Hebei Province

Meaning of the name - River North

Hebei (Chinese: 河北; pinyin: Hébĕi; Wade-Giles: Ho-pei; Postal System Pinyin: Hopeh) is a northern province of the People's Republic of China. Its one-character abbreviation is 冀 (pinyin: jì), named after Ji Province (冀州 Jì Zhōu), a Han Dynasty province (zhou) that included southern Hebei. The name Hebei means "north of the (Yellow) River".

Zhili (Traditional Chinese: 直隸, Simplified Chinese: 直隶, Hanyu Pinyin: Zhílì, Wade-Giles: Chih-li), meaning "Directly Ruled (by the Imperial Court)", was the name of Hebei before 1928.

Hebei completely surrounds Beijing and Tianjin municipalities (which also border each other). It borders Liaoning to the northeast, Inner Mongolia to the north, Shanxi to the west, Henan to the south, and Shandong to the southeast. Bohai Bay of the Yellow Sea is to the east. A small part of Hebei, an exclave disjointed from the rest of the province, is wedged between the municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin.

A common alternate name for Hebei is Yānzhào (燕赵), after the state of Yan and state of Zhao that existed here during the Warring States Period.

Major Cities:

Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Tangshan, Qinhuangdao, Handan, Zhangjiakou

Neighboring Areas:

Beijing and Tianjin Municipalities; Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Liaoning provinces, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Municipal government office address:

10 Weimingjie, Shijiazhuang City

Tel: 0311-709 2680

Website: www.hebei.gov.cn

History of Hebei

Geography and Climate

Most of central and southern Hebei lies within the North China Plain. The province is bordered by the Yan Mountains (Yan Shan) in the north and Taihang Mountains (Taihang Shan) in the west, while the southeast forms part of the North China Plain. The highest peak is Mount Xiaowutai with an altitude of 2882 m. Hebei borders Bohai Sea on the east. The Hai He watershed covers most of the province's central and southern parts, and the Luan He watershed covers the northeast.

Hebei has a continental monsoon climate, with annual rainfall of 400 to 800 mm. It often rains heavily in summer. Spring may be a time for sandstorms.

Administrative divisions

Hebei is made up of 11 prefecture-level divisions, which are all prefecture-level cities:

These are subdivided into 172 county-level divisions (22 county-level cities, 108 counties, 6 autonomous counties and 36 districts). Those are, in turn, divided into 2207 township-level divisions (1 district public office, 937 towns, 979 townships, 55 ethnic townships, and 235 subdistricts).

Culture

Dialects of Mandarin are spoken over most of the province, except along the western border, where dialects of Jin-yu, another subdivision of Chinese, are spoken instead. (Jin-yu is sometimes classified as a subdivision of Mandarin. For more information, see Chinese spoken language.)

Traditional forms of musical performing arts in Hebei include Pingju, Hebei Bangzi, and Cangzhou Kuaiban Dagu. Traditional arts and crafts include Dingzhou porcelain.

Transportation

Having the most number of national highways, Hebei's total highway length is more than 40 thousand kilometers. Hebei also has the highest coverage of railways in the country. There are railways to Guangzhou, Harbin, Baotou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Jiujiang, Jinan and others. Shijiazhuang and Shanhaiguan are two main railway transportation centers. Qinhuangdao is one of the busiest port in northern China. Shijiazhuang is also the center of air transportation.

Tourism

The east end of the Ming Great Wall is located on the coast at Shanhaiguan, near Qinhuangdao. The Ming Great Wall crosses the northern part of the province. Beidaihe, located nearby, is a popular beach resort.

The Chengde Mountain Resort and its outlying temples are a World Heritage Site. Also known as the Rehe Palace, this was the summer resort of the Qing Dynasty emperors.

Also, there are Qing Dynasty imperial tombs at Zunhua (East Qing Tombs) and Yixian (West Qing Tombs). These are also part of a World Heritage Site.

The Zhaozhou Anji Bridge, built during the Sui Dynasty, is the oldest stone arch bridge in China, and one of the most significant examples of pre-modern Chinese civil engineering.

Baoding, the old provincial capital, contains the historical Zhili Governor's Residence.

Xibaipo, a village about 90 km from Shijiazhuang, was the location of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army during the decisive stages of the Chinese Civil War between May 26, 1948 and March 23, 1949, at which point they were moved to Beijing. Today, the area houses a memorial site.

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