Hebei is a somewhat anonymous province, split into two
distinct geographical areas, with two great cities, Beijing and
Tianjin, at its heart, but administratively outside its borders. In
the south, a landscape of flatlands is spotted with heavy industry
and mining towns - China at its least glamorous - home to the
majority of the province's sixty million inhabitants. Most
travellers pass through here, on their way to or from the capital,
if few stop. However, the bleak, sparsely populated tableland
rising from the Bohai Gulf in the north of the province has more
promise. For most of its history this marked China's northern
frontier, and was the setting for numerous battles with invading
forces; both the Mongols and the Manchus swept through here. The
mark of this bloody history remains in the form of the Great
Wall , winding across lonely ridges.
The first wall was built in the fourth century AD, along the
Hebei-Shanxi border, an attempt by the small state of Zhongshan to
fortify its borders against its aggressive neighbours. Two
centuries later, Qin Shi Huang's Wall of Ten Thousand Li skirted
the northern borders of the province. The parts of the wall still
visible today, though, are the remains of the much later and more
extensive Ming-dynasty wall, begun in the fourteenth century as a
deterrent against the Mongols. You can see the wall at
Shanhaiguan , the point where it meets the sea, today a
relaxing little fortress town only a day's journey from Beijing.
While you're there, don't miss the strange seaside resort of
Beidaihe , just to the south, more appealing to foreign
travellers for its garish atmosphere and its history as the holiday
home of the Party elite than for its beaches. Well north of the
wall, the town of Chengde is the province's most diverting
attraction, an imperial base set amid the wild terrain of the
Hachin Mongols, and conceived on a grand scale by the
eighteenth-century emperor Kangxi, with temples and monuments to
match. All three towns are popular spots with domestic tourists,
particularly Beijingers snatching a weekend away from the capital's
bustle and stress, and part of the interest of going is in seeing
the Chinese at their most carefree. Though the Chinese like their
holiday spots the way they like their restaurants, renao -
hot and noisy, it's easy to beat the crowds and find some great
scenery, and each town makes a rewarding visit.
Tianjin , an industrial giant, has outgrown its role as
the region's capital to become a separate municipality. An
ex-concession town with a distinctly Western stamp, it's worth a
day trip from Beijing to see its unique streetscapes, a striking
medley of nineteenth-century European architecture and Chinese
modernism. Hebei's new capital, Shijiazhuang , in the south,
is a major rail junction but a rather dull town, though you may
well find yourself passing through, in which case it's worth
checking out the few historical sites scattered in the countryside
around.