Province · North China
Hebei
河北
The land of Yan and Zhao that surrounds Beijing and Tianjin
Hebei is a province of north China that encloses Beijing and Tianjin and reaches from the Bohai Sea to the Mongolian Plateau. Known historically as Zhili, the metropolitan province of the Ming and Qing, it holds the Qing summer capital at Chengde, the Eastern and Western Qing Tombs, the sea end of the Great Wall at Shanhaiguan and the Zhaozhou Bridge; its capital is Shijiazhuang.
Key facts
- Capital
- Shijiazhuang
- Abbreviation
- 冀 (Jì)
- Area
- about 188,800 km²[1]
- Resident population
- 73.54 million(as of end of 2025)[2]
- Gross regional product
- CNY 4.93 trillion(as of 2025)[2]
- Census population
- 74.61 million(as of 2020 census)[3]
- Divisions
- 11 prefecture-level cities[1]
- UNESCO World Heritage sites
- 4, three of them shared (1987–2014)[4]
Profile
- Chinese name
- 河北
- Abbreviation (简称)
- 冀
- Type
- Province
- Region
- North China
- Capital
- Shijiazhuang
- Area
- about 188,800 km²
- Divisions
- 11 prefecture-level cities, plus the Xiong'an New Area
- Ethnic groups
- Han, Manchu, Hui, Mongol
- Languages
- Ji–Lu Mandarin, Beijing Mandarin, Jin
Languages
Ji–Lu Mandarin
冀鲁官话
The Mandarin of central and southern Hebei and western Shandong, spoken around Shijiazhuang, Baoding and Cangzhou.
Beijing Mandarin
北京官话
Spoken in the north-east of the province, including Chengde, and close to the standard language.
Jin
晋语
The dialect group of Shanxi, which extends into Zhangjiakou and the Taihang foothills of western Hebei.
Name and abbreviation
Héběi means “north of the river” — the Yellow River, which in antiquity flowed across what is now the south of the province. The name was used for a Tang-dynasty circuit and was adopted for the province in 1928, replacing Zhili, “directly ruled”, the name of the metropolitan region governed from the capital under the Ming and Qing. The abbreviation 冀 comes from Jizhou, one of the Nine Provinces into which the legendary Yu the Great divided the world; Jizhou was placed first and later stood for the whole of the north.
Historic names
冀州
The first of the Nine Provinces of the classical Tribute of Yu; later a Han-dynasty province.
燕赵
The Warring States kingdoms of Yan in the north and Zhao in the south; still the literary name for the province and its people.
直隶
“directly ruled”
The Ming and Qing metropolitan province around Beijing, governed from Baoding; renamed Hebei in 1928.
Land and climate
Hebei wraps around Beijing and Tianjin like a horseshoe. The Taihang Mountains form its western edge and the Yanshan range its north; beyond the Yanshan the land rises onto the Bashang grasslands of the Mongolian Plateau. The south and east are part of the North China Plain, among the most densely farmed land in China, ending in a flat coast along the Bohai Sea. The province spans temperate forest, steppe, farmland and sea coast within a few hundred kilometres.
Landforms
Taihang Mountains
太行山
The north–south range along the border with Shanxi, cut by deep gorges and passes such as Niangziguan.
Yanshan Mountains
燕山
The east–west range north of Beijing, followed by the Great Wall from Shanhaiguan westwards.
Bashang Plateau
坝上高原
The edge of the Mongolian Plateau in northern Zhangjiakou and Chengde, with grassland, lakes and the Saihanba forest.
Mount Xiaowutai
小五台山
At about 2,882 m the highest mountain in Hebei, a nature reserve in Zhangjiakou.
North China Plain
华北平原
The fertile plain of the south and east, built up by the Yellow River and the rivers of the Hai basin.
Rivers and lakes
Luan River
滦河
Rises on the Bashang Plateau and flows past Chengde to the Bohai; part of its water is diverted to Tianjin.
Hutuo River
滹沱河
Flows out of Shanxi through the Taihang past Shijiazhuang; a main branch of the Ziya River system.
Daqing River
大清河
Collects the rivers of the Baoding area and feeds the Baiyangdian lake.
Baiyangdian
白洋淀
The largest freshwater lake in north China, a maze of reed beds and waterways now inside the Xiong'an New Area.
