Shijiazhuang overview 石家庄

About Shijiazhuang

For visitors, its strongest contrast is between the provincial collections in the modern city and the older temple town of Zhengding across the Hutuo River. Begin with Hebei Museum's archaeological material, then make a separate excursion to Zhengding to see the architecture in place. Cangyan Mountain and Zhaozhou Bridge lie in different directions and deserve their own transport plans.

The name Shijiazhuang (石家庄), meaning 'Shi family's village', first appeared during the Ming dynasty but only became widely used after the Shijiazhuang station of the Zhengtai Railway was built in 1907. The city grew up around this rail junction and remains a hub where several main lines, including the Beijing-Guangzhou and Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan railways, converge.

Zhengding, within the same municipal area and called Zhengding Prefecture (正定府) in Ming and Qing times, is a thousand-year-old town and national historical and cultural city containing eight Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位), the second-highest count among China's county-level cities. Its old buildings are traditionally summarized as 'nine towers, four pagodas and eight great temples'.

Shijiazhuang lies in south-central Hebei at the eastern foot of the Taihang Mountains, on the edge of the North China Plain, with terrain descending from mountains in the west to alluvial plain in the east. Niangzi Pass, one of the Taihang range's eight historic passes, links the area to Taiyuan in Shanxi; the Hutuo River (滹沱河) flows out through this pass, and its alluvium formed the eastern plain. Local rivers belong to the Hai River (海河) basin's Daqing and Ziya systems.

What to look for

• Hebei Museum's collections from the Zhongshan kingdom and Mancheng Han tombs.
• Zhengding's Longxing Temple, where large Buddhist sculpture and historic timber buildings survive together.

Location & getting there

Getting to Shijiazhuang

For a central starting point, use Hebei Museum's main campus at 4 Dongdajie, beside the provincial cultural square.

• Choose a separate onward destination for Zhengding. The historic town is north of central Shijiazhuang, beyond the Hutuo River.