Geography of Beijing

Beijing is a municipality located in North China 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 (elevation 20 to 60 m (66 to 200 ft)) that opens to the east and south. The municipality’s outlying districts and counties extend into the mountains that surround the city from the southwest to the northeast. The highest peaks are over 2,000 m (6,600 ft).

Beijing Municipality consists of six city districts (previously eight, see Xuanwu and Chongwen), eight suburban districts and two rural counties. It covers a total area of 16,807.8 km2 (6,489.5 sq mi). By land area, the municipality is slightly larger than the country of Montenegro, though much of the municipality outside the urban core are sparsely populated mountains and farmland. The terrain is roughly 38% flat and 62% mountainous.[1] The city is 150 km (93 mi) 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.