Beijing

See also: bèijǐng and Běijīng

English

Central Beijing, with the boundaries defined by the Ming and Qing era city walls still distinct to the east and south

Xinhuamen, the south gate of Zhongnanhai in central Beijing, with the slogan "Serve the People"

Alternative forms

• Běijīng (rare)
• Peking (dated)
• Pei-ching, Peiching (uncommon, Wade–Giles)
• Pekin, Pachin, Paquin, Pequin (obsolete)

Etymology

c. 1958, the atonal Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 北京 (Běijīng), composed of 北 (“north, northern”) and 京 (jīng, “capital”), distinguishing it from Nanjing to the south, and first applied informally during the reign of the Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who preferred to rule from Beijing but was obliged to treat Nanjing as a secondary capital by the dynastic injunctions of his father the Hongwu Emperor. The name continued a practice of several preceding dynasties—especially those of nomadic conquerers from the north such as the Jin and Liao—of maintaining a number of separate capitals designated by their cardinal directions. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /beɪˈd͡ʒɪŋ/, /ˌbeɪˈd͡ʒɪŋ/, enPR: bāʹjǐngʹ

  • Audio (US); /beɪˈd͡ʒɪŋ/:

    (file)

• (hyperforeign) IPA^(key): /beɪˈʒɪŋ/, /ˌbeɪˈʒɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɪŋ

Proper noun

Beijing

2. A direct-administered municipality, the capital city of China. [from c. 1958]
   • 1976 [1966], Hao Ran, “Debut”, in Wong Kam-ming, transl., Revolutionary Literature in China: An Anthology‎^[2], White Plains, New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 92:

     Liu Lao-zheng sidled right up to Zao-hua and said: “That’s right. I went to Beijing [Peking] to visit with my daughter. Zao-hua, I hear that you have become the workpoint recorder.” […]
     Liu Lao-zheng pulled out an abacus from a sack he was carrying over his shoulder. “Huala, huala,” he shook it several times and said: “I bought one in Beijing. I’ll lend it to you to use.”

   • 2020 August 7, Steven Lee Myers, Keith Bradsher, “Beijing Launches Another Demolition Drive, This Time in Its Bucolic Suburbs”, in The New York Times‎^[3], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 August 2020, Asia Pacific‎^[4]:

     Backhoes moved house by house, laying waste to a community called Xitai that was built in a plush green valley on the northern edge of Beijing, only a short walk from the Great Wall of China.

   • 2022 October 24, Yuan Li, “A Lonely Protest in Beijing Inspires Young Chinese to Find Their Voice”, in The New York Times‎^[5], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 October 2022, Business‎^[6]:

     A protester unfurled two banners on a highway overpass in central Beijing on Oct. 13, denouncing Xi Jinping as a “despotic traitor.” China’s censors went to great lengths to scrub the internet of any reference to the act of dissent, prohibiting all discussion and shutting down many offending social media accounts.

   • 2023 March 22, “China: Sandstorms blanket Beijing as air pollution spikes”, in Deutsche Welle‎^[7], archived from the original on 22 March 2023‎^[8]:

     Beijing regularly faces dust storms in March and April due to its proximity to the Gobi desert as well as deforestation throughout northern China.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Beijing.
4. (metonymic) The government of the People's Republic of China. [from c. 1949]
   • 1980, Melvin Gurton, Byong-Moo Hwang, China under Threat: The Politics of Strategy and Diplomacy‎^[9], Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 210:

     In Beijing’s view, in the absence of an explicit treaty provision, the central line of the main channel—the Thalweg principle—provided a legal basis for delimiting the boundary in the two rivers. On this basis, Beijing claimed that 600 of the rivers’ 700 islands—including Zhenbao Island on the Ussuri River, just 180 miles southwest of an important Soviet city, Khabarovsk—belonged to the P.R.C.

   • 1992, Richard Nixon, “The Pacific Triangle”, in Seize the Moment‎^[10], Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 181:

     In the Shanghai Communiqué of 1972, we recognized the fact that both Beijing and Taipei viewed Taiwan as part of China but unequivocally expressed our support for a peaceful settlement of the unification issue. While we should not alter the fundamental pillars of our policy, we should consider certain steps that will raise Taiwan's international standing.

   • 2022 June 2, Cate Cadell, Ellen Nakashima, “Beijing chafes at Moscow’s requests for support, Chinese officials say”, in The Washington Post‎^[11], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 06 June 2022‎^[12]:

     Russian officials have raised increasingly frustrated requests for greater support during discussions with Beijing in recent weeks, calling on China to live up to its affirmation of a “no limits” partnership made weeks before the war in Ukraine began. But China’s leadership wants to expand assistance for Russia without running afoul of Western sanctions and has set limits on what it will do, according to Chinese and U.S. officials.

