Through this talk you will get a clear understanding of how Beijing became the city it is today. Using our own collection of original maps of Beijing, Beijing Postcards has created a visual presentation of the development of the Northern capital, from a maze of hutong alleyways to a megacity with over 20 million inhabitants.

During this talk we will explore how the Tiananmen became what it is today. Through Beijing Postcards collection of historical photographs, we will show how Tiananmen detached itself from the imperial complex and went from being a mere gate to a Communist shrine.

On January 8 1937 the body of a young foreign girl was found brutally mutilated at the foot of Beijing’s city wall. In this talk we will revisit what was arguably Old Beijing’s most infamous murder, examine the new evidence and attempt to decide who really killed Pamela Werner.

"The Central Axis of Beijing" tells the story of this commanding stretch from when it was first laid out during the Mongol Yuan dynasty, to when it was disturbed after the communist takeover, right up until the 2008 Olympics where the axis enjoyed a big comeback.

“Beijing on the Move” is the story of how development caught up with the old capital, how the city gradually broke down the walls of its confinement and replaced it with ring road upon ring road. Because the way you move also determines the way you think.

Look at old original maps of Beijing with a glass of exquisite whisky in your hand. Beijing Postcards will take out 10 original Beijing maps from our collection, introduce the maps and focus on one noteworthy detail from each map and in this way frame the presentation.

This is the story of three women living in Beijing. Grandmother Zhang with "liberation feet", the retired office worker Sun, and Xue Rui, a career woman in her thirties. Through their lives, marriages, and one divorce we explore the transformation of the women's role in the capital of China.

For hundreds of years, the sight of the Randeng pagoda told boatmen that they had arrived at the capital. Today, international airports, train stations and ring-roads welcome people to Beijing, it is easy to forget how important the waterways once were to the city. In fact, without the Yongding River, Beijing would not be here at all.

Test your knowledge about the city you live in! This quiz is partly a talk, partly a game show. All questions relate to the history of Beijing. The topics are rooted in archival research done by Beijing Postcards; answers come from dusty archives, not Wikipedia!