Shijiazhuang

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Lore & Background

The city's present name, Shijiazhuang, first appeared during the Ming dynasty. Its literal meaning is 'Shi family's village.' The origin of the name is heavily disputed. One story claimed that the Wanli Emperor sent 24 officers and their families to the area, after which the group split into two settlements consisting of 10 and 14 families. The imperial court then named the settlements 'village of 10 families' and 'village of 14 families,' respectively. Since the Chinese characters for ten and stone are homophones, it is speculated that the city name gradually evolved into its current spelling. Another explanation is that the settlement was named after the highest-ranking official amongst the groups, who was surnamed Shi. However, a county named Shiyi, in present-day Luquan District, was already present during the Warring States period, suggesting that the name, or its elements, have even older origins. At first, the settlement was officially known only as 'Shijia,' as the 'zhuang' was solely used to denote the nature of the settlement being a village. On June 24, 1925, the Republican government ordered the village to be established as an autonomous city under the name Shijia. The city ended up being renamed as Shimen when it was officially incorporated on August 29, 1925, after the merger with another village, Xiumen. Despite being renamed, many documents and war plans from the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War still referred to the city as 'Shijiazhuang' or 'Shizhuang.' To avoid confusion and association with the Japanese Army, the Chinese Communist Party ultimately reverted the city's name back to Shijiazhuang on December 26, 1947.

Reader's Guide

Shijiazhuang experienced dramatic growth after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The population of the metropolitan area has more than quadrupled in thirty years as a result of industrialization and infrastructural developments. From 2008 to 2011, Shijiazhuang implemented a three-year plan, resulting in an increase of green areas and new buildings and roads. A railway station, airport and subway system have been opened. The growth of Shijiazhuang into one of China's major cities began in 1905, when the Beijing–Wuhan railway reached the area, stimulating 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, Shanxi. The connection 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 as well. The city also became the center of an extensive road network. Pre-World War II, Shijiazhuang was a large railway town as well as a commercial and collecting center for Shanxi and regions farther west and for agricultural produce of the North China Plain, particularly 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 when it took on an administrative role as the preeminent city in western Hebei, and developed into an industrial city. Some industries, such as match manufacturing, tobacco processing, and glassmaking, had already been established before the war. By 1941, Shide railway line was constructed between Shijiazhuang and Dezhou, Shandong in the war occupied period, operated by North China Transportation Company. On November 12, 1947, the city was captured by Communist forces. Xibaipo, a village about 90 km from downtown Shijiazhuang, in Pingshan County was the location of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army during the decisive stages of the Chinese Civil War between May 26, 1948, and March 23, 1949. The creation of the North China People's Government in 1947 affirmed the city's position as a key political center. A year later, as the result of the merger between the Bank of North China, the Bank of Beihai, and the Northwest Agricultural Bank, the People's Bank of China was established here, where it produced and released the first series of the renminbi. Shijiazhuang was one of the fourteen cities selected as focus cities for development under the First Five-Year Plan. The population more than tripled in the decade 1948–58 after Communist won the civil war. In the 1950s, the city experienced a major expansion in the textile industry, with large-scale cotton spinning, weaving, printing, and dyeing works. In the 1960s it was 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. Tianjin was again carved out of Hebei in 1967, remaining a separate entity today. The provincial capital was then moved to Baoding, however, the city was plunged into chaos due to the Cultural Revolution just a year later. Thus, under the direction of Mao Zedong to 'prepare for war and natural disasters,' Shijiazhuang became the provincial capital in 1968. Beginning in the 1990s, Shijiazhuang saw another episode of rapid growth and development. Starting from the plains area in the east and south of the city, the focus of the developments later shifted towards the mountainous districts and counties in the west, as well as along the Hutuo River in the north. In the early hours of March 16, 2001, four apartment buildings were leveled after a series of explosions rocked the city, killing 108 while injuring 38. The perpetrator was a deaf, unemployed man named Jin Ruchao who police arrested weeks later. Jin confessed that he had delivered the bombs via taxi and stated that the bombings were an act of revenge on his relatives, who were among the tenants of the apartments. Jin and his accomplices were later executed. In December 2020, its mayor, Deng Peiran, was charged with corruption, with Ma Yujun currently serving as the acting mayor.

Did You Know?

• The city's name Shijiazhuang literally means 'Shi family's village' and first appeared during the Ming dynasty.
• The People's Bank of China was established in Shijiazhuang in 1948, producing and releasing the first series of the renminbi.
• Shijiazhuang became the provincial capital of Hebei in 1968 under Mao Zedong's direction to 'prepare for war and natural disasters.'
• On March 16, 2001, four apartment buildings were leveled by explosions, killing 108 people; the perpetrator was a deaf, unemployed man named Jin Ruchao.
• The city's population more than tripled in the decade 1948–58 after the Communist victory in the civil war.