HOPEH

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Ho-pei, (Pinyin) Hebei, sheng (province) of northern China, located on the Po Hai (Gulf of Chihli) of the Yellow Sea. It is bounded on the northwest by China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and by the provinces of Liaoning on the northeast, Shantung on the southeast, Honan on the south, and Shansi on the west. Hopeh means North of the (Yellow) River. Hopeh has an area of 72,500 square miles (187,700 square kilometres). The provincial capital was at Pao-ting until 1958, when it was transferred first to Tientsin and then, in 1967, to Shih-chia-chuang, 160 miles (260 kilometres) southwest of Peking. The present capital is at the junction of three railways: the PekingCanton line, China's northsouth trunk line, and lines to Shansi and to Shantung. The large municipalities of Peking, the national capital, and of Tientsin lie within Hopeh Province but are independent of the provincial administration. Culturally and economically, Hopeh is the most advanced province in northern China. Wade-Giles Ho-pei, Pinyin Hebei sheng (province) in northern China, located between the province of Shansi, on the west, and the Po Gulf and Manchuria on the east. It is bounded on the north by China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and on the south by the provinces of Shantung and Honan. From 1644 to 1911/12 Hopeh was ruled by the Ch'ing (Manchu) dynasty. After its overthrow a Nationalist government ruled fitfully until 1937, when Hopeh was occupied by the Japanese. The occupiers surrendered to the Chinese Nationalists in 1945, and it fell to the Chinese Communist forces near the end of the civil war (194649). The provincial capital was at Pao-ting until 1958, when it was transferred first to Tientsin and then, in 1967, to Shih-chia-chuang city, 160 miles (260 km) southwest of Peking and at the junction of three major railways. Peking, the national capital, lies within Hopeh province but is independent of the provincial administration. Culturally and economically, Hopeh is the most advanced province in northern China. The province consists of two almost equal sections: the northern part of the North China Plain and the mountain ranges along the northern and western frontiers. The former, sometimes called the Hopeh Plain, slopes gently from west to east and is bounded by the Yen Mountains on the north. This range forms the northern rim of the North China Plain, displaying an endless sea of rounded hills, with peaks averaging 4,900 feet (1,500 m) above sea level. The Great Wall of China zigzags along its crests. Beyond these mountains the Mongolian Plateau stretches from the northernmost part of Hopeh to the Mongolian People's Republic. This part of Hopeh has an average elevation of 3,900 to 4,900 feet (1,200 to 1,500 m). The plateau's rim is rugged and not hospitable to human settlement. The province has a continental climate. The North China Plain has been inhabited by humans for several millennia. The Hopeh Plain was the home of Homo erectus pekinensis (Peking man), one of the oldest known examples of fossil man, who lived about 400,000 years ago and used tools and fire. The ethnic composition of the Hopeh population is almost entirely Chinese. Minority groups include Chinese Muslims and Mongolians. Urban dwellers make up approximately one-fifth of the total population of Hopeh, the highest proportion in North China, exceeded only by Kiangsu province among the provinces south of the Great Wall. The Peking-Tientsin industrial region, extending from the base of Yen and T'ai-hang mountains to the sea, is the largest and most important in North China. It includes the major industrial cities of T'ang-shan and Ch'in-huan-tao in the east, Pao-ting and Shi-chia-chuang in the west, and Liu-li-ho in Peking municipality. Important ports are Tientsin, T'ang-ku, and the major coal-handling port of Ch'in-huang-tao. Heavy industry is closely associated with the major coal mines and railways. Tientsin is the primary industrial and commercial centre of North China, one of the most important trade centres in all China, and an important educational and cultural centre as well. Like Peking, it has its own administrative district. T'ang-shan is another centre of heavy industry, producing steel, cement, and railway-repair materials. Light industry includes textiles, paper, flour mills, and ceramics. Other important cities in Hopeh include the ancient and still bustling city of Pao-ting; the provincial capital, Shih-chia-chuang; ancient Han-tan, Hopeh's fastest-growing urban-industrial centre; and Chang-chia-k'ou, food-processing centre and producer of mining machinery. Hopeh province and the separate municipalities of Peking and Tientsin form three of the 30 primary administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China. Area 78,200 square miles (202,700 square km). Pop. (1990) 61,082,439. History Although the area of present Hopeh Province was settled very early, it lay for many centuries outside the sphere of most political and economic activity of the Chinese empire. Before incorporation into the Ch'in Empire in the 3rd century BC, the region was occupied by the states of Yen, Ch'i, and Chao. Hopeh has long been an area of strategic significance. To the rulers of the Han dynasty (206 BCAD 220), it was largely a frontier zone beyond which lay their main enemies, the Hsiung-nu people, and defense of the region with walls and permanent garrisons was therefore emphasized. To the expansionist emperors of the T'ang dynasty, Hopeh served as a starting point for large campaigns aimed at the conquest of Korea. In AD 755, military forces stationed in the area were used to temporarily overthrow T'ang rule in a revolt led by An Lu-shan. Hopeh grew in importance under the rule of a series of northern-based dynasties, including the Liao, or Khitan (9071125); the Chin, or Juchen (11151234); and the Yan, or Mongol (12061368). Peking first became the capital of all China under the Yan rulers, who also completed work begun by the Chin on the Grand Canal linking Hopeh to the rice-growing regions of southern China. During the Ch'ing, or Manchu, dynasty (16441911/12) Hopeh was called Chihli (Directly Ruled) Province and continued to be strategically important, especially as foreign imperialist pressure mounted during the 19th century. Li Huang-chang, the foremost military and political leader of his time, served for many years as governor general of Chihli and was succeeded by Yan Shih-k'ai, who became president of the Chinese republic in 1912. A period of domination by a succession of autonomous warlords in Hopeh followed Yan's death in 1916. The warlord Yen Hsi-shan continued to govern independently in Hopeh until the Japanese invasion of 1937. After Japan's defeat the occupiers surrendered to the Chinese Nationalists in 1945. Chinese Communist forces took the province in January 1949, opening a new chapter in its long history. Frederick Fu Hung Victor C. Falkenheim The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica