Digging into Beijing's birth

By Wang Kaihao | CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2025-03-07 07:53 From left: An array of ritual bronze ware unearthed from a tomb coded M1902 at the Liulihe Site in Beijing. CHINA DAILY New discoveries at Liulihe provide fresh clues about the origin of the city that eventually became China's capital, Wang Kaihao reports. Just over 3,000 years ago, the newly established Western Zhou Dynasty included present-day Beijing area under the rule of a united central kingship for the first time. The Yan state, whose leaders were from the same clan as the Zhou kings, rose around Beijing, marking the birth of the city.