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Beijing

American  
[bey-jing] / ˈbeɪˈdʒɪŋ /
(Older Spelling) Peking

noun

Pinyin.
  1. a city in and the capital of the People's Republic of China, in the northeastern part, in central Hebei province: traditional capital of China.


Beijing British  
/ ˈbeɪˈdʒɪŋ /

noun

  1. Former English name: Peking.  the capital of the People's Republic of China, in the northeast in Beijing municipality (traditionally in Hebei province); the country's second largest city: dates back to the 12th century bc ; consists of two central walled cities, the Outer City (containing the commercial quarter) and the Inner City, which contains the Imperial City, within which is the Purple or Forbidden City; many universities. Pop: 10 849 000 (2005 est)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Beijing Cultural  
  1. Capital of the People's Republic of China, located in the northeast region of the country. It is the second-largest city of China (after Shanghai) and the political, cultural, financial, educational, and transportation center of the country. The West knew it for many years as Peking.


Discover More

Site of Tiananmen Square, where communist leaders suppressed a democratic protest in June 1989.

The Forbidden City, within the inner or Tatar City, was the residence of the emperor of China.

In 1949, the Chinese communists declared Beijing the capital of the People's Republic of China.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

By the time I moved to Beijing in 2017, the relationship was relatively stable though still fraught.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 5, 2026

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said Tuesday the democratic island has the "right to engage with the world", after he returned from a trip to Africa that Taipei has accused Beijing of trying to derail.

From Barron's • May 5, 2026

Beijing viewed the comments as an unwelcome intrusion into its domestic affairs.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 5, 2026

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will travel to Beijing on Tuesday for talks, the foreign ministry said, amid stalled negotiations with the United States.

From Barron's • May 5, 2026

From his office in Singapore, Kim Kwan Jin watched in early February 2003 as his colleagues stuffed twenty million dollars in cash into two heavy-duty bags and sent them, via Beijing, to Pyongyang.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden