North China

North China (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Huáběi; literally "China's north") is a geographical region of China, consisting of the provinces of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia. It lies north of the Qinling–Huaihe Line,[2] with its heartland in the North China Plain.

North China
Northern People's Republic of China region
Country People's Republic of China
 Republic of China[1]
Area
  Total2,185,105 km2 (843,674 sq mi)
Population
  Total164,823,136
  Density75/km2 (200/sq mi)
Northern China (a much broader area named Beifang)

In modern times, the area has shifted in terms of socio-political and economic composition. Nowadays unique, embracing a North Chinese culture, it is influenced by Marxism, Soviet systems of industry while preserving a traditional Chinese indigenous culture. The region has been cultivating wheat, and most inhabitants here speak variants of Northern Chinese languages such as the standard (Mandarin), which includes Beijing dialect, which is largely the basis of Standard Chinese (Mandarin), the official language of the People's Republic of China (PRC), and its cousin variants. Jin Chinese and Mongolian are also widely spoken due to the political and cultural history of the area.

History

In prehistory, the region was home to the Yangshao and Longshan cultures. Peking man was found near modern-day Beijing (Peking).

The main agricultural lands of China lay in the area known as the Central Plain, an area located bordered by the Yangtze river to its south and the Yellow River to its north. Further north of the Yellow River lies the Gobi desert and steppe lands that extend west across Eurasia. This region has long, harsh winters and suffers from water scarcity. Despite these challenges, some forms of agriculture have been successful in this region, especially animal husbandry, certainly of horse and camel, and possibly other types of animals. The crops Panicum miliaceum and Setaria italica, both types of millet grain, are believed to be indigenous to northern China. Panicum miliaceum is known from the Cishan culture in Hebei province, recovered as phytoliths from pits in stratigraphic sections. Sediments from the pits have radiocarbon dates from 8500 to 7500 BCE. Archaeological evidence of charred grains found in early Holocene layers in Hebei province at Nanzhuangtou and Cishan has led scholars to revise the earliest dates associated with millet by about two millennia. Millet sites are concentrated along the boundaries of the Loess and Mongolian Plateau, separated by a mountain chain from the Huabei plain and the Dongbei plain, North China's main alluvial plains, located to the west. Millet culivation was similarly situated relative to the Qinling mountains at Dadiwan, and the Yitai mountains at Yuezhuang. Macrofossil evidence (charred grains of foxtail and broomcorn millet) has been recovered from Xinglonggou in Inner Mongolia, Xinle in Liaoning, Cishan in Hebei, and Dadiwan in Gansu, among other sites in Eastern and Central China.[3]

Administrative divisions in the PRC

GB[4] ISO №[5] Province Chinese Name Capital Population¹ Density² Area³ Abbreviation/Symbol
BJ 11 Beijing Municipality 北京市
Běijīng Shì
Beijing 19,612,368 1,167.40 16,800
Jīng
TJ 12 Tianjin Municipality 天津市
Tiānjīn Shì
Tianjin 12,938,224 1,144.46 11,305
Jīn
HE 13 Hebei Province 河北省
Héběi Shěng
Shijiazhuang 71,854,202 382.81 187,700
SX 14 Shanxi Province 山西省
Shānxī Shěng
Taiyuan 35,712,111 228.48 156,300
Jìn
NM 15 Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
Nei Mongol Autonomous Region
內蒙古自治区
Nèi Měnggǔ Zìzhìqū
Hohhot 24,706,321 20.88 1,183,000 蒙(內蒙古)
Měng (Nèi Měnggǔ)

Cities with urban area over one million in population

Provincial capitals in bold.
#CityUrban area[6]District area[6]City proper[6]Prov.Census date
1Beijing16,446,85718,827,26219,612,368BJ2010-11-01
2Tianjin9,562,25511,090,78312,938,693TJ2010-11-01
3Taiyuan3,154,1573,426,5194,201,592SX2010-11-01
4Shijiazhuang2,770,3442,834,94210,163,788HE2010-11-01
5Tangshan2,128,1913,187,1717,577,289HE2010-11-01
6Baotou1,900,3732,096,8512,650,364NM2010-11-01
7Hohhot1,497,1101,980,7742,866,615NM2010-11-01
8Datong1,362,3141,737,5143,318,054SX2010-11-01
9Handan1,316,6741,445,3389,174,683HE2010-11-01
10Baoding1,038,1951,138,52111,194,382HE2010-11-01

See also

References

  1. Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China, Article 4, 7th Revision
  2. Li, Shuangshuang; Yang, Saini; LIU, Xianfeng (10 September 2015). "Spatiotemporal variability of extreme precipitation in north and south of the Qinling-Huaihe region and influencing factors during 1960-2013". The Chinese journal of geography. 34 (3): 354–363. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  3. The Cambridge World History Volume II A World With Agriculture 12,000 BCE-500CE. Cambridge University Press. 2015. pp. 316–320.
  4. GB/T 2260 codes for the provinces of China
  5. ISO 3166-2:CN (ISO 3166-2 codes for the provinces of China)
  6. 国务院人口普查办公室; 国家统计局人口和社会科技统计司, eds. (2012). 中国2010年人口普查分县资料. Beijing: China Statistics Press. ISBN 978-7-5037-6659-6.
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