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Hebei is large in area and with varied landforms like
mountains, sea, plain and plateau, so it is rich in natural resources and
occupies an important place in the whole country.
Mineral
Resources
Hebei is rich in assorted mineral resources. So far, 147 kinds of minerals were found
and 78 of them have been verified for their reserves. Forty-nine of them, or
63.4 percent of the total minerals that have been verified for reserves, are
among the first ten in their respective reserves in the country, such as the
marble stone, natural oilstone and so on. Hebei has many advantageous economic
minerals. In addition to energy resources, its iron ore, limestone, gold,
quartzite, etc., occupy an important position in the country. As one of the 6
largest gold mine areas in China, Hebei is a big gold producer.
Hebei has
a complete variety of energy resources. And they are rich in reserves. Coal,
petroleum and natural gas are the chief ones. With a confirmed reserve of 17
billions tons and 15.6 billion tons in extractive reserve, the coal resource in
Hebei, rich in reserve and fine in quality, ranks the 12th in the country. From
anthracite to lignite, it has a complete variety of coals. Hebei's coking coal
reserve ranks the 6th in the country. Hebei is rich in petroleum and natural gas
resources, which are mainly distributed in the oilfields of Jizhong, Dagang and
Jidong. The confirmed reserve of petroleum totals about 1.7 billion tons, taking
5th place in the nation.
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The Jingdong Chestnut | The natural gas reserve totals about 42 billion cubic meters. Hebei is
endowed with rich geothermal resource, which has been found in all its 11
prefecture level cities. It is one of the most advantageous areas in east China
in utilizing temperate geothermal water. Its geothermal resource reserve amounts
to 17.66 billion tons of coal. About 19975.63 trillion kilocalories of the
reserve could be extracted, amounting to 2.854 billion tons of standard coal. In
recent years, Hebei has made further progress in utilizing its geothermal
resource. In addition, other energy resources like water and wind have been used
to a certain extent.
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Fine breed milk cow of
Guyuan |
Biological
Resources Thanks
to its varied natural conditions, Hebei has rich biological resources with
features of diverse in variety, broad in distribution and large in number. As
one of the richest areas in the country in biological resources, Hebei has over
3,000 species of biological resources, among which more than 2,800 species are
plants, and over 800 are animals.
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Hebei's pear output occupies for 29.6% of
the national total sales volume and 15.5% of the world. |
Because of
climate differences in regions, Hebei has about 450 species of cultivated plants
like grain crops, vegetables and flowers. Its chief grain plants are wheat,
corn, millet, rice, sorghum, bean, etc. Hebei is one of the three largest wheat
producers in China. Most of its areas are suitable for growing wheat. Handan,
Xingtai, Shijiazhuang and Baoding, four areas distributed on the plain area east
of the Taihang Mountains, are the major wheat producing areas. Each year, the
total land for wheat is over 30 million to 40 million mu (about 2 million
hectares to 2.66 million hectares), producing one third of Hebei’s total grain
output. Hebei’s main economic crops are cotton, peanut, sugar beet and hemp. It
has been one of the country’s key cotton producers for a long time. Once it was
known as “the Largest Cotton Province of China”. The largest annual number of
land to be used for cotton growing in history was 17.20 million mu (about 1.1
million hectares). Among the 11 prefecture level cities, 7 used to give large
number of land for cotton. The land south of Shijiazhuang was designated mainly
for cotton for years, so it got the name“ A Sea of Cotton in South
Hebei”.
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The output of apple
produced in Hebei tops in China. |
Hebei is rich in fruit plants,
either cultivated or wild, totaling about 100 species. For fresh fruits, it has
pears, apples, apricots, peaches, grapes, haws, crabapples, cherries,
mulberries, pomegranates, etc. For dry fruits, it has chestnuts, walnuts,
persimmons, and dates. Autumn is the harvest season for fresh and dry fruits.
Farmers have a saying to describe it: “ Dates ripe in July, pears turn yellow in
August and persimmons become red in September.”Hebei has many famous fruits,
such as the Changli Apples, Xuanhua Grapes, Shenzhou Peaches, Zhaoxian Pears,
Jingdong Chestnuts (also Tianjin Sweet Chestnuts), Ya Pears (produced in Botou,
Xuning, Xinji and Jinzhou, and known as Tianjin Pears in international market),
Cangzhou Dates, Fuping Dates, and so on. They are well known far and wide.
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Hebei's apricot output occupies first place in the
whole country. |
Hebei has about 800 species of animals. Among
them 530 are terrestrial vertebrata, about one fourth of the nation’s total; 400
are birds and fowls, one third of the total; and 90 are
beasts.
In Hebei, there are 137 species of
wildlife under state protection or under provincial protection. Seventeen of
them are put under the first-class state protection, such as red-crowned crane,
black storks, white storks, China sand-duck, golden vulture, crossoptilon
mantchuricum, leopard, etc. Crossoptilon mantchuricum, distributed in an area
around the Lesser Wutai Mount of Hebei and the Luliang Mount of Shanxi, is the
only species in the world. In the river mouth area of the Luanhe River, a
protection zone was designated to provide a habitat for the black-mouthed gull,
an endangered specie. There are 74 species of animals under the second-class
state protection, such as the gray crane, cape-feathered crane, Cygnus, cygnet,
gray goat, lynx, etc. As a passage for migrating birds, Hebei has over 300
species of such birds. Each year, tens of thousands of them take a short stay in
Hebei.
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Crossoptilon mantchuricum, a rare bird living in
Hebei |
To protect the wildlife in Hebei, 6 wetland
reserves have been set up in the lakes of Baiyangdian and Hengshuihu. In
addition, natural reserves have been delimited in the Wuling Mountain in
Xinglong County and the Lesser Wutai Mount between Zhuolu County and Yuxian
County. All together, 27 different kinds of natural reserves have been set up in
Hebei, totaling about 2,611 sq. km. Of them 19 are the provincial level or state
level natural reserves.
Marine
Resources With a coastal line of 487
km, Hebei is one of the 12 coastal provinces and municipalities in China.
Located in the center of the Bohai Sea Economic Ring, Hebei’s seashore area
totals 11,379.88 sq. km, of which 7,623.5 sq. km are shallow sea area and tiding
area, 2,732.2 sq. km are the land by the sea. Although its coastal line takes
only the 9th place in length in the country, Hebei has a complete variety of
seashores. With fine harbors and rich marine biological and mineral resources,
Hebei is endowed with remarkable advantages for the development of its marine
industry.
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