Shijiazhuang
From ChinaTravelGuide
North China (华北) » Hebei (河北) » Shijiazhuang (石家庄)
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[edit] Snapshot
| Location | mid to south of Hebei Province | ||
| Geography | Taihang Mountain range in the west, and North China Plain and in the East | |||
| Nearby Areas | Beijing, Tianjin, Baoding, Shanxi Province | |||
| Area - Total - Urban area | 15848 km² 456 km² | Population - Total - Urban area | 9.5505 million 2.3773 million | |
| Weather - Avg. Temp - Rainfall | 48.25°F (low) 66.42°F (high) 14.79 inches/year | People & Culture | ||
| Mountains | Taihang Mountain range | Rivers | ||
| Economy | Pharmaceutical, Textile | Phone Area Code | 0311 | |
[edit] Overview
Shijiazhuang (石家庄; literally, "The Stone Village") is about 200 miles (320 km) south of Beijing in Hebei Province. Shijiazhuang was once a small village until late 1920s, when it found itself at the junction of three major rail lines during the modern railway construction boom. Since then Shijiazhuang has opened a new chapter in its modern history, and has been developed rapidly into the modern capital city of Hebei Province.
Shijiazhuang is a young industrial city, and has relatively few attractions in the city area. However, there are several sites of historical and cultural interest in the surrounding area, including Mount Cangyan Scenic Area, the Zhangshiyan Scenic Area, Longxing Temple and four pagodas (Mu Pagoda, Qing Pagoda, Hua Pagoda and Zhuan Pagoda) in Zhengding, Zhaozhou Bridge in Zhao County, 45 km to the southeast of Shijiazhuang.
Mount Cangyan Scenic Area is best known for its picture postcard temples hanging on the steep hillsides. Several final scenes of the Oscar winning movie "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" were filmed around a pavilion on a bridge over a gorge.
The Zhangshiyan Scenic Area is in Zanhuang County, about 100 km (about 62 miles) southeast of the city center. The area is a range of screen-like mountains with magnificent ridges and peaks, grand cliffs, beautiful ponds, springs, streams and waterfalls. A sea of clouds adorns the mountains and valleys in summer and autumn to early winter.
The Longxing Temple (隆兴寺), an ancient Buddhist Temple, has often been referred to as the "First Temple south of Beijing".
Zhaozhou Bridge is a 1400 year-old stone bridge with a place in the history book of world's bridge construction.
[edit] History
In pre-Han times (i.e., before 206 BC) it was the site of the city of Shihi in the state of Zhao, and, from Han (206 BC–AD 220) to Sui (581–618) times, it was the site of a county town with the same name. With the reorganization of local government in the early period of the Tang dynasty (618–907), the county was abolished. Shijiazhuang then became little more than a local market town, subordinated to the flourishing city of Zhengding (modern Zhengding) a few miles to the north.
The growth of Shijiazhuang into one of China's major cities began in 1905, when the Beijing–Wuhan (Hankou) railway reached the area, stimulating much new trade and encouraging local farmers to grow cash crops. Two years later the town became the junction for the new Shitai line, running from Shijiazhuang to Taiyuan in central Shanxi province. This connection immediately transformed the town from a local collecting center and market into a communications center of national importance on the main route from Beijing and Tianjin to Shanxi and — later, when the railway from Taiyuan was extended to the southwest — to Shaanxi province as well. The city also became the center of an extensive road network.
During the pre-World War II period, Shijiazhuang was a large railway town as well as a commercial and collecting center for Shanxi and the regions farther west and for the agricultural produce of the North China Plain, particularly for grain, tobacco, and cotton. By 1935 it had far outstripped Zhengding as an economic center. At the end of World War II the character of the city changed once again. Not only did it assume an administrative role as the preeminent city in western Hebei but it also developed into an industrial city. Some industry, such as match manufacturing, tobacco processing, and glassmaking, had already been established before the war.