Grand Canal
大运河
The South Canal crosses the east of the province through Cangzhou and Hengshui on its way to Tianjin.
Climate
Hebei has a temperate continental monsoon climate. The plain has cold, dry winters and hot summers, with most rain in July and August; the Bashang Plateau is much cooler, with long, harsh winters and mild summers that made it a summer refuge of the Qing court. Spring is dry and windy across the province. Autumn is the most settled season.
History
The Nihewan basin in the north-west preserves some of the oldest traces of early humans in East Asia. In the Warring States period the region was divided between Yan, with its capital near Beijing, and Zhao, with its capital at Handan, and the small state of Zhongshan in between; their frontier walls were forerunners of the Great Wall. For much of later history the area was a frontier between the Chinese plain and the peoples of the steppe, fought over by the Song and the Liao. Under the Ming and Qing it became Zhili, the metropolitan province around the capital, governed from Baoding; the Qing built their summer capital at Chengde and their imperial tombs east and west of Beijing. In the twentieth century the province was a battlefield of the war against Japan, the Communist leadership directed the final stage of the civil war from Xibaipo in 1948–1949, and Tangshan was destroyed by the earthquake of 1976.
c. 1.7–1 million years ago
Early human sites of the Nihewan basin
Stone tools from Nihewan in Yangyuan county are among the earliest evidence of hominins in north-east Asia.
386 BCE
Zhao moves its capital to Handan
Handan became one of the great cities of the Warring States; King Wuling of Zhao later adopted nomad dress and mounted archery (胡服骑射) for his army.
227 BCE
Jing Ke sets out from the Yi River
The failed assassination attempt on the King of Qin, sent from Yan, became one of the most retold stories of Chinese history.
c. 595–605
Zhaozhou Bridge built
The mason Li Chun built an open-spandrel segmental stone arch bridge over the Xiao River, the oldest standing bridge of its kind in the world.
971
Bronze Guanyin of Longxing Monastery
The Song founder had a bronze bodhisattva about 21 m high cast at Zhengding, one of the largest early bronze statues in China.
1381
Shanhaiguan fortified
The Ming general Xu Da built the pass where the Great Wall meets the sea, the gateway between north China and Manchuria.
1644
Battle of Shanhai Pass
The Ming general Wu Sangui opened the pass to the Qing army, which then defeated Li Zicheng and took Beijing.
1703–1792
Chengde Mountain Resort built
The Kangxi and Qianlong emperors built a summer palace and a ring of temples in the Tibetan and Mongolian styles, where they received Mongol, Tibetan and foreign envoys.
1928
Zhili renamed Hebei
After the Nationalist government moved the capital to Nanjing, the metropolitan province took its present name.
1948–1949
Xibaipo headquarters
The Communist Party's central leadership directed the decisive campaigns of the civil war from the village of Xibaipo in Pingshan county.
1968
Shijiazhuang becomes the provincial capital
The seat of government moved from Baoding to the railway city of Shijiazhuang, after periods in Baoding and in Tianjin.
28 July 1976
Tangshan earthquake
A magnitude-7.8 earthquake destroyed the industrial city of Tangshan and killed more than 240,000 people, one of the deadliest earthquakes of the twentieth century.
2017
Xiong'an New Area established
A national new area was created on land of three counties around Baiyangdian to take on functions moved out of Beijing.
2022
Zhangjiakou co-hosts the Winter Olympics
The skiing and snowboard events of the Beijing Games were held at Chongli in Zhangjiakou.
World heritage
World Heritage sites
Cultural · inscribed 1987 · shared
长城
Hebei holds the wall's sea end at Old Dragon's Head and Shanhaiguan, and mountain sections such as Jinshanling and Panjiakou.
Cultural · inscribed 1994
Mountain Resort and its Outlying Temples, Chengde
承德避暑山庄及其周围寺庙
The Qing summer palace and park of lakes, meadows and hills, with the Eight Outer Temples built in Han, Tibetan and Mongolian styles.
Cultural · inscribed 2000 · shared
Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties
清东陵·清西陵
The Eastern Qing Tombs at Zunhua and the Western Qing Tombs at Yixian, burial grounds of nine Qing emperors and their empresses.
