Beijing Topographic Map

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The topographic map of Beijing shows the physical features of Beijing and highlights the most famous tourist attractions in the counties around Beijing. As shown on the map, with mountains that surround the city from the southwest to the northeast, the city itself lies on flat land that opens to the east and south. The Great Wall of China, which stretches across the northern part of Beijing Municipality, made use of this rugged topography to defend against nomadic incursions from the north.

Geographically, Beijing is located 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 that opens to the east and south. The much larger Beijing Municipality encompasses mountains that surround the city from the southwest to the northeast and reach elevations of over 2,000 m.

Beijing Municipality consists of eight city districts, eight suburban districts and two rural counties. It covers a total area of 16,807.8 sq. km. The terrain is roughly 38% flat and 62% mountainous. The city is 150 km 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.

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