when and why did Peking become Beijing?

Question

I only found out that Mumbai and Bombay were the same place last night over dinner - which prompted the above question.

Answer 1

It is a fascinating city!! I have been there twice and can really recommend it!!

The answer to your question:

Beijing (北京) literally means "Northern capital", in line with the common East Asian tradition whereby capital cities are explicitly named as such. Other cities similarly named include Nanjing (南京), China, meaning "southern capital"; Tokyo (東京), Japan, and Đông Kinh (東京; now Hanoi), Vietnam, both meaning "eastern capital"; as well as Kyoto (京都), Japan, and Gyeongseong (京城; now Seoul), Korea, both meaning simply "capital".

Peking is the name of the city romanized in Postal System Pinyin, and the traditional customary name for Beijing in English. The term originated with French missionaries four hundred years ago and corresponds to an older pronunciation predating a subsequent sound change in Mandarin from [kʲ] to [tɕ]. ([tɕ] is represented in pinyin as j, as in Beijing), and is still used in some languages (for example, the Portuguese name is Pequim).

In China, the city has had many names. Between 1928 [1] and 1949, it was known as Beiping (北平; Pinyin: Beiping; Wade-Giles: Pei-p'ing), literally "Northern Peace". The name was changed — with the removal of the element meaning "capital" (jing or king, 京) — to reflect the fact that, with the Kuomintang government having established its capital in Nanking (pinyin: Nanjing), Peking was no longer the capital of China, and that the warlord government based in Peking was not legitimate.

The Communist Party of China reverted the name to Beijing (Peking) in 1949 again in part to emphasize that Beijing had returned to its role as China's capital. The government of the Republic of China on Taiwan has never formally recognized the name change, and during the 1950s and 1960s it was common in Taiwan for Beijing to be called Beiping to imply the illegitimacy of the PRC. Today, almost all of Taiwan, including the ROC government, uses Beijing, although some maps of China from Taiwan still use the old name along with pre-1949 political boundaries.

Yanjing (燕京; Pinyin: Yānjīng; Wade-Giles: Yen-ching) is and has been another popular informal name for Beijing, a reference to the ancient State of Yan that existed here during the Zhou Dynasty. This name is reflected in the locally-brewed Yanjing Beer as well as Yenching University, an institution of higher learning that was merged into Peking University. During the Yuan Dynasty, Beijing was known as Khanbaliq which is the Cambuluc described in Marco Polo's accounts.

I hope tat this was helpful.

Answer 2

Beijing is the real name of the city. It is sometimes refereed to as Peking but that is an old spelling of the name based on an outdated transcribe from Chinese. After the introduction of pinyin, the new transcribing system, the spelling is Beijing. Peking or Beijing ( northern capital, bei = north and jing = capital) Have been the capital of China for more than 700 year, however it have not been the capital for 700 straight years. The capital has many times been moved to other cities due to invasions and other strategic reasons. Beijing has many times been invaded by Manchuria´s and Mongols, but always been retaken by the Han Chinese. Beijing has been the leading city in Asia for many hundred years. Many are the kings who have wanted to conquer the dragon throne in Beijing.

Answer 3

Peking is the same thing as Beijing, but are spelt useing different rominaztaion systems. Peking is from an older one, that was created by french missionaries. Because french has a different pronoucation of some words, a 'b' sound became a 'p'. j was spelt as a k. There are also other differences, such as hsu and ho (xu and he now).
with the use of the new pinyin system (which is standard in China), the spelling changed to how we see it now. You can still find old maps and such that have the old spelling.
In taiwan, the older pinyin system is still common place, so you see things like taipei instead of taibei, and taichong instead of taizhong.

Answer 4

As one of many six old towns in China, Beijing has been one's heart and soul of politics throughout their extended record and therefore there's an unparalleled wealth of finding to pleasure and plot tourists while they discover the city's historical previous and interesting contemporary progress, know more with hotelbye . Today in day, Beijing it has become one of the most used travel places on earth and the places lice Yunju Temple or Summer Palace are certainly in to the causes for what Beijing worth visited. Beijing Summer Palace is the largest noble Garden in China.

Answer 5

In Feb 11th 1958, Chinese government put forward the " Chinese Pinyin Programme" which stipulated that all the Chinese names ,places and trademark etc. be used in Chinese phonetics system in stead of the Thomas Wade's.

Accepted by the Union Nation, China adopted Pinyin as the standard for spoken and written form of names, places , trademarks ect. from Jan 1st, 1979.

At the same time, Peking as a name given by invading armies during the colonial period, it had a hurting feeling while taking it as the name of our capital.

Answer 6

They are pronounced the same . Chinese does not use the Roman alphabet. We have characters. And indeed the sounds in our vocabulary are different from European sounds , so for Westerners to read/write Chinese they must use an artificial language. "Peking" is a western invention . Under the rules of this language it is pronounced the same as "Beijing". "Beijing" is Pinyin. It is a Chinese invention of the 1950's. It is said Chairman Mao even wanted to replace Chinese script with this. I do not believe it. But if you go to China you will see underneath Chinese language signs the Pinyin transliteration. My boyfriend has told me in Taiwan they use the older system & it is very confusing.
Chinese children now learn Pinyin at school too. I have used infant school books from China to teach my boyfriend !

Answer 7

Discover the city that never sleeps and is always abuzz with activity. This town is Mumbai! Find it with hotelbye . Mumbai is in most methods a mega-city driven by energy, wealth, glamour and fame which attracts people to offer form to their desires and aspirations. Mumbai can also be an area with powerful famous hyperlinks, amazing British architecture, museums, beaches, places of praise, and above all, a genuine universe of stars where Bollywood reigns supreme. You can not visit Mumbai and not need enjoyment on their beaches and the two most widely used beaches are the Juhu Beach and the Chowpatty Beach.

Answer 8

Because they didn't like the Duck!

The Communist Party of China reverted the name to Beijing (Peking) in 1949 again in part to emphasize that Beijing had returned to its role as China's capital

Answer 9

Following the success of the Kuomintang's Northern Expedition which pacified the warlords of the north, Nanjing was officially made the capital of the Republic of China in 1928, and Beijing was renamed Beiping (Peip'ing) (北平), "northern peace" or "north pacified", to emphasize that the warlord government in Beijing was not legitimate.

Answer 10

Beijing is still the name of Peking