Beijing Book - Home

Everybody is talking about Beijing, but how many people really know anything about it? Here at last is the wittiest, most readable, most approachable history of the city of the year!

An original and surprising history of Beijing, the capital of China and the site of the 2008 Olympics, from its earliest beginnings, to its place in myth as the site of wars between demigods, its forgotten 101 years as a kingdom in its own right, through its fluctuating fortunes under the Imperial era and the rise of Communism.

• Despite spending almost a thousand years in ruins, the site has been a capital for several cultures, including Mongolian tribesmen and the glorious Ming emperors, whose tombs can still be found on its outskirts.

• Clements introduces some of the more colourful characters who have enriched Beijing’s history, including the great transformers from Khubilai Khan to the Yongle Emperor, famous residents from Mulan to Chairman Mao and Marco Polo, the intrigues of its seven kings and dozens of Imperial masters down to the famous Last Emperor.
 
• Examines both the city’s most famous sites  its temples, altars, gates and precincts – as well as the ultra-modern areas under construction for the Olympics.

• Beijing will receive much attention in 2008 as the location of the next Olympics (8-24 August). Official website http://en.beijing.2008.org