Hebei

Not to be confused with the unrelated province of Hubei or the city of Hebi, Henan.
For other uses, see Hebei (disambiguation).
Hebei Province
河北省
Province
Name transcription(s)
 • Chinese 河北省 (Héběi Shěng)
 • Abbreviation 冀 (pinyin: Jì)
Map showing the location of Hebei Province
Map showing the location of Hebei Province
Coordinates: 39°18′N 116°42′E / 39.3°N 116.7°ECoordinates: 39°18′N 116°42′E / 39.3°N 116.7°E
Named for 河 hé—"(Yellow) River"
北 běi—"north"
"north of the Yellow River"
Capital Shijiazhuang
Largest city Baoding
Divisions 12 prefectures, 172 counties, 2207 townships
Government
 • Secretary Zhou Benshun
 • Governor Zhang Qingwei
Area
 • Total 187,700 km2 (72,500 sq mi)
Area rank 12th
Population (2015)[1]
 • Total 73,326,101
 • Rank 6th
 • Density 390/km2 (1,000/sq mi)
 • Density rank 11th
Demographics
 • Ethnic composition Han: 96%
Manchu: 3%
Hui: 0.8%
Mongol: 0.3%
 • Languages and dialects Jilu Mandarin, Beijing Mandarin, Jin
ISO 3166 code CN-13
GDP (2014) CNY 2.942 trillion
US$ 478.92 billion[2] (6th)
 - per capita CNY 40,124
US$ 6,531 (14th)
HDI (2010) 0.691[3] (medium) (16th)
Website www.hebei.gov.cn
(Simplified Chinese)
english.hebei.gov.cn (English)
Hebei
Chinese 河北
Hanyu Pinyin Héběi
Postal Map Hopeh
alternative Chinese names
Simplified Chinese 直隶
Traditional Chinese 直隸
Hanyu Pinyin Zhílì
Second alternative Chinese name
Simplified Chinese 燕赵
Traditional Chinese 燕趙
Hanyu Pinyin Yānzhào

Hebei (Chinese: 河北; pinyin:  Héběi; Postal map spelling: Hopeh) is a province of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "冀" (jì), named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province (zhou) that included what is now southern Hebei. The name Hebei means "north of the river", referring to its location entirely to the north of the Yellow River.[4]

Hebei was formed in 1928 after the central government dissolved the province of Chihli (直隸), which means "Directly Ruled (by the Imperial Court)".

Beijing and Tianjin Municipalities, which border each other, were carved out of Hebei. The province 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, Sanhe Exclave, consisting of Sanhe, Dachang Hui Autonomous County, and Xianghe County, 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 (燕趙), after the state of Yan and state of Zhao that existed here during the Warring States period of early Chinese history.

History

Plains in Hebei were the home of Peking man, a group of Homo erectus that lived in the area around 200,000 to 700,000 years ago. Neolithic findings at the prehistoric Beifudi site date back to 7000 and 8000 BC.[5]

During the Spring and Autumn Period (722 BC – 476 BC), Hebei was under the rule of the states of Yan (燕) in the north and Jin (晉) in the south. Also during this period, a nomadic people known as Dí (狄) invaded the plains of northern China and established Zhongshan (中山) in central Hebei. During the Warring States period (403 BC–221 BC), Jin was partitioned, and much of its territory within Hebei went to Zhao (趙).

The Qin Dynasty unified China in 221 BC. The Han Dynasty (206 BC – AD 220) ruled the area under two provinces (zhou), Youzhou Province (幽州) in the north and Jizhou Province (冀州 Jì Zhōu) in the south. At the end of the Han Dynasty, most of Hebei came under the control of warlords Gongsun Zan in the north and Yuan Shao further south; Yuan Shao emerged victorious of the two, but he was soon defeated by rival Cao Cao (based further south, in modern-day Henan) in the Battle of Guandu in 200. Hebei then came under the rule of the Kingdom of Wei (one of the Three Kingdoms), established by the descendants of Cao Cao.

1500-year-old iron lion in Cangzhou

After the invasions of northern nomadic peoples at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, the chaos of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern and Southern Dynasties ensued. Hebei, firmly in North China and right at the northern frontier, changed hands many times, being controlled at various points in history by the Later Zhao, Former Yan, Former Qin, and Later Yan. The Northern Wei reunified northern China in 440, but split in half in 534, with Hebei coming under the eastern half (first the Eastern Wei; then the Northern Qi), which had its capital at Ye (鄴), near modern Linzhang, Hebei. The Sui Dynasty again unified China in 589.

