北京雍和宮之多言語扁額
Beijing (北京) was first developed as a capital of Jin dynasty (金朝) that controlled Northern China from 1127 until it was conquered by Mongolians in 1234. It was a dynasty of Jurchen (女真族) that is a Tungusic tribe. Tungus are nomadic people living in Northeast China and Siberia and have some linguistic relations with Mongolian, Korean, and Japanese.

Beijing later became the capital of Mongolian Yuan dynasty (元朝), which was founded by Genghis Khan, from 1266 to 1368. After the demise of Mongolian rule, Chinese Ming dynasty established their capital in Nanjing (南京) but moved it back to Beijing in 1421 to cope with the military pressure from Mongolians and Jurchens.

Manchus (満州族 revived Jurchen people) who allied with Mongolians and Tibetans defeated Ming dynasty in 1644, established Qing dynasty (清朝), and regained Beijing for their capital to control China, Mongolia and Tibet as well as their homeland of Manchuria (northeast China). The dynasty survived until 1911.

Reflecting the above-mentioned history, the name plate of the Yonghe Gong (雍和宮) temple are written with Manchu, Chinese, Tibetan and Mongolian scripts from right to left. The history also indicates that Beijing is not located in the inherent territory of Chinese. If you are familiar with China, Beijing may be felt a bit exotic due to the influences from these non-Chinese rulers.

Clothing known as Chinese dress (旗袍 qipao) and men's pigtail or queue hairstyle (辮髪 bianfa) do not originate in Chinese but in Manchus and were forced to conquered Chinese during the Qing period. Deep slits on the sides of Qipao is to facilitate horse riding.

Tags:   architecture 北京市 China Beijing historical

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景山公園から見た故宮博物院
Jingshan Park (景山公園) is located to the north of Old Palace Museum (故宮博物院). It is a good view point of the old palace of Qing Dynasty aka Forbidden City (紫禁城) although the view is from the back entrance. Tiananmen (天安門) with Mao Zedong's portrait is the southern entrance located on the opposite side of the complex.

Forbidden City is surrounded by a moat as shown partly in the photo. Jingshan is an artificial mound constructed with the soil from the moat excavation.

Tags:   architecture townscape 北京市 China Beijing historical

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月牙泉と鳴沙山
Yueyaquan springs and Minshashan sand dunes are located in a southern suburb of Dunhuang that is a historical bridgehead of the Chinese civilisation into the Turkic-speaking world that extends all the way to Istanbul.
Yueyaquan is a typical oasis in the desert.

Tags:   lake topography 敦煌 甘粛省 China Dunhuang Gansu

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Mingshashan (鳴沙山) is a typical sand dune located in the suburb of Dunhuang (敦煌).

Tags:   敦煌 甘粛省 China topography fauna landscape Dunhuang Gansu

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Lijiang is a World Heritage site in Yunnan Provice of China.
It is an old town inhabited by Naxi people who speak a Tibeto-Burmese language. They have their own script to write their language.
Lijiang suffered from a disastrous earthquake in 1996. This photo was taken just before the earthquake.

Tags:   people river townscape 麗江 雲南省 China Lijiang Yunnan bridge

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