   • 2023 June 15, Didi Tang, “Spotify removes protest song Glory to Hong Kong”, in The Times‎^[13], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 June 2023, World‎^[14]:

     While Beijing has credited the law with restoring peace and order to the city, it has been criticised by rights groups and western governments for imprisoning pro-democracy activists and undermining civil freedoms.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Beijing.

Usage notes

Rarely used until 1979. Can appear as Běijīng in English language texts with code-switching. Note that cultural terms such as Peking duck, Pekingese, Peking opera and Peking University usually still occur with Peking, though Beijing is sometimes still used: compare Beijing duck, Beijingese and Beijing opera etc.

Synonyms

• (capital):
  • Yan, Yanjing (historic), Yen-ching (hist. obs.)
  • Zhongdu (hist.), Chung-tu (hist. obs.)
  • Dadu (hist.), Ta-tu (hist. obs.)
  • Khanbalik, Khanbaliq (hist.), Cambaluc (hist. archaic)
  • Beiping, Peiping (hist.), Pei-p’ing (hist. obs.)
• (Chinese government): Zhongnanhai

Coordinate terms

• Nanjing

Derived terms

• Beijing bikini
• Beijing duck
• Beijinger
• Beijingese
• Beijing opera
• Beijing Time

Translations

capital of China

• Abkhaz: Беиӡин (Bejdzin), Пекин (Pʼekʼin)
• Afrikaans: Beijing
• Albanian: Pekin m
• Amharic: ፔኪንግ (peking)
• Arabic: بِكِين f (bikīn), بِكِين f (pikīn), پِكِين f (pikīn) (rare)

  Hijazi Arabic: بِكِّين f (bikkīn)

• Armenian: Պեկին (Pekin)
• Assamese: বেইজিং (beiziṅ)
• Asturian: Pequín (ast)
• Azerbaijani: Pekin
• Bashkir: Пекин (Pekin)
• Belarusian: Пекі́н m (Pjekín), Бэйцзі́н m (Bejczín) (transliteration); Пэкі́н m (Pekín) (Taraškievica orthography)
• Bengali: বেইজিং (bn) (beijiṅ), পিকিং (pikiṅ)
• Bulgarian: Пеки́н m (Pekín)
• Burmese: ပေကျင်း (pe-kyang:), ပီကင်း (pikang:)
• Buryat: Бээжэн (Beežen)
• Carpathian Rusyn: ^{(please verify)} Пекі́н m (Pekín) (Zakarpattia), Пекі́нґ m (Pekíng) (Prešov)
• Catalan: Pequín (ca)
• Chechen: Пекин (Pekin)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 北京 (bak¹ ging¹)

  Dungan: Быйҗин (Bɨyžin)

  Eastern Min: 北京 (Báe̤k-gĭng)

  Hakka: 北京 (Pet-kîn)

  Hokkien: 北京 (zh-min-nan) (Pak-kiaⁿ)

  Mandarin: 北京 (zh) (Běijīng)

  Wu: 北京 (⁷poq-cin)

• Chuvash: Пекин (Pek̬in)
• Corsican: Pechinu
• Crimean Tatar: Pekin, Hanbalıq
• Czech: Peking (cs) m
• Danish: Beijing (da) n, Peking (da) n (uncommon)
• Dhivehi: ބީޖިންގ (bījin̊g)
• Dutch: Peking (nl) n
• Esperanto: Pekino (eo), Bejĝingo
• Estonian: Peking (et)
• Farefare: Pekɩŋ
• Faroese: Beijing, Peking
• Finnish: Peking (fi)
• French: Pékin (fr) m, Beijing (fr) m
• Galician: Pequín (gl)
• Georgian: პეკინი (ka) (ṗeḳini)
• German: Peking (de) n; (only specialist, sinologist also) Beijing (de) n
• Greek: Πεκίνο (el) n (Pekíno)
• Gujarati: બેઇજિંગ (beijiṅg)
• Hebrew: בֵּייְגִ׳ינְג f (beijing), פֶּקִינְג f (peking)
• Hindi: बेजिंग m (bejiṅg), बेइजिन्ग m (beijing)
• Hungarian: Peking (hu)
• Icelandic: Peking, Beijing
• Irish: Béising
• Italian: Pechino (it) f
• Japanese: 北京 (ja) (ペキン, Pekin), ペキン (ja) (Pekin)
• Kannada: ಬೀಜಿಂಗ್ (bījiṅg)
• Kashubian: Pekin m
• Kazakh: Бейжің (Beijıñ)
• Khmer: ប៉េកាំង (km) (peekang), ប៉ីជិង (pəycɨng)
• Korean: 베이징 (ko) (Beijing), 북경(北京) (ko) (Bukgyeong)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: پەکین (ckb) (pekîn)

  Northern Kurdish: Beijing (ku), Pekîn (ku)

