北京为什么成了首都？Why Did Beijing Become the Capital?

Over China's long history, Beijing slowly grew from a remote frontier town into the centre of the whole country. What names has Beijing had in the past? What allowed Beijing to rise from underdog to capital? What natural geographical advantages does it actually have? Does Beijing have any genuine local specialities? Is it a city that bleeds the rest of the country dry? When the realm fell into chaos, which regional powers had their base in Beijing, and why did they all fail? Why did the Yuan, the Ming, the Qing, the Beiyang government and the People's Republic all choose Beijing as their capital? In this salon we use these questions as a thread to tell the history of the city of Beijing. Reference: Hou Renzhi, An Historical Geography of Peiping