Roughly 300 years later, Beijing had become a crowded, windswept city; the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci often wore a veil when he went out, partly to move around undisturbed and partly to keep out ...

Strolling around Sanlitun, a glamorous shopping mecca and 24-hour catwalk in central Beijing, it’s easy to forget that the city is the home of what is essentially a one-party dictatorship ...

The following year, Emperor Yongle formally transferred the capital from Nanjing to Beiping and, for the first time, named the city Beijing (Northern Capital). Extensive reconstruction work was ...