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| | Discover Beijing, China |
 | | Beijing is the capital city of the People's Republic of China. |
 | | Beijing literally means "northern capital", the result of an East Asian tradition to name capital cities as such: other cities similarly named include Nanjing, China, meaning "southern capital"; Tokyo, Japan, and Tonkin (??; now Hanoi), Vietnam, both meaning "eastern capital"; as well as Kyoto, Japan, and Gyeongseong, Korea, both meaning simply "capital". |
 | | The term originated with French missionaries four hundred years ago, and corresponds to an archaic pronunciation which does not take into account a /k/ to /t?/ sound change in Mandarin that occurred during the Qing dynasty. |
| www.magicaljourneys.com /China/china-discover-beijing.html (1814 words) |
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