Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Forbidden City in 1924 with his eunuchs and concubines. As the Manchus adapted to the
changes, they tried to assimilate and their presence faded. Western-style brick houses,
shops and restaurants were built. City gates were widened and new ones added, including
one at Jiànguóménwài to make way for the motorcar. Běijīng acquired nightclubs,
cinemas, racecourses and a stock exchange; brothels and theatres flourished. Despite
political and diplomatic crises, this was a period when people had fun and enjoyed a
unique period of individual freedom.
Generalissimo Chiang Kaishek united most of the country under Chinese National
Party (KMT, or Kuomintang in Chinese) rule and moved the capital to Nánjīng. Even after
1928, Běijīng's romantic air of decaying grandeur attracted Chinese and Western writers
and painters trying to fuse Western and Chinese artistic traditions.
Japanese Occupation
It all came to end when Japan's Kwantung Army moved down from Manchuria and occu-
pied Běijīng in 1937. By then most people who could had fled, some to Chóngqìng in
Sìchuān province, which served as Chiang Kaishek's wartime capital. Others joined Mao
Zedong in his communist base at Yán'ān, in Shaanxi province. Many universities estab-
lished campuses in exile in Yúnnán province.
The Japanese stayed in Běijīng for eight years and, before their WWII defeat in 1945,
had drawn up plans to build a new administrative capital in an area to the west of the city
walls near Gōngzhǔfén. It was a miserable time for Běijīng, but the architecture was left
largely untouched by the war. When the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, Běijīng
was 'liberated' by US marines. The city once again became a merry place famous for its
parties - the serious events took place elsewhere in China. When the civil war broke out
in earnest between nationalists and communists in 1947, the worst fighting took place in
the cities of Manchuria.
During the Japanese invasion, the collection of imperial treasures was secretly removed,
eventually ending up in Taiwan where they can still be seen in Taipei's National Palace Mu-
seum.
Communist Takeover
In 1948, the Communist Eighth Route Army moved south and encircled Běijīng. General
Fu Zuoyi, commander-in-chief of the nationalists' Northern China Bandit Suppression