Only after 1949, however, did the planned industrialization of the city gather momentum. Its population more than tripled in the decade 1948–58. In the 1950s the city experienced a major expansion in the textile industry, with large-scale cotton spinning, weaving, printing, and dyeing works. In addition, there are various plants processing local farm produce. In the 1960s it was also the site of a new chemical industry, with plants producing fertilizer and caustic soda. Shijiazhuang also became an engineering base, with a tractor-accessory plant. There are important coal deposits at Jingxing and Huailu, now named Luquan, a few miles to the west in the foothills of the Taihang Mountains, which provide fuel for a thermal-generating plant supplying power to local industries. The city's role as a transport center has been supplemented by the construction of an airport handling regular domestic flights.
--from wikipedia.org
[edit] Map
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[edit] Video
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[edit] Weather
Enveloped in the temperature continental monsoon climate, it's clearly distinguished between seasons with yearly average temperature of 14.2 centigrade, the coldest month of the year (January) at –2.9 centigrade, compared with the warmest (July) at 26.5 centigrade. The average precipitation is 570mm, sunshine hours more than 2200 and frost-free period more than 240 days.
Current Conditions (2010-08-01 11:00:00, local time)
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Shijiazhuang |
Temp: 78°F (26°C) |
Shijiazhuang Weather Forecast
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| Weather averages for Shijiazhuang | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| Avg high °C (°F) | 4 (39) | 7 (45) | 13 (55) | 21 (70) | 27 (81) | 32 (90) | 32 (90) | 30 (86) | 27 (81) | 21 (70) | 12 (54) | 5 (41) | |
| Avg low °C (°F) | -6 (21) | -3 (27) | 3 (37) | 10 (50) | 15 (59) | 20 (68) | 23 (73) | 22 (72) | 16 (61) | 10 (50) | 2 (36) | -4 (25) | |
| Rain cm (inches) | 0.35 (0.1) | 0.55 (0.2) | 0.87 (0.3) | 1.82 (0.7) | 2.86 (1.1) | 4.64 (1.8) | 10.45 (4.1) | 9.27 (3.6) | 3.37 (1.3) | 1.88 (0.7) | 1.09 (0.4) | 0.38 (0.1) | |
| Source: Average Conditions Shijiazhuang per MSN 2008 | |||||||||||||
[edit] Getting in & Getting out
[edit] By Air
Shijiazhuang Zhengding Airport is located to the northeast of the city, and about 32 km from downtown. The airport has over 40 flights to major cities in China, including Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Chengdu, Xiamen, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Kunming, and Chongqing. Because Shijiazhuang is very close to Beijing and Tianjin, getting into here by transiting through Beijing and Tianjin airports and then by bus or train is also a popular choice. But the most popular way to get to Shijiazhuang is by far through the railway directly.
The airport inquiry line is 0311-85053951. China Eastern Airline's ticket office line is 0311-88641673.
[edit] By Train
Shijiazhuang is one of the largest railway transportation hubs in China. Shijiazhuang ballooned to today's size from a small village in the early 1900s following the completion of the Zhengtai (Today's Shijiahzuang-Taiyaun Railway) and Jinghan (Today's Beijing-Hankou Railway) railways. Today four railways, Jingguang (Beijing-Guangzhou) Railway, Shitai (Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan) Railway, Shide (Shijiazhuang-Dezhou) Railway, and Shuohuang (Shuozhou-Huanghua) Railway, intersect here to give Shijiazhuang much convenience with its passenger transport.
Shijiazhuang is about 277 km from Beijing (about 2 hours for a fast train) and 420 km from Tianjin (about 5 hours by train). Refer to Shijiazhuang train schedule for detailed train info.
Shijiazhuang also has daily tourist train running between Beijing, Shijiazhuang, and Hangdan. It's air-conditioned and double-decked with twelve cars named after twelve famous scenic spots.
Shijiazhuang train station is located at the city center, and can be easily reached through the public buses.
The train station inquiry line is 0311-87600111, and the ticket office phone number is 0311-87022227.
[edit] By Bus
Shijiazhuang also has an extensive highway network with 4 expressways (国道) (107, 207, 307, 308), 4 national highways, 2 provincial highways, and 42 county highways. This makes Shijiazhuang easily reachable from the nearby areas.
The following is a list of phone numbers for the long-distance passenger bus stations:
- Baifo (白佛) Passenger Station: 0311-85969987
- Xiwang (西王) Passenger Station: 0311-83661755
- Canal Bridge (运河桥) Passenger Station: 0311-86831458
- Shengnan (胜南) Passenger Station: 0311-86119334
- Huaxia (华厦) Passenger Station: 0311-86012669
- Shengbei (胜北) Long-distance Station: 0311-86035553
[edit] Getting Around
[edit] By Public Bus
Buses in Shijiazhuang are frequent and cheap. The bus fare is one yuan regardless of the distance.
