An Introduction to Hebei Province 河 北 省 简 介

Abbreviation: Ji冀
Capital: Shijiazhuang
Area: 190,000 square kilometers
Population: 67.42 million
Location: In North China and the north bank of the lower reaches of the Yellow River and adjacent to Bohai Sea in the east
between north latitude 4011'- 4240' and east longitude11554' - 11915' in the northeast of the Hebei province, the hinterland of Yanshan Mountain Chain; 435 kilometers away from its provincial capital, Shijiazhuang, 256 kilometers from Beijing

Hebei surrounds Beijing and Tianjin, two of China’s four municipalities under the direct leadership of the Central Government. Hebei’s geography, communications network, natural resources and markets give it a solid economic foundation.

Hebei Province has a history of more than 2,800 years. Industries include textiles, iron and steel, machinery, chemicals, petroleum, electrical power, porcelain, and food processing. Many trunk railways run through the city. Major tourist attractions are Longxing Temple, Norman Bethune International Peace Hospital of People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Zhaozhou Bridge, Chengde Mountain Summer Resort, and Outer Eight Temples.

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

Physical Feature: consisted of two type of landforms: plateau and hilly area; with the specified three-dimensional land resource; being surrounded by mountains

Nationalities: Han, Hui, Manchu, Mongolian and Korean

History: a famous cultural city with about 300 years history; used to be the second political center in the Qing dynasty, with the largest extant royal garden in China; commonly called as "Rehe", for the sake of having the ever flowing and unfrozen spring here; used to be the provincial capital of Rehe province in 1928

Climatic Features: temperate continental monsoon and hilly area climate; four seasons clearly; cold winters without cold current; cool summers without hot period; with enough sunshine of 2000 hours annually and frost-free period of 110-220 days

Average Temperature: 4-13C annually
Rainfall: annual precipitation 800 mm

Mountains: Mt. Luohanshan, Mt. Tianqiaoshan, Mt. Jiguanshan, Mt. Shuangtashan, Mt. Yuanbaoshan, Mt. Wulingshan, the Yanshan Mountain Chain

Rivers: Luanhe River, Beisanhe River, Liaohe River, Dalinghe River, Wuliehe River, Chenghu Lake, Ruyihu Lake, Jinghu Lake

The Ancient Lotus Pond in Baoding 保定古莲花池

The Ancient Lotus Pond, built by a Yuan Dynasty general, Zhang Rou 张柔 (1190-1268) in the northern Chinese-style, is one of the ten famous gardens in China. It is a small but elegant garden with its long history and pavilion amidst serene waters. It used to be a temporary palace for the imperial family of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Qing emperor Qianlong came to the garden on six occasions. In the garden there are twelve scenic spots. The garden encompasses 24,000 square meters, of which the pond takes up 7,900 square meters.

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