Beijing railway station
railway station in Beijing, China
Beijing railway station is a passenger railway station in Dongcheng District, Beijing. The station is located just southeast of the city centre inside the Second Ring Road with Beijing Station Street to the north and the remnants of the city wall between Chongwenmen and Dongbianmen to the south. The Beijing railway station opened in 1959 and was the largest train station in China at the time. Though superseded by the larger Beijing West and Beijing South stations, this station remains the only one located inside the old walled city. Trains entering and leaving the station pass by the Dongbianmen corner tower. With gilded eaves and soaring clock towers, the architecture of the railway blends traditional Chinese and socialist realist influence.
Generally, trains for northeast China (Shenyang, Dalian, Harbin) on the Beijing–Harbin railway, for Shandong (Jinan, Qingdao) and the Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou) on the Beijing–Shanghai railway and some for Inner and the Republic of Mongolia depart from this station. Some international lines (notably the railway line linking Beijing to Moscow and to Pyongyang, North Korea (DPRK), amongst others), also depart from this station.
Beijing railway station used to be the eastern terminus of Beijing Subway's Line 1 until 1987, when the station became part of Line 2. More than 30 Beijing bus and trolleybus routes stop at or near the railway station.
The public source identifies “Beijing railway station” as railway station in Beijing, China. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Beijing, railway and station.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Beijing railway station”, the useful work is to connect “railway station in Beijing, China” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q285141. Authority coordinates are 39.902, 116.421. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1959 and 1987.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Beijing railway station”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Beijing railway station primary sources, Beijing railway station archive and Beijing research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Beijing railway station”?
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- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Beijing railway station” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.