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As the capital of the People's Republic of China, Beijing is the nation's political, economic, cultural and educational center as well as being the most important center in China for international trade and communications. Beijing is the nation's capital which has long been a world-famous cultural-historical city. In fact, its recorded history goes back more than 3000 years, when it was called Ji. After the 11th century B.C., it became a strategic location for Ji and Yan states and later became the alternate capital of the Liao. Form the 12th century onward, it served as the capital of the Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. It is known for its enormous wealth of cultural and historical sites. Amoung the most famous are the Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Great Wall, Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace. The best seasons in Beijing are Spring and Autumn.
Location: Beijing City is an independently administered municipal district. She is situated in the northeastern part of China at an elevation of 43.5m above sea level.
Area: 16,807.8 sq km
It stretchs 160 kilometres from east to west and over 180 kilometres north to south. She has 18 districts and counties with Dongcheng, Xicheng, uanwu, Chongwen, Chaoyang, Haidian, Fengtai and Shijingshan in the surburbs and Fangshan, Mengtougou, Changping, Tongxian, Shunyi, Daxing, Huairou, Miyun, Pinggu and Yianqing in the outer suburbs.
Population: 13 million
Climate: The climate in Beijing is of the continental type, with cold and dry winters, due to the Siberian air massses that move southward across the Mongolian Plateau. The summers are hot owing to warm and humid monsoon winds from the southeast bringing Beijing most of its annual precipitation. January is the coldest month and July is the warmest. Winter usually begins towards the end of begins towards the end of October. The summer months, June to August, are wet and hot with about 40% of the annual precipitation.
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