History of Beijing - People's Republic of China

People's Republic of China

Left:From atop Tiananmen Gate, Mao Zedong, proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949 and Beijing again became the capital of China. Right: Beijing middle school students attended the ceremony in Tiananmen Square. See also: History of the People's Republic of China

On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong stood atop the rostrum of Tiananmen Gate, proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China. The city's name was restored to Beijing, which again served as the capital of China. At the time, the city limits contained 707 km2 of territory and had just over 2.03 million residents. Over the next sixty years, the city would reach unprecedented size in both territory (expanding 23-fold) and population (growing ten-fold) as well as political stature and importance. As the political center of a highly-centralized government, Beijing and its residents bore witness to many of the political events and developments that shaped modern China.

Read more about this topic:  History Of Beijing

Famous quotes containing the words people, republic and/or china:

    Only people who have been allowed to practise freedom can have the grown-up look in their eyes.
    —E.M. (Edward Morgan)

    I date the end of the old republic and the birth of the empire to the invention, in the late thirties, of air conditioning. Before air conditioning, Washington was deserted from mid-June to September.... But after air conditioning and the Second World War arrived, more or less at the same time, Congress sits and sits while the presidents—or at least their staffs—never stop making mischief.
    Gore Vidal (b. 1925)

    The roof of England fell
    Great Paris tolled her bell
    And China staunched her milk and wept for bread
    Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)