Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
moved round in search for fruit and wild animals as food. Having settled down
there, they started to farm and raise livestock as their chief means of life. These
earliest settlers were pioneers who opened up the Beijing Area.
With the rise of productivity, the quantitative increase of surplus products, and
the division of labour, there appeared private ownership and a few exploiters who
lived on other people's labour. Then primitive society began to disintegrate. At the
same time slave society which was the fi rst society with class oppression in human
history gradually came into being.
The appearance of the earliest cities marked the formation of slave society.
1.2.2
Part Two: Beijing's Primitive Settlement—Ji &
the Geographical Features of the City of Ji
Over 3,000 years ago, when China was still in her early days of slave society,
Beijing's primitive settlement came into existence. At that time, China was basi-
cally dominated by the emperors of Shang Dynasty.
In that period, written symbols were invented to keep a record of events. The ter-
ritory under the rule of Shang Dynasty covered the area which is now the central
part of the North China Plain. The great plain was made up of the alluvial soil left
mainly by the Yellow River and some other smaller rivers. So it is also called the
Yellow River Alluvial Plain. The central part of the great plain has generally been
called “Zhongyuan” (which means “The Central Plains”) in history. The Shang rul-
ers founded their capital on the Central Plains, and the primitive settlement in
Beijing was located far in a remote place to its north. But the Shang culture which
was chiefl y characterized by fi ne bronze wares and was broadly disseminated also
found its way to this far-away place.
At the beginning of the eleventh century B.C., the rulers of Zhou Dynasty which
fi rst started in the highland areas of the middle reaches of the Yellow River and later
expanded towards the east, eventually conquered Shang Dynasty on the great plain.
As a result, a more developed country with slave-owning system was established.
Beijing's primitive settlement was then becoming larger and larger at a high speed,
which was to turn into a famous principality called “Ji”. And “Ji” is the earliest
name of Beijing found in historical records.
Records of the
Grand Historian
says that Zhouwuwang, the founder of Zhou
Dynasty, for the fi rst time enfeoffed the duke Zhaogong with the “Ji” area, and this
realm was known as “Yan Princedom”. Soon the realm Yan became one of the most
important states in the north under the rule of Zhou Dynasty. This state continued
for more than 800 years.
Here arises a question we must pay special attention to, that is, how the site of the
city of Ji was selected. Or, let's put it in more exact words: what geographical fea-
tures enabled the primitive settlement of Beijing to expand rapidly and remain pros-
perous for such a long time without declining.