[edit] By Taxi & Rental Car
The cost of a taxi is 5 RMB for the first 2 km, and 1.20 RMB for each additional km for a compact taxi (1.40 RMB/km for a mid-size, or 1.60RMB/km for a luxury taxi).
In addition, you may be charged with the "Empty Taxi Fee" (空驶费) if the taxi has to be driven in "empty" to pick you up. The rule is that if the "empty" driving is less than 6 km, it's free. Otherwise, 50% of the regular fare will be added. Round-trip passengers are waived for the fee.
Also, passengers will be responsible for toll road fee, tunnel passing fee, and expressway fee.
Still, taxis in Shijiazhuang are ridiculously cheap according to Western standard.
- Shijiazhuang Taxi info line: 0311-87027458
- Taxi complain line：0311-87042882
[edit] Attractions
In the city of Shijiazhuang there are not only historic sites including famous historical cities and commemoration places of modern revolution, but also natural landscapes such as mountain forest, lake, hot spring, etc., moreover, Shijiazhuang has the special resources of social customs, shopping, city sightseeing and so on.
The whole city now has 18 key relics under state protection and 105 key relics under province protection and 240 key relics under municipality or county protection. All kinds of cultural relics spots amount to 1200 or so. It has two national scenic spots (Cangyan Mountain, Zhangshiyan) and two provincial scenic spots (Fenglong Mountain, Tiangui Mountain). Moreover, it has one national famous historical city---Zhengding, one provincial famous historical city---Zhao county, 4 provincial vocational villages (Panlong Lake, Cangyan Mountain, Wentang, Zhangshiyan), one national forest park (Wuyuezhai), seven provincial forest park (Xiantai Mountain, Tuoliang, Nansizhang, Chizhi, Longzhou Lake, Sibaipo, etc.), and 6 national and provincial patriotism educational bases.
- Mountain Tiangui (天桂山)
- Baodu Village (石家庄抱犊寨)
- Mountain Cangyan (苍岩山)
- Longxing Temple (正定隆兴寺)
- Tianshan Sea World (天山海世界)
- Pingshan Tuoliang Mountain (平山驼梁山风景区)
- Wuyue Village National Forest Park (五月寨)
[edit] Hotels
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[edit] Luxury
[edit] Restaurants
For a fantastic authentic Chinese feast you cannot go past the restaurant "Hebei House".
Rehe huiguan (热河会馆) restaurant, just opposite the railway station (slightly to the south) features excellent Hebei and Manchu cuisine.
There is a small but lovely, and relatively cheap, Korean restaurant on Zhongshan Xi lu (中山西路), a few minutes walk from the railway station.
--from wikitravel.org
[edit] Shopping
Aggregated with 3 China top 10 wholesale markets, it is a good place for shopping for cheaper stuff. There are also a number of very large modern western-style department stores. The biggest of these is the "Bei Guo" centre in the middle of the city just down the road from the "People's Park".
--from wikitravel.org
[edit] Night Life & Entertainment
The good citizens of Shijiazhuang enjoy the Chinese alcohol made from rice "Bai Jiu," or white spirit. It is a strong drink and you need to develop an acquired taste. You will surely get to try some whenever you eat out with Chinese friends.
The main bar for expats and foreign teachers is located inside Changan Guangchang on Zhongshan Lu, it is next to McDonald's (just tell the taxi driver 'Maidanglau zhongshan lu' and you should get there). It is called the "Youth Year Beer Bar" however it is more popularay known as McDonald's Bar. It is in the far right hand corner of the bottom floor of Changan Guangchang with Sonia and Kevin at the bar. Sonia never smiles.
Seven Club('qi jiu ba' in Chinese) is the main night club that all the expats and foreign teachers go to, located to west of the train station. The beer is not great but it has the best atmosphere compared to any other club.
--from wikitravel.org
[edit] Sports & Recreation
[edit] Excursions & Day Trips
[edit] Tips & Practical Info
[edit] See also
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