During the Tang Dynasty (618–907), the area was formally designated "Hebei" (north of the Yellow River) for the first time. During the earlier part of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Hebei was fragmented among several regimes, though it was eventually unified by Li Cunxu, who established the Later Tang (923–936). The next dynasty, the Later Jin under Shi Jingtang, posthumously known as Emperor Gaozu of Later Jin, ceded much of modern-day northern Hebei to the Khitan Liao Dynasty in the north; this territory, called the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, became a major weakness in the Chinese defense against the Khitans for the next century, since it lay within the Great Wall.

During the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127), the sixteen ceded prefectures continued to be an area of hot contention between Song China and the Liao Dynasty. The Southern Song Dynasty that came after abandoned all of North China, including Hebei, to the Jurchen Jin Dynasty after the Jingkang Incident in 1127 of the Jin–Song wars.

The Putuo Zongcheng Temple of Chengde, Hebei, built in 1771 during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.
Saihanba National Park in Inner Mongolian plateau grassland border, north Chengde, Hebei

The Mongol Yuan Dynasty divided China into provinces but did not establish Hebei as a province. Rather, the area was directly administrated by the Secretariat (中書省) at capital Dadu. The Ming Dynasty ruled Hebei as "Beizhili" (北直隸, pinyin: Běizhílì), meaning "Northern Directly Ruled", because the area contained and was directly ruled by the imperial capital, Beijing; the "Northern" designation was used because there was a southern counterpart covering present-day Jiangsu and Anhui. When the Manchu Qing Dynasty came to power in 1644, they abolished the southern counterpart, and Hebei became known as "Zhili", or simply "Directly Ruled". During the Qing Dynasty, the northern borders of Zhili extended deep into what is now Inner Mongolia, and overlapped in jurisdiction with the leagues of Inner Mongolia.

The Qing Dynasty collapsed in 1912 and was replaced by the Republic of China. Within a few years, China descended into civil war, with regional warlords vying for power. Since Zhili was so close to Peking (Beijing), the capital, it was the site of frequent wars, including the Zhiwan War, the First Zhifeng War and the Second Zhifeng War. With the success of the Northern Expedition, a successful campaign by the Kuomintang to end the rule of the warlords, the capital was moved from Peking (Beijing) to Nanking (Nanjing). As a result, the name of Zhili was changed to Hebei to reflect that fact that it had a standard provincial administration, and that the capital had been relocated elsewhere.

The founding of the People's Republic of China saw several changes: the region around Chengde, previously part of Rehe Province (historically part of Manchuria), and the region around Zhangjiakou, previously part of Chahar Province (historically part of Inner Mongolia), were merged into Hebei, extending its borders northwards beyond the Great Wall. The capital was also moved from Baoding to the upstart city of Shijiazhuang, and, for a short period, to Tianjin.

On July 28, 1976, Tangshan was struck by a powerful earthquake, the Tangshan earthquake, the deadliest of the 20th century with over 240,000 killed. A series of smaller earthquakes struck the city in the following decade.

In 2005, Chinese archaeologists unearthed what is being called the Chinese equivalent of Italy's Pompeii. The find in question, located near Liumengchun Village (柳孟春村) in Cang County in east-central Hebei, is a buried settlement destroyed nearly 700 years ago by a major earthquake. Another possible explanation may be the four successive floods which hit the area around the time when the settlement met its sudden end. The settlement appears to have been a booming commercial center during the Song Dynasty.

Geography

Langyashan (Wolf Tooth Mountain), in Yi County, Hebei.

Most of central and southern Hebei lies within the North China Plain. The western part of Hebei rises into the Taihang Mountains (Taihang Shan), while the Yan Mountains (Yan Shan) run through northern Hebei, beyond which lie the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. The Great Wall of China cuts through northern Hebei from east to west as well, briefly entering the border of Beijing Municipality, and terminates at the seacoast of Shanhaiguan in northeastern Hebei. The highest peak is Mount Xiaowutai in northwestern Hebei, 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. Not counting the numerous reservoirs to be found in Hebei's hills and mountains, the largest lake in Hebei is Baiyangdian, located mostly in Anxin County.

Hebei has a continental monsoon climate, with cold, dry winters, and hot, humid summers. Temperatures average −16 to −3 °C (3 to 27 °F) in January and 20 to 27 °C (68 to 81 °F) in July; the annual precipitation ranges from 400 to 800 millimetres (16 to 31 in), concentrated heavily in summer.

Major cities:

Administrative divisions

Hebei is made up of eleven prefecture-level divisions: all prefecture-level cities (along with two directly administered sub-prefecture-level cities):

Map # Name Administrative Seat Chinese
Hanyu Pinyin		 Population (2010)
— Prefecture-level city —
1 Shijiazhuang
(Provincial seat)		 Chang'an District 石家庄市
Shíjiāzhuāng Shì		 9,547,869
2 Baoding Xinshi District 保定市
Bǎodìng Shì		 10,029,197
3 Cangzhou Yunhe District 沧州市
Cāngzhōu Shì		 7,134,053
4 Chengde Shuangqiao District 承德市
Chéngdé Shì		 3,473,197
5 Handan Congtai District 邯鄲市
Hándān Shì		 9,174,679
6 Hengshui Taocheng District 衡水市
Héngshǔi Shì		 4,340,773
7 Langfang Anci District 廊坊市
Lángfāng Shì		 4,358,839
8 Qinhuangdao Haigang District 秦皇島市
Qínhuángdǎo Shì		 2,987,605
9 Tangshan Lunan District 唐山市
Tángshān Shì		 7,577,284
10 Xingtai Qiaodong District 邢台市
Xíngtái Shì		 7,104,114
11 Zhangjiakou Qiaoxi District 张家口市
Zhāngjiākǒu Shì		 4,345,491
— Separate jurisdictions —
12 North China Oilfield
Administrative Region		 Separate administrative
area of jurisdiction		 华北油田地区
Huáběiyóutián Dìqū		 133,000
— Sub-prefecture-level city —
13 Xinji Xinji 辛集市
Xīnjí Shì		 615,919
14 Dingzhou Nanchengqu Subdistrict 定州市
Dìngzhōu Shì		 1,165,182

These eleven prefecture-level divisions 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).

Politics

Main articles: Politics of Hebei and List of provincial leaders of the People's Republic of China

The politics of Hebei is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in mainland China.

The Governor of Hebei is the highest-ranking official in the People's Government of Hebei. However, in the province's dual party-government governing system, the Governor has less power than the Hebei Communist Party of China Provincial Committee Secretary (CPC Party Chief).

Economy

Downtown Shijiazhuang.

In 2011, Hebei's GDP was 2.40 trillion yuan (US$379 billion),[6] an increase of 11% over the previous year and ranked 6th in the PRC. GDP per capita reached 24,428 Renminbi. Disposable income per capita in urban areas was 13,441 RMB, while rural pure income per capita was 4,795 RMB. The primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors of industry contributed 203.46 billion, 877.74 billion, and 537.66 billion RMB respectively. The registered urban unemployment rate was 3.96%.

A corner in downtown Zhangjiakou.

40% of Hebei's labor force works in the agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry sectors, with the majority of production from these industries going to Beijing and Tianjin[7] Hebei's main agricultural products are cereal crops including wheat, maize, millet, and sorghum. Cash crops like cotton, peanut, soybeans and sesame are also produced.

Kailuan, with a history of over 100 years, is one of China's first modern coal mines, and remains a major mine with an annual production of over 20 million metric tonnes. Much of the North China Oilfield is found in Hebei, and there are also major iron mines at Handan and Qian'an. Iron, as well as steel, manufacturing are the largest industries in Hebei, and are likely to remain so as these industries consolidate and Hebei continues to grow as a manufacturing and transportation center for the region.[7]

Hebei's industries include textiles, coal, steel, iron, engineering, chemical production, petroleum, power, ceramics and food.

Economic and technological development zones

Demographics

The Lingxiao Pagoda of Zhengding, Hebei Province, built in AD 1045 during the Song Dynasty.

The population is mostly Han Chinese. 55 ethnic minorities are present in Hebei, representing 4.27% of the total population. The most important are Manchu (2.1 million people), Hui people (600000 people) and Mongol (180000 people).[8]

Ethnic groups in Hebei, 2000 census
Nationality Population Percentage
Han Chinese 63,781,603 95.65%
Manchu 2,118,711 3.18%
Hui 542,639 0.78%
Mongol 169,887 0.26%
Zhuang 20,832 0.031%

Excludes members of the People's Liberation Army in active service.
Source: Department of Population, Social, Science and Technology Statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics of China and Department of Economic Development of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission of China, eds. Tabulation on Nationalities of 2000 Population Census of China. 2 vols. Beijing: Nationalities Publishing House (民族出版社), 2003. (ISBN 7-105-05425-5)

In 2004, the birth rate was 11.98 births per 1,000 people, while the death rate was 6.19 deaths per 1,000 people. The sex ratio was 104.52 males to 100 females.

Religion

The most widespread religions in Hebei (河北宗教) are Chinese folk religions including Taoism, and Chinese Buddhism. According to the local government there are 2.5 million believers enrolled in institutional religious organizations in Hebei.[9]

Hebei has the largest Catholic population in China, with 1 million Church members according to the local government.[10] and 1.5 million Catholics according to the Catholic Church.[11] The province is considered as the center of Catholicism in China. The town of Donglu, where an apparition of the Virgin Mary was reported to have occurred in 1900, is reportedly “one of the strongholds of the unofficial Catholic Church in China.”[12]

A large number of Catholics in Hebei remain loyal to the Pope and reject the authority of the Catholic Patriotic Association. Four of Hebei’s underground bishops have been imprisoned in recent years: Bishop Francis An Shuxin of Donglu since 1996; Bishop James Su Zhimin since October 1997; and Bishops Han Dingxiang of Yongnian who died in prison in 2007 and Julius Jia Zhiguo of Zhengding since late 1999.[11][13]

In 2003 there were 350.000 Protestants and 580.000 Muslims according to the government statistics.[14][15]

Culture

The giant Bodhisattva statue of Puning Temple, Chengde, Hebei province, built in 1755 under the Qianlong Emperor.

Dialects of Mandarin are spoken over most of the province, and most Mandarin dialects in Hebei are in turn classified as part of the Ji Lu Mandarin subdivision. Regions along the western border with Shanxi, however, have dialects that are distinct enough for linguists to consider them as part of Jin, another subdivision of Chinese, rather than Mandarin. In general, the dialects of Hebei are quite similar to and readily intelligible with the Beijing dialect, which forms the basis for Standard Chinese, the official language of the nation. However, there are also some distinct differences, such as differences in the pronunciation of certain words that derive from entering tone syllables (syllables ending on a plosive) in Middle Chinese.

Traditional forms of Chinese opera in Hebei include Pingju, Hebei Bangzi (also known as Hebei Clapper Opera), and Cangzhou Kuaiban Dagu. Pingju is especially popular: it tends to be colloquial in language and hence easy to understand for audiences. Originating from northeastern Hebei, Pingju has been influenced by other forms of Chinese opera like Beijing opera. Traditionally Pingju makes use of just a xiaosheng (young male lead), a xiaodan (young female lead), and a xiaohualian (young comic character), though it has since diversified with the use of other roles as well.

The Liaodi Pagoda, built in 1055 during the Song Dynasty

Quyang County, in central Hebei, is noted for its Dingzhou porcelain, which includes various vessels such as bowls, plates, vases, and cups, as well as figurines. Dingzhou porcelain is usually creamy white, though it is also made in other colours.

Hebei cuisine is typically based on wheat, mutton and beans.

Notable individuals

Well-known people born in Hebei Province include:

Media

Hebei is served by Hebei Television.

Transportation

Because Hebei surrounds Beijing and Tianjin, all the numerous important railway lines radiating out of these two cities pass through Hebei. The Beijing–Guangzhou Railway is one of the most important: it passes through many major cities such as Baoding, Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and Handan on its way south to Henan. Other important railways include the Beijing–Kowloon Railway, Beijing–Shanghai Railway, Beijing-Harbin Railway, Beijing–Chengde Railway, Beijing–Tongliao Railway, Beijing-Baotou Railway and Fengtai–Shacheng Railway. High-speed rail lines crossing the province include the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, Beijing-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway and Shijiazhuang–Taiyuan High-Speed Railway. Future high-speed rail lines from Beijing and Tianjin to Northeast China and Northwest China will traverse northern Hebei.

During the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, Beijing and Hebei were collaborating on a new passenger railway. The RMB 82.6 billion network will add 844 kilometers to the system. Current railway systems for Hebei trains are also being upgraded and will soon be able to travel at speeds of between 160 and 200 kilometers per hour.

As of the early 2013, railway schedule systems listed 160 passenger train stations within the province.[16]

The recent expressway boom in China has not left Hebei behind. There are expressways to every prefecture-level city of Hebei except Chengde, totalling to approximately 2,000 kilometers. The total length of highways within Hebei is around 40,000 kilometers.

There are a number of ports along the Bohai Sea, including Qinhuangdao (the second busiest in China with a capacity of over 100 million tons), Huanghua, and Jingtang. Shijiazhuang's Zhengding Airport is the province's center of air transportation, with domestic and international flights. Parts of Hebei will also be served by the new Beijing Daxing International Airport in Beijing, which is currently under construction and expected to be completed by 2017.[17]

Tourism

The Xumi Pagoda of Zhengding, Hebei province, built in 636 AD during the Tang Dynasty.

The east end of the Ming Great Wall is located on the coast at Shanhaiguan (Shanhai Pass), near Qinhuangdao. Informally known as the "First Pass of The World" (天下第一關), Shanhaiguan was the place where Ming general Wu Sangui opened the gates to Manchu forces in 1644, beginning nearly 300 years of Manchu rule; Shanhai Pass also marks the psychological entrance / exit of Manchuria, so that for centuries Manchuria was known as "outside the Pass" or "east of the Pass". Beidaihe, located near Shanhaiguan, is a popular beach resort well known as a former meeting place for top governmental officials.

The Ming Great Wall crosses the northern part of Hebei.

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 Manchu Qing Dynasty emperors. The Chengde Resort was built between 1703 and 1792, and consists of a palace complex, a large park area composed of lakes, pavilions, causeways, bridges, etc., and a number of Tibetan Buddhist and Han Chinese temples in the surrounding area.

There are Qing Dynasty imperial tombs at Zunhua (Eastern Qing Tombs) and Yixian (West Qing Tombs). The Eastern Qing Tombs are the resting place of 161 Qing emperors, empresses, and other members of the Qing imperial family, while the West Qing Tombs have 76. These are also part of a World Heritage Site.

The Zhaozhou, or Anji Bridge, built by Li Chun 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 (56 mi) from Shijiazhuang, in Pingshan County was the location of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China 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.[18]

Sports

Sports teams based in Hebei include:

National Basketball League (China)
Hebei Springs Benma

Chinese Basketball Association
There are no teams based in Hebei.

Chinese Football Association
There are no teams based in Hebei.

Education

Under the national Ministry of Education:

Under other national agencies:

Under the provincial government:

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Communiqué of the National Bureau of Statistics of People's Republic of China on Major Figures of the 2010 Population Census [1] (No. 2)". National Bureau of Statistics of China. 29 April 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  2. ↑ http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/m/hebei/2011-01/28/content_11935618.htm
  3. ↑ 《2013中国人类发展报告》 (PDF) (in Chinese). United Nations Development Programme China. 2013. Retrieved 2014-01-05.
  4. ↑ (Chinese) Origin of the Names of China's Provinces, People's Daily Online.
  5. ↑ "New Archaeological Discoveries and Researches in 2004 -- The Fourth Archaeology Forum of CASS". Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Retrieved 2007-09-18.
  6. ↑ http://www.china-briefing.com/news/2012/01/27/chinas-provincial-gdp-figures-in-2011.html
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 http://thechinaperspective.com/topics/province/hebei-province/
  8. ↑ 河北省少数民族及宗教概况
  9. ↑ 河北省引导和支持宗教界积极参与和兴办社会公益慈善事业
  10. ↑ 天主教 河北省民族宗教事务厅
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 河北地下教会主教成为爱国会成员
  12. ↑ Country Advice China Australian Government 13 February 2012
  13. ↑ Hebei, Pray for China
  14. ↑ http://www.hebmzt.gov.cn/tabid/73/InfoID/1241/frtid/84/Default.aspx
  15. ↑ http://www.hebmzt.gov.cn/tabid/73/InfoID/1239/frtid/106/Default.aspx
  16. ↑ List of train stations in Hebei (Chinese)
  17. ↑ Moore, Malcolm (September 9, 2011). "China to build world's biggest airport". The Daily Telegraph.
  18. ↑ Kenneth Pomeranz (July 22, 2010), Musings on a Museum: A Trip to Xibaipo

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hebei.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Hebei.
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Shanxi Bohai Sea
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