BEIJING CHINA

Beijing, sometimes Romanized as Peking, is the capital of the People's

Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world. The population
as of 2013 was 21,150,000. The metropolis, located in northern China, is governed
as a direct-controlled municipality under the national government, with 14 urban and
suburban districts and two rural counties. Beijing Municipality is surrounded by Hebei
Province with the exception of neighboring Tianjin Municipality to the southeast.

Beijing is the second largest Chinese city by urban population after Shanghai
and is the nation's political, cultural, and educational center. It is home to the
headquarters of most of China's largest state-owned companies, and is a major hub
for the national highway, expressway, railway, and high-speed rail networks. The
Beijing Capital International Airport is the second busiest in the world by passenger
traffic.

The city's history dates back three millennia. As the last of the Four Great Ancient
Capitals of China, Beijing has been the political center of the country for much of the
past eight centuries. The city is renowned for its opulent palaces, temples, parks and
gardens, tombs, walls and gates, and its art treasures and universities have made it
a center of culture and art in China. Encyclopedia Britannica notes that "few cities in
the world have served for so long as the political headquarters and cultural centre of
an area as immense as China."Beijing has seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites
the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Ming Tombs, Zhoukoudian,
Great Wall, and the Grand Canal.

Over the past 3,000 years, the city of Beijing has had numerous other names.
The name Beijing, which means "Northern Capital" (from the Chinese characters
for north and for capital), was applied to the city in 1403 during the Ming Dynasty
to distinguish the city from Nanjing (the "Southern Capital"). The English spelling is
based on the pinyin Romanization of the two characters as they are pronounced in
Standard Mandarin. An older English spelling, Peking, is the Postal Map
Romanization of the same two characters as they are pronounced in Chinese
dialects spoken in the southern port towns first visited by European traders and
missionaries. Those dialects preserve the Middle Chinese pronunciation of as
kjaeng, prior to a phonetic shift in the northern dialects to the modern pronunciation.
The single Chinese character abbreviation for Beijing is , which appears on
automobile license plates in the city. The official Latin alphabet abbreviation for
Beijing is "BJ".
Events
Beijing has hosted numerous international and national sporting events, the most
notable was the 2008 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. Other multi-sport
international events held in Beijing include the 2001 Universiade and the 1990 Asian
Games. Single-sport international competitions include the Beijing Marathon
(annually since 1981), China Open of Tennis (199397, annually since 2004), ISU
Grand Prix of Figure Skating Cup of China (2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009 and
2010), WPBSA China Open for Snooker (annually since 2005), International Cycling
Union Tour of Beijing (since 2011), 1961 World Table Tennis Championships, 1987
IBF Badminton World Championships, the 2004 AFC Asian Cup (football), and 2009
Barclays Asia Trophy (football). Beijing will host the 2015 IAAF World
Championships in Athletics.

The city hosted the second Chinese National Games in 1914 and the first four
National Games of the People's Republic of China in 1959, 1965, 1975, 1979,
respectively, and co-hosted the 1993 National Games with Sichuan and Qingdao.
Beijing also hosted the inaugural National Peasants' Games in 1988 and the sixth
National Minority Games in 1999. In November 2013, Beijing and Zhangjiakou made
a joint bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements in FL101

Submitted to: Miss Celeste Mar

Submitted by: Abigail M. Balanquit