The earlier transliterations (Wade Giles?) seems to have universally made Chinese Mandarin read harsher than it is. So “CHung” instead of the proper “Jiang” (with a french style ‘J’ on that).
Did Mandarin change, or were the early ‘foreign devils’ like Wade-Giles hard of hearing? Peking (PEE - KING) sounds distinct and much more constanant-al than the softer Beijing.