从1840年到1949年,北京经历了从晚清的皇城、北洋政府的都城到国民党南京政府时期改名为北平的变迁。期间,在近代北京的政治舞台上活跃着一批批外国人。他们中有资本一帝国主义国家派驻中国的外交官,有受聘于中国政府的官员,有的是从传教士、记者、学者转而涉足政坛的,也有苏联政府和共产国际派往中国的外交人员和革命家。这些人构成了近代在京外国人中的重要组成部分,也是北京历史文化特殊的一个群体。他们中的侵略者,加剧了北京乃至中国半殖民地化的深化程度;而进步人士的到来,则起到了推动北京和中国近代思想的启蒙和革命运动发展的作用。
From 1840 to 1949, many foreign political people came to Beijing. Some were the diplomats sent to Beijing by capital-imperialist countries, some were officials employed by the Chinese government and some were the missionaries, journalists, scholars who involved in polities. Some of them were the diplomats and revolutionaries of the former USSR (Russian) government and the Communist International. Their activities in Beijing profoundly affected the political process in modern Beijing. The aggressive among them greatly increased Beijing' s colonization and semi-colonization, while the progressive among them promoted the revolution in Beijing and China. It is useful to investigate the impact of their activities in the construction of Beijing in its modern history for future progress.