDP reaching 187 billion yuan (22.54 billion US dollars) by the end of August, a rise of 9.3 percent over the same period last year." Statistics show that agriculture, the primary industry of Beijing, increased in value by 5.96 billion yuan (723 million US dollars), up 5.5 percent from last year. Additionally, general production industries reported 66.85 billion yuan (8 billion US dollars), rising by 6.6 percent, while the tertiary service industry was 114.22 billion yuan (13.8 billion US dollars), up 11.3 percent. During the same period, some 1.3 billion yuan (156.6 million US dollars) was also invested in hi-tech industries, increasing by 42.3 percent over last year and accounting for 26.1 percent of the city's total industrial investment.
Finally, Beijing is looking forward to hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics. The government's hope is that all these developments, along with China's entrance into the World Trade Organization, will lead the city to become one of the most important industrial and cultural centers of Asia and the world.
SOURCES
"Beijing." The Hutchinson Encyclopedia 2000, January 1, 2000. www.elibrary.com
"Beijing City." Lehman, Lee & Xu, (a licensed Chinese law partnership)
"Beijing City Guide: History." Lonely Planet, 1999. www.timeasia.com
"Beijing's Economy Growing Steadily This Year." Xinhua News Agency, Octoober 2, 2002. www.elibrary.com
"Beijing History." Fact Monster Encyclopedia. www.factmonster.com
Hale, David D., "Beijing's Economy After the WTO." Zurick Financial Services, Inc. March 22, 2000
LESSON PLAN
GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT:
10-12 grade Economics, International Relations, World History, Geography, International Baccalaureate Programs (IB), Current Events.
PURPOSE:
To present activities to be used in a variety of classroom situations in order to enhance student understanding of the Asian economy and its significance globally.
OBJECTIVES:
Students will be able to:
- Locate Beijing on a map of China.
- Describe the history of Beijing.
- Illustrate the economic development of Beijing.
- Forecast the future role of Beijing in China's economic development.
MATERIALS:
- Background information provided.
- Resources on Beijing available at your school's Media Center and the Public Library System in your area.
- Background information available through Internet "search engine"
- www.beijing.gov.cn
- www.beijing-2008.org
- www.chinavista.com/beijing/home.html
- www.flashpaper.com/beijing
- www.bjta.gov.cn
- www.chinapages.com
ACTIVITIES:
May be assigned as group activities or as individual tasks. They may also be designed as preparation for related presentations either by individuals or groups.
- Illustrate Beijing's location on a map of China.
- Draw a time-line showing the history of the city of Beijing.
- Use charts and graphs to show the economic growth of Beijing in recent history.
- Create a pamphlet promoting the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008.
- Draw a Venn Diagram comparing Beijing with Hong Kong.
- Write an editorial expressing your views about the effect of the World Trade Organization membership on the development of Beijing.
EVALUATION:
Individual assignments should be graded by the teacher using established criteria.
Group activities, presentations and projects may be evaluated by teachers and students using the following criteria and scale: Content 1 = Superior (A) Creativity 2 = Excellent (B) Clarity 3 = Good (C) 4 = Fair (D) 5 = Poor (F)
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