• Kyrgyz: Бээжин (Beejin)
• Lao: ປັກກິງ (pak king)
• Latin: Pecinum (la) n
• Latvian: Pekina f
• Lithuanian: Pekinas (lt) m
• Lü: ᦵᦗᦲᧉᦋᦲᧃᧈ (poe²tsiin¹)
• Macedonian: Пекинг m (Peking)
• Maltese: Bejġing, Peking
• Manchu: ᠪᡝᡤᡳᠩ (beging)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: Бээжин (mn) (Beežin), Бэйжин (Bejžin)

  Mongolian: ᠪᠡᠭᠡᠵᠢᠩ (begeǰing)

• Nepali: बेइजिङ (beijiṅ)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Beijing

• Nuosu: ꀙꏢ (bip ji)
• Occitan: Pequin m
• Odia: ବେଜିଂ (bejiṁ)
• Ossetian: Пекин (Pekin)
• Ottoman Turkish: خانبالق (hanbalık)
• Pashto: بېجېنګ m (bejing), پيکنګ m (peking), بيجنګ m (beijing)
• Persian: پِکَن (fa) (pekan)
• Polish: Pekin (pl) m
• Portuguese: Pequim (pt), Beijing (pt)
• Punjabi: ਬੀਜਿੰਗ (bījiṅg)
• Romanian: Beijing (ro) n
• Russian: Пеки́н (ru) m (Pekín), Бэйцзи́н m (Bɛjczín) (transliteration, academic)
• Sanskrit: बीजिङ्ग् (bījiṅg)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Пѐкинг m, Бѐјџинг m

  Roman: Pèking (sh) m, Bèjdžing m

• Xibe: ᠪᡝᡞᡪᡞᡢ (beijing)
• Silesian: Bejdżing m
• Sindhi: بیجنگ (beijing)
• Sinhalese: බෙයිජිං (beyijiṁ)
• Slovak: Peking (sk) m
• Slovene: Peking (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: Peking m

  Upper Sorbian: Peking m

• Spanish: Pekín (es) m
• Swedish: Beijing (sv) n, Peking (sv) n
• Tagalog: Beijing, Peking
• Tajik: Пекин (tg) (Pekin)
• Tamil: பெய்ஜிங் (peyjiṅ)
• Tatar: Ханбалык (Xanbalıq), Пекин (Pekin)
• Telugu: బీజింగ్ (bījiṅg), (rare) బేజింగ్ (bējiṅg)
• Thai: ปักกิ่ง (th) (bpàk-gìng), เป่ย์จิง (th) (bpèe-jing)
• Tibetan: པེ་ཅིན (pe cin), པེ་ཅིང (pe cing)
• Turkish: Pekin (tr), Hanbalık
• Turkmen: Pekin
• Ukrainian: Пекі́н (uk) m (Pekín), Бейцзі́н m (Bejczín)
• Urdu: بیجنگ m (bejing)
• Uyghur: بېيجىڭ (bëyjing)
• Uzbek: Pekin
• Vietnamese: Bắc Kinh (vi) (北京 (vi))
• Welsh: Beijing
• Yakut: Пекин (Pekin)
• Yiddish: פּעקינג n (peking), בייזשינג (beyzhing)
• Zhuang: Baekging
• Zulu: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• “Beijing”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• Beijing, Peking, Pei-ching, Peiching at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
• “Beijing, pn.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “Beijing”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “Beijing”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “Beijing” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2025.
• Saul B. Cohen, editor (2008), “Beijing”, in The Columbia Gazetteer of the World‎^[15], 2nd edition, volume 1, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 359-360

Asturian

Proper noun

Beijing ?

1. Alternative form of Beixín

Central Huasteca Nahuatl

Proper noun

Beijing

1. Beijing (the capital city of China)

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbei̯jiŋ/, [ˈbe̞i̯j(ː)iŋ]
• Rhymes: -eijiŋ
• Syllabification^(key): Bei‧jing
• Hyphenation^(key): Bei‧jing

Proper noun

Beijing (rare)

