Beijing, Easier Welcome to the site in which we make Beijing easier. With the world’s attention focused on China’s capital this summer, we want to make it easier for any of ING’s 85 million customers travelling to the city to get around, take in some of its famous tourist sites and most importantly exchange money into the local currency to purchase food and souvenirs. The site is a cooperation between ING, one of the world’s largest financial services companies and its partner, Bank of Beijing, China’s largest city commercial bank and which is headquartered in the city. This site aims to give you a snapshot of the basics about getting around the city, the main places to visit—but mainly it aims to help make Beijing easier for you.

History of the city Beijing means northern (北) capital (京) in Chinese. Its status as a seat of power, however, is nothing new for Beijing, which as its name suggests, was a capital as early as 938 AD during the Liao Dynasty. The city lost its ruling status when Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty moved his capital to Nanjing—meaning southern (南) capital (京)—before the city was restored following a Manchu revolt against the Mings, and which established the Qing Dynasty. The city is also often referred to as Peking, which stems from the pronunciation of the Chinese characters in the southern Chinese dialect of Cantonese (Ba Ging) and from where foreigners first travelled to the city.