[Geographical Location]  [Short Name and Substitute Name]  [Administration Division]  
[Population,Nationalities and Religions]  [Communications and Transportation]  

    Being a province that surrounds Beijing and Tianjin, Hebei has the convenience of rapid transportation by air, sea and land. This leads not only to the rapid coming and going of commercial goods but also to a remarkable decline in transportation cost.

    On the land of Hebei, there are 22 key railways. All railways linking Beijing with other parts of China first pass through Hebei. Like three aortas, the railways from Beijing to Guangzhou (Guangdong Province), from Beijing to Shanghai and from Beijing to Jiulong (Shenzhen) stretch from north to south. The railways from Beijing to Harbin (Liaoning) and from Beijing to Baotou (Inner Mongolia), like two longfeelers, stretch through Hebei northeastward and northwestward separately first to Russia and then to Europe. In addition, the railways from Beijing to Tongliao (Inner Mongolia), to Qinhuangdao, to Chengde, and to Yuanping (Shanxi), from Datong (Shanxi) to Qinhuangdao, from Shijiazhuang to Dezhou (Shandong), from Shijiazhuang to Taiyuan (Shanxi), from Handan to Changzhi (Shanxi), and from Handan to Jinan (Shandong), like a network, connect Hebei with other parts of China.  Being an intersect of the railways from Beijing to Guangzhou (Guangdong), from Shijiazhuang to Dezhou (Shandong) and from Shijiazhuan to Taiyuan (Shanxi), Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital, is a key road junction in China. All Hebei’s 11 prefecture level cities and half of its counties (including county level cities) are situated along railways. 

    The Shuohuang Railway, the second railway built for transporting coal from China’s west to its east, was completed in December 19, 2001. Starting from Shenchi of Shanxi Province in the west to the Huanghua Seaport of Hebei Province in the east, the chief section of the railway is 588.42 km. Adding the Shenshuo Railway (from Shenmu to Shuozhou), the total length is 860 km. Coal mines in west regions (Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia) are well linked by the railway with the seaport in the east.

    Hebei boasts a good highway network. The total length of Hebei’s highway open to traffic in 2006 is more than 143,778 km. The total length of Hebei’s expressway in operation by the end of 2006 is 2,329 km. 

    Hebei’s marine transportation has seen a rapid development. Now, it has 3 major seaports, the Qinhuangdao Seaport, the Tangshan Seaport and the Huanghua Seaport. The Qinhuangdao Seaport, which is over one hundred years old, now has 29 berths. The handling capacity was 340 million tons in 2006. It is the 5th largest seaport in China. Known as “an important chess in national economy”, the seaport has played an irreplaceable role for many years in shipping coals from China’s north regions to the south, which is very important for the development of China’s economy. The Tangshan Seaport has been growing at an annual growth rate of 25 percent for 15 years. Now it has become one of the 20 key seaports in China. It has provided essential support for Hebei’s economic development strategy (Give full play to its favorable location around Bejing and Tianjin and by the Bohai Sea, and rely on opening to the outside world). The Huanghua Seaport, beginning to be constructed in 1997, was designed to be the second largest marine gateway for coals coming from China’s western regions to the eastern. 

    Hebei has an international airport, the Shijiazhuang Airport. It began operation in 1995 and has opened 46 routes, which lead to Hong Kong, Russia and 36 domestic cities. The Shanhaiguan Airport, another civil airport in Hebei, has opened 29 routes totally, leading to 18 domestic cities.

    A modern telecommunication network has been formed. It links Hebei with rest of the country as well as the world by optical cable, digital microwave, satellite, programmed exchanger, mobile, computer Internet and videophone. In 2006, Hebei's post and telecommunication business volume hit 64.16 billion yuan, increasing by 21.4 percent than that of the previous year. The total capacity of office exchanges reached 22.53 million gates, an increase of 9.768 million gates than that of the previous year. All counties and cities have access to the services of domestic and international direct lines. The number of fixed telephone subscribers was 16.572 millions and that of the mobile phones 0.293 million. The number of cellphone owners per hundred people is 32.9.