1. Alternative form of Peking.

Declension

Inflection of Beijing (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		Beijing	—
genitive		Beijingin	—
partitive		Beijingiä	—
illative		Beijingiin	—
		singular	plural
nominative		Beijing	—
accusative	nom.	Beijing	—
	gen.	Beijingin
genitive		Beijingin	—
partitive		Beijingiä	—
inessive		Beijingissä	—
elative		Beijingistä	—
illative		Beijingiin	—
adessive		Beijingillä	—
ablative		Beijingiltä	—
allative		Beijingille	—
essive		Beijinginä	—
translative		Beijingiksi	—
abessive		Beijingittä	—
instructive		—	—
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of Beijing (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Beijingini — accusative nom. Beijingini — gen. Beijingini genitive Beijingini — partitive Beijingiäni — inessive Beijingissäni — elative Beijingistäni — illative Beijingiini — adessive Beijingilläni — ablative Beijingiltäni — allative Beijingilleni — essive Beijinginäni — translative Beijingikseni — abessive Beijingittäni — instructive — — comitative — — second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Beijingisi — accusative nom. Beijingisi — gen. Beijingisi genitive Beijingisi — partitive Beijingiäsi — inessive Beijingissäsi — elative Beijingistäsi — illative Beijingiisi — adessive Beijingilläsi — ablative Beijingiltäsi — allative Beijingillesi — essive Beijinginäsi — translative Beijingiksesi — abessive Beijingittäsi — instructive — — comitative — — first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Beijingimme — accusative nom. Beijingimme — gen. Beijingimme genitive Beijingimme — partitive Beijingiämme — inessive Beijingissämme — elative Beijingistämme — illative Beijingiimme — adessive Beijingillämme — ablative Beijingiltämme — allative Beijingillemme — essive Beijinginämme — translative Beijingiksemme — abessive Beijingittämme — instructive — — comitative — — second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Beijinginne — accusative nom. Beijinginne — gen. Beijinginne genitive Beijinginne — partitive Beijingiänne — inessive Beijingissänne — elative Beijingistänne — illative Beijingiinne — adessive Beijingillänne — ablative Beijingiltänne — allative Beijingillenne — essive Beijinginänne — translative Beijingiksenne — abessive Beijingittänne — instructive — — comitative — — third-person possessor singular plural nominative Beijinginsä — accusative nom. Beijinginsä — gen. Beijinginsä genitive Beijinginsä — partitive Beijingiään Beijingiänsä — inessive Beijingissään Beijingissänsä — elative Beijingistään Beijingistänsä — illative Beijingiinsä — adessive Beijingillään Beijingillänsä — ablative Beijingiltään Beijingiltänsä — allative Beijingilleen Beijingillensä — essive Beijinginään Beijinginänsä — translative Beijingikseen Beijingiksensä — abessive Beijingittään Beijingittänsä — instructive — — comitative — —

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Mandarin 北京 (Běijīng). Doublet of Pékin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /be.dʒiŋ/

Proper noun

Beijing ?

1. (chiefly North America) Synonym of Pékin

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbeɪ̯dʒɪŋ/
• Hyphenation: Bei‧jing

Proper noun

Beijing n (proper noun, genitive Beijings or (optionally with an article) Beijing)

1. (uncommon) Synonym of Peking
   • 2023 December 3, Shi Ming, “Chinas neue Westpolitik: Lieber zweimal hinsehen”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz‎^[16], →ISSN:

     Als im September die deutsche Außenministerin Annalena Baerbock im US-Fernsehen Chinas Staats- und Parteichef Xi Jinping unverhüllt als Diktator bezeichnete, bestellte Beijing umgehend den deutschen Botschafter ein.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “Beijing” in Duden online
• Beijing, Peking at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.

Norwegian Bokmål

China Central Television Headquarters, located in Beijing, China.

Alternative forms

• Peking (“Peking”)

Etymology

From Mandarin Chinese 北京 (Běijīng, “Beijing”), first part from 北 (“northern”), from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *bə(q) (“to carry (on back), shoulder”). Last part from 京 (jīng, “capital”), either from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-gaŋ (“hill, ridge, mountain”), or of Austroasiatic origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bæjˈdʒɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɪŋ
• Hyphenation: Bei‧jing

Proper noun

Beijing

1. Beijing (the capital city of China)

   Historisk har Beijing først og fremst vært et sentrum for administrasjon, kultur og åndsliv.

   Historically, Beijing has primarily been a center of administration, culture and intellectual life.

Derived terms

• beijinger (“Beijinger”)
• beijingsk (“Beijingese”)

References

• “Beijing” in Store norske leksikon

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Mandarin 北京 (Běijīng). Doublet of Pequim.

Proper noun

Beijing

1. Synonym of Pequim

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Mandarin 北京 (Běijīng).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [bejˈʒiŋ], [bejˈʒiŋɡ]

Proper noun

Beijing n

1. Beijing (a direct-administered municipality, the capital city of China)

Declension

Declension of Beijing

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	Beijing	Beijingul
genitive-dative	Beijing	Beijingului
vocative	Beijingule

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Mandarin 北京 (Běijīng). Doublet of Pekín.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /beiˈʝin/ [bei̯ˈʝĩn]

• IPA^(key): (everywhere but Argentina and Uruguay) /beiˈʝin/ [bei̯ˈʝĩn]
• IPA^(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /beiˈʃin/ [bei̯ˈʃĩn]
• IPA^(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /beiˈʒin/ [bei̯ˈʒĩn]

• Rhymes: -in
• Syllabification: Bei‧jing

Proper noun

Beijing ?

1. Synonym of Pekín