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Beijing is located in northeastern China at the northern tip of the North China Plain, near the meeting point of the Xishan and Yanshan mountain ranges. The city itself lies on flat land (elevation ) that opens to the east and south. The municipality's outlying districts and counties extend into the mountains that surround the city from the southwest to the northeast. The highest peaks are over . Beijing Municipality consists of six city districts (previously eight, see Xuanwu and Chongwen), eight suburban districts and two rural counties. It covers a total area of . By land area, the municipality is slightly larger than the country of Montenegro, though much of the municipality outside the urban core are sparsely populated mountains and farmland. The terrain is roughly 38% flat and 62% mountainous.〔(Chinese) (北京地理概貌 ) last accessed 11/18/08〕 The city is inland from the Bohai Sea via Tianjin Municipality in the southeast. Aside from Tianjin, Beijing is bordered on all other sides by Hebei Province, including a piece wedged between Beijing and Tianjin. Historically, Beijing was situated on the border between sedentary agricultural areas to the south and pastoralist regions beyond the mountains to the north. The Great Wall of China was built across the mountains north of Beijing to guard against nomadic invasions. In modern times, the same mountains that shielded Beijing from the Gobi steppes also form a semi-circular basin which catches the city's air pollution. Severe smog problems develop in the summer as the hot and humid air pressure from monsoons in the south prevent air pollutants from leaving the basin. Smog is less severe in the fall and winter when the direction of the wind currents reverse course as the vast anticyclone high pressure system takes hold and brings cold, dry air from Siberia. In the spring, the northerly winds, pick up dust from desertifying areas of western China and bring occasionally severe dust storms to Beijing. The city's climate is characterized by hot, humid summers and cold, windy, and dry winters. ==Layout of Beijing's Administrative Divisions== In imperial times, the old walled city of Beijing occupied .〔 The physical size of the city has grown more than tenfold in recent decades to about . The inner suburbs (), and outer suburbs () provide further space for growth.〔 The remaining of the municipality consists of rural areas, nature reserves and lightly populated mountains.〔 Two urban districts, Dongcheng and Xicheng form the urban core of Beijing. They occupy the area inside the old walled city, which used to be divided into two walled sections, ''neicheng'', the inner city and ''waicheng'', the adjoining outer city to the south. Though the city walls no longer stand, they continue to retain geographic significance. Streets that once traversed the wall are still named ''nei'' (inner) or ''wai'' (outer) in relationship to whether the street section is inside or outside the wall. Today, Line 2 loop of the Beijing Subway traces the inner city wall. The 2nd Ring Road outlines the combined walled city including the outer city. The inner city is divided into eastern and western halves by Dongcheng and Xicheng Districts. The Forbidden City, where emperors once lived, and Tiananmen Square, the center of the city, both belong to Dongcheng. But the Zhongnanhai Compound, next door to the Forbidden City, where China’s current leaders now reside, and the Great Hall of the People, on the west side of Tiananmen Square, both are part of Xicheng. The outer city, adjacent and south of the inner city, comprises the former Xuanwu and Chongwen districts, merged with Xicheng and Dongcheng respectively in July 2010. Chongwen is home to the Temple of Heaven. Xuanwu is oldest continuously inhabited part of Beijing. Some of its neighborhoods including those around the Niujie Mosque (b. 996 A.D.) and Pagoda of Tianning Temple (b. 1119 A.D.) predate the Yuan capital. Unlike in most other parts of the city, most narrow lanes in Xuanwu are called ''jie'' instead of ''hutongs''. Each of the two core city districts has population density of over 20000 persons/km2 (51800 persons/sq. mi.) Beyond the 2nd Ring Road, the city spreads out in a checkerboard fashion marked by concentric ring roads. Four other districts, Haidian, Chaoyang, Fengtai and Shijingshan, were once considered on the city’s outskirts, but are now integral parts of the city inside the 5th Ring Road. All four have population densities above 4500 persons/km2 (11,600 persons/km2). The vast Haidian District to the northwest is home to the Old and New Summer Palace, the university district, and Zhongguancun, the city’s high-technology silicon village. The even bigger Chaoyang District embraces the city from the north and east. Its possessions include Beijing Central Business District (CBD), the Olympic Green, and even the Beijing Capital International Airport.〔The Beijing Capital Airport and the highway connecting it to the city are administered by Chaoyang District even though the airport is almost completely surrounded by Shunyi District.〕 Shijingshan is a heavily industrialized district in the foothills of the Western Hills. Fengtai spans across the south of urban Beijing. Of the suburban districts further afield, Tongzhou and Shunyi in the east are rapidly urbanizing. Mentougou and Fangshan lie to the west, in Xishan, also known as the Western Hills. Fangshan is home to two of the oldest prehistoric sites in Beijing Municipality: the caves at Zhoukoudian, home of the Peking Man, and Liulihe, the site of the capital of the Yan Kingdom during the Western Zhou Dynasty. Daxing District, to the south, is largely agricultural but is also developing its own technology park in Yizhuang. Changping just north of the city ranges from densely urbanized Tiantongyuan in the south to the Juyongguan Great Wall in the north. In between are the Thirteen Ming Tombs. Far north of the municipality in the Yanshan range are Yanqing and Miyun Counties, and Huairou and Pinggu Districts, both of which were rural counties until 2001. The far north is rugged, rural and sparsely populated. Yanqing, Huairou and Miyun all have fewer than 200 residents per km2 (518/sq. mi.). They are perhaps best known for stretches of the Great Wall, with Badaling and Shuiguan in Yanqing, Mutianyu, Huanghuacheng and Jiankou in Huairou, and Gubeikou and Simatai in Miyun, and Jiangjunguan in Pinggu. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Geography of Beijing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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