Includes bibliographical references (p. [204]-205) and index.

Introduction: the northern capital -- At the edge of the north China Plain : the location and prehistory of the Beijing area -- Chinese or barbarian? : c. 2,000 BCE to 581 CE -- Regained and lost : the Sui, Tang, Liao and Jin dynasties, 581 to 1215 -- Destroyed and rebuilt : the Mongol conquest and the new city of Dadu, 1215 to 1368 -- Chinese capital : the Ming dynasty, 1368 to 1644 -- Change of mandate : the Manchu conquest, 1644-1860 -- Besieged : the late Qing dynasty, 1860-1911 -- Northern peace? : the republic, the warlords, and Communist Revolution, 1911-1949 -- Pride restored : the People's Republic of China, 1949-1976 -- The modern city : 1976 to the present.

"This book sets out the history of the city of Beijing, charting the course of its development from its early roots before 2000 B.C.E. to its contemporary position as capital of the People's Republic of China. It outlines the establishment of the earliest cities on or near the modern site in the years before 1000 B.C.E., its status as a regional centre from the Zhou to the Tang dynasties, and its emergence - for the first time - as capital of the whole of China after the Mongol conquest, when it was partly destroyed and subsequently rebuilt as the 'Great Capital' of Khubilai Khan.