As the capital city of the People's Republic of China,
Beijing is the nation's political and cultural center and also a
center for international contacts.
    History: The recorded history of Beijing as a city can date
back to more than 3,000 years ago. During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty
(c. 11th century-771 B.C.), the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476
B.C.) and the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.), Beijing was the
capital city of the State of Yan, which was ruled by dukes or
princes under the emperor. From the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.) and
the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.) to the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127),
Beijing was a major city and also a strategic point in northern China.
When the Qidan (Khitan) people founded the Liao Dynasty (907-1125),
they established Beijing, which was then under their occupation and
was called Jiuzhou, as the secondary capital under the name of
Nanjing (southern capital). Afterwards, the dynasties of Jin
(1115-1234), Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911)
all chose Beijing as their capital city. In 1928, the Nanjing-based
nationalist government of the Republic of China designated Beijing
as the Beiping Special Municipality. In 1930, the municipality was
renamed as Beiping City. On September 27, 1949, the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference decided that the newborn People's
Republic of China would base its capital in Beiping and renamed the
city as Beijing.
    Natural Geography: Beijing is located in the northern part
of the North China Plain and its terrain is high in the northwest
and low in the southeast. Major rivers flowing through the city
include Yongding River, Chaobai River, Beiyun Canal and
Juma River. With a typical continental warm temperate zone
monsoon climate, Beijing has four distinct seasons. The average annual
temperature at Beijing is around 12 degrees Centigrade
while the average annual precipitation is 626 mm. Beijing
is rich in mineral resources including coal, iron,
copper, limestone and marble as well as relatively rich in the
terrestrial heat resource.
    Area and Division of Administrative District: After 1949,
Beijing expanded successively five times the scope of areas
under its jurisdiction and changed successively 11 times the
division of administrative districts in line with requirements
of the political, economic and social development. Now, the
city's total land area is 16,807.8 sq km -- 62% of hilly
areas and 38% of flatlands. The planned area of the city proper
is 750 sq km. Beijing has 13 districts and 5 counties under its
jurisdiction.
    Population and Ethnic Groups well as Quality of Population:
By the end of 1995, the city had had a total of 12.511 million
permanent residents. The population of the city includes all the
56 ethnic groups of China. According to statistics from the
4th national census conducted on July 1, 1990, 1.006 million
permanent residents in Beijing, or 9.3% of the population in the
city, were college graduates or higher; 2.053 million, or 19% of
the total population, were senior high school graduates (including
secondary technical school graduates); 3.305 million, or 30.6%
of the total population, were junior high school graduates; and
2.443 million, or 22.6% of the total population, were primary
school graduates.
    Economic and Social Development: Since the founding of the
PRC, particularly since China initiated the reform
and open policy in 1978, the economy of
Beijing has kept its momentum of sustained, rapid and healthy
development. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the gross domestic
product (GDP) of the city has been growing at an annual rate of
9%, with the comprehensive economic strength
increased substantially. Beijing has established an economy comprising
multi-sectors, which include State-run and collectively-
owned enterprises and also consist of Sino-foreign joint ventures,
Sino-foreign cooperative ventures and wholly foreign-funded
enterprises as well as individual businesses, etc. It has a modern
industrial system under which urban industries are linked to
township industries and capital and technology intensive industries
are linked to labor-intensive industries as well as large and
medium- and small-sized enterprises compete with one another in
development. Of the 164 industrial sectors defined by China on a
unified basis, Beijing has 149. The city has gradually formed an
industrial structure with a relatively complete range of sectors,
which include the eight sectors, i.e., metallurgy, chemicals, 
automobiles,  electronics, machinery, building materials, light 
industry and textiles.
    Investment Environment: Of all Chinese cities, Beijing
boasts the most advanced infrastructure. The city had nearly 1,500 km 
of expressways, first and second grade highways by 1998. The density 
of roads is 0.75 km per sq km. In the city proper, there are 180 
overpasses, and the Second Ring Road and the Third Ring Road have been 
built into non-stop highways. The Beijing-Tianjin Expressway has cut 
down the trip from Beijing to Tanggu Port to only 90 minutes. The 
Beijing West Railway Station, completed in Jan. 1996, is the largest 
of its kind in Asia. The international calls can be made here to more 
than 200 countries and regions. Direct mail service has been established 
with 207 cities in more than 127 countries and regions. In early 1995, the
State Council granted Beijing the privilege to enjoy all the preferential 
policies given to open coastal cities.

    Beijing currently has a total of 33 development zones and small-scale
industrial areas in various types operated by counties or districts,
including two development zones at the national level - the Beijing
Economic and Technological Development Zone and the Beijing Experimental
Development Zone for New Technology Industries. In classification by
categories, there are seven zones of the high and new technology
category, 16 of the industrial category, four of the tourist real
estate category and six of the comprehensive category. In these
development and industrial zones, a total of 21.72 sq km of land
have been developed and 20.58 sq km of it has been designated for
inviting external investment. So far, a total of 3,067
enterprises have been built or are being built in these zones
with overseas investment invited, and 2,065 of them have become operational.
    Invitation of Overseas Investment and Foreign Trade: By the
end of 1995, the Beijing Municipal Government had approved 11,794 Sino-Foreign 
joint ventures, Sino-foreign cooperative ventures and wholly foreign-funded 
enterprises, with the contracted foreign investment totaling 17.51 
billion U.S. dollars.Also by the end of 1995, a total of 4,002 
Sino-foreign jointventures, Sino-foreign cooperative ventures and wholly
foreign-funded enterprises had been put into operation, with a
total workforce of 332,000. In 1995, these businesses
had an aggregated turnover of 47.86 billion yuan and
670 million U.S. dollars.