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)

---

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

China’s zero-tariff initiative might allow Beijing to regain some lost ground in Africa.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 23, 2026

Facing an economic slowdown, Beijing has reduced its financing for Africa.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 23, 2026

While the United States switched official diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing nearly 50 years ago, Washington is Taipei's most important security backer.

From Barron's • May 22, 2026

Those comments came fresh off a presidential summit in Beijing, where Xi had told Trump that Taiwan was the most important issue between the US and China.

From BBC • May 22, 2026

Demographically speaking, they lived in the hinterlands, remote and thinly settled; their lives were as far from Wari or Toltec lords as the nomads of Siberia were from the grandees of Beijing.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann