Hebei

Hebei (pinyin: he2 bei3 河北 also Hopeh, Hopei), is a province located in northern China. Its one character abbreviation is Ji (冀 pinyin: ji4). It has a total area of 187,700 km², and a population of 67.44 million. Its province name Hebei means "north of Huang He" (Yellow River), even though its current border does not touch Huang He at any point.

History

Plains in Hebei were the home of Peking man[?], a group of Homo erectus, 450 thousand years ago.

During the Qing dynasty, the province was called Chi-li, a term literally translated as "direct rule" in that the area of the province was directly ruled by the Imperial Court. In the 1920s, the name was changed to its current name to reflect that fact that it had a standard provincial administration.

On July 28, 1976, Tangshan[?] was struck by a powerful earthquake. A series of smaller earthquakes struck the city in decade follows. The death toll of the earthquakes ranges over a million.

Geography

Hebei surrounds Beijing and Tianjin municipalities. 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 Yellow Sea is to the east.

The provincial capital is located at Shijiazhuang[?]. Other major cities include Baoding[?], Zhangjiakou[?], Tangshan[?], Qinghuangdao and Chengde[?].

Hebei is surrounded with Yanshan[?] (Mount Yan) in the north and Taihangshan[?] (Mount Taihang) in west. There are three flatlands in southeast. The flatlands are part of North China Plain. Large quantity of coal and iron can be found in Hebei.

Heibei has a mainland monsoon climate[?], with annual rainfall of 400 to 800 mm. It often rains heavily in summer.

Economy

Hebei's economy heavily depends on agriculture. Main agricultural productions are grain and cotton. Cereal crops product include wheat, corn, millet and gaoliang[?] (Chinese sorghum[?]). Hebei is responsible for most cotton produced in China. Other industrial crops like peanut, soya bean and sesame are also produced.

Hebei's industries mainly include spinning, coal industry[?], steel and iron industry, engineering industry, chemical industry, petrol industry, electrical industry, ceramics and food industry.

Demographics

The population is mostly Han Chinese with minorities of Mongol, Manchu, Korean, and Hui[?] Chinese.

Culture

Tourism

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. Qinghuangdao is one of the busiest port in northern China. Shijiazhuang[?] is also the center of air transportation.

The east end of Ming Great Wall is located near Qinghuangdao at Shanhaiguan[?]. The Ming Great Wall crosses the northern part of the the province.

Mountain Resort and its Outlying Temples, in Chengde[?] (World Heritage Site)

Miscellaneous topics

External links