}
Beijing ( ;
; ),
alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the
capital of the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, sli ...
. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's
most populous national capital city, with over 21 million residents. It has an
administrative area of ,
the third in the country after
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong ...
and
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
. It is located in
Northern China, and is governed as a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality ...
under the direct administration of the
State Council State Council may refer to:
Government
* State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President
* State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative autho ...
with
16 urban, suburban, and rural districts.
[Figures based on 2006 statistics published in 2007 National Statistical Yearbook of China and available online at ]
archive
. Retrieved 21 April 2009. Beijing is mostly surrounded by Hebei Province with the exception of neighboring
Tianjin to the southeast; together, the three divisions form the
Jingjinji