Hebei

Hebei, also Hopeh or Hopei, is a northern province of the People's Republic of China. Its one-character abbreviation is Ji (冀 pinyin: ji4), named after the Ji Prefecture (冀州) that it was in. It has a total area of 187,700 kmē, and a population of 67.44 million. Its name Hebei means "north of the (Yellow) River", even though its modern border does not touch Huang He at any point. 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.

河北省
Hebei Sheng
Province Abbreviation(s): 冀 ji4
Capital Shijiazhuang
Area
 - Total
 - % water		Ranked 13th
187,700 km²
xx%
Population
 - Total (2001)
 - Density 		Ranked 6th
67,440,000
359/km²
Administration Type Province

Table of contents
1 History
2 Subdivision
3 Geography
4 Economy
5 Demographics
6 Culture
7 Tourism
8 Miscellaneous topics
9 External links

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 Zhili (直隸, Chih-li in Wade-Giles), meaning "Directly Ruled (by the Imperial Court)". In 1928, 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.

Subdivision

Hebei contains eleven prefecture-level cities: The prefecture-level cities have 23 county-class cities, 109 counties, and 6 autonomous counties (three for the Manchus, two for the Hui, one for the Mongolians). The county-level entities are in turn subdivided into 910 towns and 35 districts.

Geography

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

Hebei is surrounded with Yanshan (Mount Yan) in the north and Taihangshan (Mount Taihang) in the 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
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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 province.

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

Miscellaneous topics