It was formerly known as
Beijing under the
Northern Song dynasty, who used it as their northern capital. The city served as an important centre for learning during
Imperial China. It was renamed to
Daming Fu during the
Ming Dynasty and stayed unchanged until the
Republican era. French Jesuits settled in the city in 1897 and founded a French College (
Fawen 法文). A large Gothic church was erected inside the city walls from 1918 to 1921; it became a cathedral in 1935 and is listed as key cultural relic of the People's Republic of China since 2013. ==Administrative divisions==