Abstract: The appellations of Beijing in the titles of Ming & Qing sketch works can provide a special perspective for a glimpse into the writing of Beijing. There are four typical groups of appellations with “Jingshi(literally,‘capital city’)”,“Dijing(literally,‘imperial metropolitan’)”,and “Jiujing(literally,‘old capital’)” as the first group;“Chang'an(literally,‘Khumdan’)”,“Rixia(literally,‘under the sun’)”,and “Chunming(literally,‘spring bright’)” as the second group;“Tianfu(literally,‘heavenly mansion’)”,“Chenyuan(literally,‘heavenly enclosure’)”,and “Tianzhi(literally,‘close to heaven’)” as the third group;and “Yandu(literally,‘the capital of Yan-kingdom’)”,“Yanjing(literally,‘the metropolitan of Yan-kingdom’)”,and “Yantai(literally,‘the tower of Yan-kingdom’)” as the fourth group. The four groups are different from each other in terms of reference and connotation,all together forming a complicated image of the capital city. All those appellations of Beijing reflect the complexity of this capital city in the Ming & Qing Dynasties and also show its unpredictable fate as capital city from the Ming Dynasty down to today. Based on the appellation information in the titles of Ming & Qing sketch works,the influences on the writing of Beijing can be sought from the factors like authors' own identities and experiences,as well as some special current political situations.

Key words: Ming &, Qing sketch works, the writing of the capital city, Beijing, appellations