Cultural · inscribed 2014 · shared
大运河
Hebei's components are sections of the South Canal in Cangzhou and Hengshui, including historic flood-control embankments.
Intangible cultural heritage (UNESCO lists)
Inscribed 2009
Chinese paper-cut
剪纸
The inscribed element includes the dyed paper-cuts of Yuxian (Weixian) county in Zhangjiakou, carved with knives and painted in bright colours.
Inscribed 2011
Chinese shadow puppetry
皮影戏
Tangshan and Luanzhou in eastern Hebei are among the centres of the tradition, with donkey-hide figures and a distinct singing style.
Inscribed 2020
Taijiquan
太极拳
The Yang and Wu (Hao) styles originated in Yongnian near Handan in the nineteenth century.
Culture
The people of Yan and Zhao have been described since antiquity as forthright and given to heroic sorrow, and Hebei's traditions lean towards the robust: martial arts in Cangzhou, acrobatics in Wuqiao, loud bangzi opera and the drums of village fairs. The province also has a long craft history in ceramics, from the white Ding ware of Quyang to the painted stoneware of Cizhou. Around Chengde and the Bashang the Manchu and Mongol heritage of the Qing frontier is still visible.
燕赵古称多感慨悲歌之士。Yān Zhào gǔ chēng duō gǎnkǎi bēigē zhī shì.
“Yan and Zhao have been known since ancient times for men of strong feeling who sing sorrowful songs.”
— Han Yu, “Preface on Seeing Off Dong Shaonan” (送董邵南序), Tang dynasty
Opera, music and dance
Hebei bangzi
河北梆子
High-pitched clapper opera descended from Shanxi and Shaanxi bangzi, popular across the plain and in Tianjin.
Pingju
评剧
Opera that grew out of the folk ballads of the Luanzhou and Tangshan area in the early twentieth century; one of the most widely performed regional forms in north China.
Wuqiao acrobatics
吴桥杂技
The county of Wuqiao in Cangzhou has trained acrobats for centuries and hosts an international circus festival.
Crafts
Ding ware
定窑
Ivory-white porcelain of the Song dynasty from kilns at Quyang, one of the Five Great Kilns.
Cizhou ware
磁州窑
Stoneware with bold black-on-white painting and sgraffito decoration, made around Handan since the Song.
Quyang stone carving
曲阳石雕
White marble carving from Quyang, used for temples, palaces and monuments.
Hengshui inside-painted bottles
衡水内画
Glass and crystal snuff bottles painted on the inside with a fine bent brush.
Festivals and customs
Cangzhou martial arts
沧州武术
Cangzhou is known as a home of martial arts, with styles such as Baji quan practised in its villages.
Molten-iron fireworks
打树花
At the Lantern Festival in Nuanquan (Yuxian), smiths throw molten iron against a wall, where it bursts into sparks like a flowering tree.
Temple fairs
庙会
Large seasonal fairs such as the Cangyanshan fair and the Anguo medicine fair combine worship, trade and performance.
Cuisine
Hebei cooking, called Jicai (冀菜), is less known outside the province than its neighbours' but draws on three traditions: the official cuisine of old Zhili around Baoding, the Jidong cooking of Tangshan and the coast with its seafood, and the court and game cooking of the Qing hunting grounds around Chengde. Everyday food is wheat-based — flatbreads, buns and noodles — with oats and potatoes on the Bashang Plateau.
Signature dishes
Donkey-meat flatbread
驴肉火烧
A crisp flatbread split and filled with chopped braised donkey meat, the best-known snack of Baoding and Hejian.
Chess-piece buns
棋子烧饼
Small round sesame buns from Tangshan, filled with meat or sweet fillings.
Jar-oven flatbread
缸炉烧饼
Layered sesame flatbread baked on the inner wall of a clay jar oven, a speciality of Xinji.
Naked-oat noodles
莜面
Oat-flour noodles and rolls, steamed and eaten with mutton or potato sauces on the Bashang Plateau.
Chaigoubu smoked pork
柴沟堡熏肉
Pork braised and then smoked, from Huai'an county in Zhangjiakou.
Specialities
Zhaozhou snowflake pears
赵州雪花梨
Large juicy pears from Zhao county near Shijiazhuang.
