Location: located at the northern tip of North China Plain. Tian'anmen Square in the center of Beijing is situated at 39O56' North Latitude and 116O20' East Longitude. It lies at approximately the same latitude as Philadelphia in the U.S. and Madrid in Spain. With a total area of 16,800 sq. kilometers, Beijing Municipality is roughly the size of Belgium.

Physical Features: surrounded on the west, north and east by the Yanshan Mountains. The small alluvial plain of the Yongding River lies to its southeast. Beijing faces the Bohai Sea, which is also called the Beijing Bay. The city is 39% flat land and 61% mountainous area.

Climate: enjoys a moderate continental climate. The average yearly rainfall is about 600 to 700 millimetres. Much of it falls in late June, July and August. Spring in Beijing is dry and dusty, summer rainy, winter long, sunny and dry. The best season in Beijing, as in many other parts of China, is autumn.

Mountains: the Western Hills, which belong to the Taihang Range; Jundu Mountain, in the north, which is part of the Yanshan Mountains.
Rivers: Yongding River, a branch of the Haihe River

History: In 1215 CE, Genghis Khan set fire to Yanjing and slaughtered everyone in sight. After a seven year seige, the Mongols destroyed Yanjing, eventually taking control of all of China. By 1279 Kublai Khan had crushed the remains of the Song Dynasty and was the undisputed ruler of China. Long before this, however, he had realized that winning the battles did not mean he would win the war. To do that, he needed to win over the people, and in order to win their trust, he could not continue to appear in their eyes as a "barbaric conqueror" whose only interest in them was in how he might exploit their resources. He needed a government, and one that would not oppress the people.

He began by issuing orders that the Chinese would be treated with respect. They were to be allowed to continue with commerce and their property would not be confiscated — a normal practice for most conquerors of the day. He also decided to move his capital from Kharakhorum (Genghis's capital city) to a more central location than either Kharakhorum or Shangdu. He chose the site where Yanjing had once stood. The new city was christened Khanbaliq, later known to the Chinese as Dai-du (Great Capital).

It was as Khanbaliq that Beijing really began to make an impact on history. Twelve thousand men worked on building the new city and it was finished in only seven years. In fact, without Kublai Khan's efforts, the Chinese capital of Beijing would not exist today. Except for very short periods, it has remained the capital of China since Kublai's day.

Kublai's new city was surrounded by a wall that now encloses the heart of Beijing. Each side of the outer walls had three gates, except on the northern side where there were only two. Wide straight avenues connected these gates, creating boundaries for the city's fifty wards. Smaller streets and narrow alleyways extended from these main thoroughfares. He also rebuilt and rerouted portions of the Grand Canal and extended it to Beijing for the transport of grain from the agriculturally richer southern regions to the north. The termination point of the Canal was a short distance outside the city, but water transport continued along the Tonghui River, ending at the Houhai wharf in the southeast of Khanbaliq, and producing a thriving commercial district.

In addition, he build the grand palaces described by Marco Polo, who also told of the vast wealth that came into Dai-du. “Here arrives luxuries and rare things more than in any other city”. From India come spices and pearls and “no day during the year came it less than a 1,000 wagonloads with silk from the provinces of China”.