View source for Hebei

==History==
===Pre and early history===
[[Peking Man]], an early pre-historic [[Homo erectus]], lived on the plains of Hebei around 200,000 to 700,000 years ago. [[Neolithic]] findings at the [[prehistoric Beifudi site]] date to 7000 and 8000 BC.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kaogu.cn/en/detail.asp?ProductID=982|title=New Archaeological Discoveries and Researches in 2004 – The Fourth Archaeology Forum of CASS|publisher=Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences|access-date=2007-09-18|archive-date=2011-05-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512174808/http://www.kaogu.cn/en/detail.asp?ProductID=982|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Many early [[Chinese mythology|Chinese myths]] are set in the province. [[Fuxi]], one of the [[Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors]], is said to have lived in present-day [[Xingtai]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gatzs.com.cn/zhms/province.action?ssdm=086130000|title=河北 – 中华名胜|publisher=内地（祖国大陆）高校面向港澳台招生信息网|access-date=2021-01-10}}</ref> The mythical [[Battle of Zhuolu]], won by the [[Yellow Emperor]], [[Yan Emperor]], and their [[Yanhuang]] tribes against the [[Chiyou]]-led Jiuli tribes, took place in [[Zhangjiakou]] and started the [[Huaxia]] civilization.

During the [[Spring and Autumn period]] (722–476 BC), Hebei was under the rule of [[State of Yan|Yan]] in the north and [[Jin (Chinese state)|Jin]] in the south. Also during this period, a nomadic people known as [[Beidi|Dí]] invaded the plains of northern China and established [[State of Zhongshan|Zhongshan]] in central Hebei. In the [[Warring States period]] (403–221 BC), Jin was partitioned and much of its territory in Hebei went to [[State of Zhao|Zhao]].

===Qin and Han dynasties===
The [[Qin dynasty]] unified China in 221 BC. The [[Han dynasty]] (206 BC – 220 AD) ruled the area under two provinces, [[You Prefecture]] in the north and [[Ji Province]] in the south. At the end of the Han dynasty, most of Hebei was under the control of [[warlord]]s [[Gongsun Zan]] in the north and [[Yuan Shao]] further south. Yuan Shao emerged as the victor of the two, but he was defeated by [[Cao Cao]] in the [[Battle of Guandu]] in 200. Hebei came under the rule of the [[Cao Wei|Kingdom of Wei]], established by the descendants of Cao Cao.

===Jin through the Three Kingdoms===
After the invasions of northern nomadic peoples at the end of the [[Western Jin dynasty]], chaos ensued in the [[Sixteen Kingdoms]] and the [[Northern and Southern dynasties]]. Because of its location on the northern frontier, Hebei changed hands many times and was controlled at various times by [[Later Zhao]], [[Former Yan]], [[Former Qin]], and [[Later Yan]]. The [[Northern Wei]] reunified northern China in 440 but split in 534, with Hebei coming under [[Eastern Wei]]; then the [[Northern Qi]], with its capital at Ye near modern [[Linzhang]], Hebei. The [[Sui dynasty]] again unified China in 589.

[[File:Sancai Duck-Shaped Cup.jpg|thumb|200px|Tricolor Duck-Shaped Cup, Tang dynasty, unearthed from Anxin County]]

===Tang and Five dynasties===
During the [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907), the area was officially called Hebei for the first time. The [[Yan (An–Shi)|Great Yan]] State was established in Hebei from 756 to 763 during the [[An Lushan Rebellion]]. After the rebellion, [[Lulong Jiedushi]] retained its autonomy from Tang during most of the 9th century. During the late [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period]], Lulong was fragmented among several regimes including the short-lived [[Yan (Five Dynasties period)|Yan]]. It was eventually annexed in 913 by [[Li Cunxu]], who established the [[Later Tang]] (923–936). Emperor [[Gaozu of Later Jin|Gaozu of the Later Jin dynasty]] ceded much of northern Hebei to the [[Khitan people|Khitan]] [[Liao dynasty]]. This territory, called the [[Sixteen Prefectures]] of Yanyun, became a weakness in the Chinese defense against the Khitans for the next century because it lay within the [[Great Wall]].

===Song through Yuan dynasties===
During the [[Northern Song dynasty]] (960–1127), the sixteen ceded prefectures continued to be an area of contention between Song China and the Liao dynasty. Later, the [[Southern Song dynasty]] abandoned all of [[North China]], including Hebei, to the [[Jin dynasty (1115-1234)|Jurchen Jin dynasty]] after the 1127 [[Jingkang Incident]] of the [[Jin campaigns against the Song dynasty|Jin–Song wars]]. Hebei was heavily affected by the flooding of the Yellow River; between 1048 and 1128, the river ran directly through the province rather than to its south.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zhang|first=Ling|title=The River, the Plain, and the State: An Environmental Drama in Northern Song China, 1048-1128|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2016|isbn=9781107155985|location=Cambridge|pages=1–4|language=English}}</ref>

The [[Mongol]] [[Yuan dynasty]] divided China into provinces but did not establish Hebei as a province. Instead, the area was directly administrated by the Secretariat at the capital [[Khanbaliq|Dadu]].

