Study on a Thousand Years of Urban Design in Beijing

This book investigates the spatiotemporal positioning and morphogenetic evolution of Beijing as a millennial capital from the Liao and Jin dynasties onward. Integrating urban archaeological remains, historic documentation and geometric analysis, the authors decoded the capital's axial determination, cruciform orientation, and mountain-water composition from macroscopic and mesoscopic perspectives. The morphological interaction was microscopically examined between the city layout of Yuan Dadu and its topographic-hydrographic context, as well as the evolutionary logic of the Ming-Qing capital. The volume reveals how ancient Chinese spatial culture under the philosophy of "harmony between heaven and humanity" and long-distance geodesy shaped the design of the capital. By elucidating the coupling of ritual, geomancy and natural landforms, it establishes a theoretically rigorous paradigm for understanding the spatial systems of the historic capital, providing critical methodological reference for contemporary historic urban conservation.