Geographical Location

Looking down from air above China, you will find a beautiful land located on the northern part of the North China Plain and by the lower reaches of the Huanghe River (the Yellow River). It is Hebei Province.It was named Hebei because it is situated in the north side of the Yellow River. In Chinese language, "He" means "river" while "Bei" means "north", so "Hebei" means "north of the river".

Hebei Province, like Sichuan Province in northwestern China, is bordered with many neighbors. With the Bohai Sea in the east, Hebei Province has a coastal line of 487km. It surrounds Beijing, capital of China, and Tianjin, a large port city. It is bordered by Shanxi Province in the west (with the Taihang Mountains as the boundary line),Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the north and northwest, Liaoning Province in the northeast, Shandong Province in the southeast, and Henan Province in the south. It is located between 113°27′and 119°50′E and between 36°3′and 42°40′N.The distance, from its south end to the north, is 750 km aznd from its east to west, it is 650 km. Hebei has a total area of 187,700 sq. km, ranking the 14th among all the provinces, municipalities directly under the Central Government and autonomous regions in the country.

The geographical location of Hebei Province is of prime importance. Hebei is bordered by the Bohai Sea. Beijing and Tianjin are within its easy reach. Hebei links Beijing with other parts of China and bridges inland regions with many seaports of the Bohai Sea, such as the Tianjin Seaport (in the city of Tianjin), Jingtang Seaport (in the city of Tangshan), Qinhuangdao Seaport (in the city of Qinhuandao) and Huanghua Seaport (in the city of Huanghua).

Being the only province embraces the nation’s capital Beijing and the large trading port Tianjin, Hebei is within the innermost part of their economic radiation rings. Beijing is the political, economic, cultural and scientific center of the nation, and Tianjin is one of the major cities in China.As far as economic development is concerned, Beijing and Tianjin are inseparable from Hebei and so is Hebei from them. In the process of economic development they depends on each other, thus forming the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic zone.

Owing to historical and geographical reasons, Hebei is deeply related to Beijing and Tianjin in term of blood relation and geographical location. Many Beijing residents are from Hebei, and Tianjin used to be the capital of Hebei Province. No language difficulties and no custom differences between them. Hebei can get rapid information from them and make broad economic exchanges with them. And these could be done at low cost. Beijing and Tianjin depend on Hebei in a large degree for what they need in their economic construction and daily life like raw materials, energy, daily life goods and even environment protection. In the mean time, their needs in turn give great impetus to the development of Hebei's economy. Their advantages in economy, science and technology, culture and talent personnel provide important external conditions for the development of Hebei's economy.

(Source: hebei.com.cn)