Description: Where Beijing's 'bottom of society' live, The life of a woman priced out of Beijing, China, Why the South China Sea Could Spark a US-China War, Beijing Marathon Footage Appears to Show Chinese Runner Allowed to Win | WSJ News
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" Beijing " is the atonal pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of the Chinese characters 北京 , the Chinese name of the capital of the People's Republic of China .
The spelling Beijing was adopted for use within China upon the approval of Hanyu Pinyin on February 11, 1958, during the Fifth Session of the 1st National People's Congress . It became obligatory for all foreign publications issued by the People's Republic on 1 January 1979. It was gradually adopted by various news organizations, governments, and international agencies over the next decade.
The Chinese characters 北 ("north") and 京 ("capital") together mean the "Northern Capital". The name was first used during the reign of the Ming dynasty 's Yongle Emperor , who made his northern fief a second capital along with Nanjing ( 南京 , the "Southern Capital") in 1403 after successfully dethroning his nephew during the Jingnan Campaign . The name was restored in 1949 at the founding of the People's Republic of China .