Cities of the World: Beijing

Photos by C. Stewart, G Hislain, G. Carvajal and María Veve from Picasa free albums.
Music by Liu Fang "The dance of yi people" 劉芳琵琶 彝族舞曲. Pipa solo music. The original music was composed by Wang Huiran (王惠然) in the early 60s.

Some half a million years ago, Peking man lived in Zhoukoudian, in the southwestern suburbs of Beijing. The climate of that time was warmer and more humid than it is today. Forests and lakes in the area supported large numbers of living creatures. The fossil remains of Peking man, his stone tools and evidence of use of fire, as well as later tools of 18,000 years ago, bone needles and article of adornment from the age of Upper Cave Man are the earliest cultural relics on record in China today.

Some four to five thousand years ago, settlements to the southwest of Beijing were thriving on basic agriculture and animal husbandry. Story has it that the legendary Yellow Emperor (Huang Di) battled against the tribal leader Chiyou in the "wilderness of the prefecture of Zhuo. "Zhuolu, a town west of present day Beijing, is perhaps the site of the first metropolis in the area. Yellow Emperor's successor, Emperor Yao, was said to have established a legendary capital Youdu (City of Quietude) that was where the city of Ji was actually built.

Source: China.org.cn

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