===Ming and Qing dynasties===
During the [[Ming dynasty]], what is now Hebei was first constituted as Beizhili, when the capital of China was located at [[Nanjing]] along the [[Yangtze River]]. In 1403, the Ming [[Yongle Emperor]] relocated the capital to Beiping, which was subsequently renamed [[Beijing]].<ref name="peking">Susan Naquin, ''Peking: Temples and City Life, 1400-1900'', p xxxiii</ref> The region known as [[Beizhili]] was composed of parts of the modern provinces of Hebei, [[Henan]], [[Shandong]], including the provincial-level municipalities of Beijing and [[Tianjin]].

[[File:直隶省行政区划1820.svg|thumb|upright|Zhili during the [[Qing dynasty]].]]

The [[Qing dynasty]] came to power in 1644 and centralized its capital in [[Beijing]]. Southern Zhili was reconstituted as the province of [[Jiangnan Province|Jiangnan]], while Northern Zhili simply became known as Zhili, or Directly Ruled. The northern borders of Zhili extended deep into [[Inner Mongolia]] and overlapped in jurisdiction with the [[Leagues of China|league]]s of Inner Mongolia.

In the 18th century the borders of Zhili were redrawn and spread over Hebei, as well as what is today [[Beijing]], [[Tianjin]], and the provinces of Hebei, western [[Liaoning]], northern [[Henan]], northern [[Shandong]], and [[Inner Mongolia]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

===Republic of China===
[[File:Hbeisheng.jpg|thumb|Hebei in 2022]]
[[File:LangYaShan5.jpg|thumb|right|[[Mount Langya (Hebei)|Langyashan]] (Wolf Tooth Mountain), in [[Yi County, Hebei|Yi County]]]]
The Qing dynasty [[Xinhai Revolution|collapsed]] in 1912 and was replaced by the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China (ROC)]]. In a few years, China descended into a civil war, with regional warlords vying for power. Since Zhili was so close to the capital of [[Beijing]], it was the site of the [[Zhiwan War]], the [[First Zhifeng War]], and the [[Second Zhifeng War]]. With the success of the [[Northern Expedition (1926–1927)|Northern Expedition]] in 1926 and 1927 by the [[Kuomintang]], the capital was moved from Beijing to [[Nanjing]]. The [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|ROC]] assigned portions of northern Zhili province to its neighbors in the north and renamed the remainder to Hebei, reflecting the relocation of the capital and its standard provincial administration.

During [[World War II]], Hebei was under the control of the [[Wang Jingwei regime|Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China]], a [[puppet state]] of the [[Empire of Japan]].

===People's Republic of China===
The founding of the [[People's Republic of China]] saw several changes. The region around [[Chengde]], previously part of [[Rehe (province)|Rehe]] Province (historically part of [[Manchuria]]), and the region around [[Zhangjiakou]], previously part of [[Chahar (province)|Chahar]] Province (historically part of [[Inner Mongolia]]), were merged into Hebei. This extended its borders northwards beyond the Great Wall. Meanwhile, the city of [[Puyang]] was carved away, causing Hebei to lose access to the [[Yellow River]]. The city became part of the short-lived [[Pingyuan Province]] before eventually being annexed into [[Henan]].<ref>{{cite web |title=濮阳地区一直属于河北省，1952年，为何划归给了河南省？|url=https://www.sohu.com/a/205316427_628936|website=[[Sohu]]|access-date=2021-01-10}}</ref>

The capital was also moved from [[Baoding]] to the new city of [[Shijiazhuang]], and, for a short period, to [[Tianjin]]. On July 28, 1976, [[Tangshan]] was struck by the [[Tangshan earthquake]], the deadliest earthquake of the 20th century, killing over 240,000 people. There were a series of smaller earthquakes in the following decade.

Today, Hebei, along with [[Beijing]] and [[Tianjin]] municipalities which it includes, make up the [[Jing-Jin-Ji]] megalopolis region. With a population of 130 million, it is about six times the size of the [[New York metropolitan area]] and is one of the largest megalopolis clusters in China.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/20/world/asia/in-china-a-supercity-rises-around-beijing.html |title=In China, a Supercity Rises Around Beijing |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |first=Ian |last=Johnson |date=July 19, 2015 }}</ref> Beijing had also unloaded some of its non-capital functions to the province with the establishment of the [[Xiong'an]] New Area, which integrates the three municipalities.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.china-briefing.com/news/xiongan-new-area-beijing-tianjin-hebei |title=Xiong'an New Area: President Xi's Dream City |newspaper=China Briefing |first=Frank |last=Wong |date=March 16, 2019 |access-date=April 2, 2020 |archive-date=August 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802060649/https://www.china-briefing.com/news/xiongan-new-area-beijing-tianjin-hebei/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>