In China, a province is the first level of local
administration directly under the Central Government. The name of each Chinese
province has its own meaning and origin. In addition, for the convenience of
writing documents and communicating with others, every one has its own short
name.
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Congtai Terrace in Handan city, which was built by
the King Wuling of the Zhao State. |
What is Hebei’s
short name? Hebei ’s short name is “Ji”. How did Hebei get the name “Ji”? It is
related to the Chinese history. In ancient China, there was a hero called “Yu”,
who lived in the Xia Dynasty (2070 -1600 B.C.). Because he succeeded in
preventing floods, people honored him with the title “Da Yu” or “Yu the Great”.
He was known as Xia Yu as well because he was the founder of the first Chinese
feudal dynasty, the Xia Dynasty. At that period of time, China was visited
frequently by floods. When “Da Yu” put the floods under control, he divided the
whole country into 9 Zhou in accordance with the lay of mountains and the flow
of rivers. (Here “Zhou” is a geographical division.) Among the 9 Zhou, Ji Zhou
came the first. As part of Hebei belongs to the ancient Ji Zhou and in many
following dynasties, the Ji Zhou administration was set up in this land, Hebei
was known as Ji Zhou and abbreviated “Ji”.
In the
Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.), there were seven powerful states competing
with each other for hegemony, and two of them, the Yan State and the Zhao State,
were in Hebei---Yan in central and northern Hebei (today’s Baoding and Beijing)
and Zhao in central and southern Hebei (today’s Shijiazhuang, Xintai and
Handan). So Hebei got the substitute name “Yanzhao” in later
times.
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Ruins of the Yanxiadu.The Yan's national capital was
built in Ji（Present-day Beijing) |
In late period of China's feudal society, the Liao Dynasty (907-1125) set up its
auxiliary capital in Beijing. After that, four dynasties, the Jing (1115-1234),
Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368- 1644) and Qing (1644-1911), set up their capitals
in Beijing. When the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, Beijing was
selected as its capital. In ancient times the region around a capital was called
“Ji Fu”. Because Hebei was around the nation's capital it was known as “Ji Fu
Zhi Di” or “Jing Ji” as well. Today, Hebei is still a natural defense for
Beijing so it is often referred to as “Ji Fu Zhi Di” or “Jing
Ji”.
It is worthy
to mention that “Ji”, the short name for Hebei, also has the meaning of great
expectations. As mentioned above, “Ji” came from the ancient Ji Zhou. What is
the meaning of “Ji ”in Chinese language? According to an ancient Chinese
legend, Yao, one of the earliest kings of China, who was born in Shunping
County, Hebei, set up his capital in Pingyang (today’s Linfen City, Shanxi
Province, also belonged to Ji Zhou in ancient times). He moved about in the
central and southern parts of today’s Hebei Province. Yao’s deeds were described
in the record books of many counties like Shunping, Dingzhou, Tangxian, Wangdu,
Longrao, etc. In China's Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.), there was a book for
the study of origins of certain names, which was entitled “Shi Ming” or
“Explanations of Names”. To explain the origin of the name Ji Zhou, it says, “Ji
Zhou lies in the northern part of China and many kings once lived here. In this
land, there are hard times and easy ones as well. So when Ji Zhou was in
disorder, to achieve order is expected; when it was weak, to get strong is
expected; and when it was visited by disasters, to have a good harvest is
expected”. In Chinese, the word “Ji” has several meanings and one of them is “to
expect”. There are a few Chinese expressions including the word “Ji”, such as
“Xi Ji”, “Ji Wang” and “Qi Ji”. “Ji”, in these expressions, means “expect”. It
is the word “expect” that is used to explain the word “Ji” in the name “Ji Zhou”
in the book mentioned above. So we can say “Ji Zhou” means “a land in
expectation”. And Hebei Province, since it has the short name “Ji”, is a land of
expectations.
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