Cangzhou golden-thread jujubes
沧州金丝小枣
Small sweet jujubes whose flesh pulls into fine golden threads when broken.
Qianxi chestnuts
迁西板栗
Sweet chestnuts from the Yanshan hills of Tangshan, sold as “Tianjin chestnuts” abroad.
Xuanhua grapes
宣化葡萄
Grapes grown on funnel-shaped trellises in Xuanhua, Zhangjiakou, recognised by the FAO as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System.
Hengshui Laobaigan
衡水老白干
Strong, clear sorghum baijiu from Hengshui.
Notable people
Xunzi (c. 310–c. 235 BCE)
荀子
Confucian philosopher from the state of Zhao who argued that human nature must be shaped by ritual and learning.
Liu Bei (161–223)
刘备
Founder of the Shu Han kingdom, born in Zhuo county (today's Zhuozhou).
Guo Shoujing (1231–1316)
郭守敬
Astronomer and hydraulic engineer from Xingtai, who designed the Shoushi calendar and the canal supplying Dadu.
Ji Yun (1724–1805)
纪昀
Scholar from Xian county, Cangzhou, chief editor of the imperial library Siku Quanshu.
Li Dazhao (1889–1927)
李大钊
Librarian and professor at Peking University from Laoting, Tangshan; co-founder of the Chinese Communist Party.
Economy
Hebei is China's largest steel-producing province, with mills concentrated around Tangshan and Handan, and a major producer of building materials, chemicals, glass and pharmaceuticals. Its ports on the Bohai — Qinhuangdao, Tangshan and Huanghua — are among the country's largest for coal and iron ore. The province is also a leading producer of wheat, maize and vegetables for the capital. Since 2014 it has been at the centre of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei coordinated development policy, which aims to shift industry and institutions out of Beijing and to reduce air pollution from heavy industry.
Main industries
- Iron and steel
- Equipment manufacturing and automotive
- Petrochemicals and chemicals
- Pharmaceuticals (Shijiazhuang)
- Building materials and glass
- Ports and logistics
- Agriculture: wheat, maize, vegetables, fruit
Zones, ports and hubs
Xiong'an New Area
雄安新区
National new area founded in 2017 south-west of Beijing, planned as a city for relocated institutions, universities and companies.
Caofeidian
曹妃甸
Deep-water port and industrial zone built on reclaimed land off Tangshan, including a relocated steelworks.
China (Hebei) Pilot Free Trade Zone
中国（河北）自由贸易试验区
Established in 2019 with areas in Xiong'an, Zhengding, Caofeidian and the Daxing airport zone.
Cities
- Shijiazhuang石家庄Capital · Industrial centreRailway city at the foot of the Taihang, with Zhengding and the Zhaozhou Bridge nearby
- Baoding保定Historic city · Cultural centreSeat of the Zhili governors-general on the approach to Beijing
- Chengde承德Historic city · Scenic areaThe Qing summer capital beyond the Great Wall
- Qinhuangdao秦皇岛Port · Historic city · Scenic areaWhere the Great Wall reaches the sea
- Tangshan唐山Industrial centre · PortCradle of China's modern industry, rebuilt after the 1976 earthquake
- Handan邯郸Historic city · Cultural centre · Industrial centreCapital of Zhao and the city of idioms
Getting there
- Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport is the provincial airport; Beijing Daxing International Airport lies on the Beijing–Hebei border and serves the centre of the province as well as the capital.
- The Beijing–Guangzhou high-speed railway runs south through Baoding, Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and Handan; other lines link Beijing with Zhangjiakou, Chengde, Tangshan and Qinhuangdao, and an intercity line connects Beijing with Xiong'an.
- Qinhuangdao, Tangshan (Jingtang and Caofeidian) and Huanghua are the province's seaports.
Entry rules for foreign visitors are on the visa and entry pages.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Hebei Provincial People's Government — Hebei Provincial People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- 河北省2025年国民经济和社会发展统计公报 (Statistical Communiqué of Hebei on the 2025 National Economic and Social Development) — Hebei Provincial Bureau of Statistics (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Seventh National Population Census communiqués — National Bureau of Statistics of China (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- World Heritage List: China — UNESCO World Heritage Centre (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Intangible Cultural Heritage: China — UNESCO (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Hebei — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
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