{{Short description|Region of China}} {{Other uses}} {{Multiple issues|{{More citations needed|date=February 2013}} {{Original research|date=August 2019}} {{expand Chinese|topic=geo|date=October 2021}}|collapsed=yes}} {{Infobox settlement | name = North China | native_name = 华北 | native_name_lang = <!-- ISO 639-2 code e.g. "fr" for French. If more than one, use {{lang}} instead --> | settlement_type = Statistical region | image_flag = | flag_alt = | image_seal = | seal_alt = | image_shield = | shield_alt = | etymology = | nickname = | motto = | image_map = File:North China.svg | map_alt = | map_caption = North People's Republic of China region | pushpin_map = | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map_caption = | coordinates = | coor_pinpoint = | coordinates_footnotes = | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{PRC}} | subdivision_type1 = | subdivision_name1 = | subdivision_type2 = | subdivision_name2 = | subdivision_type3 = | subdivision_name3 = | established_title = | established_date = | founder = | seat_type = Largest city | seat = Beijing | government_footnotes = | leader_party = | leader_title = | leader_name = | unit_pref = Metric | area_footnotes = | area_urban_footnotes = | area_rural_footnotes = | area_metro_footnotes = | area_magnitude = | area_note = | area_water_percent = | area_rank = | area_blank1_title = | area_blank2_title = | area_total_km2 = 2,185,105 | area_land_km2 = | area_water_km2 = | area_urban_km2 = | area_rural_km2 = | area_metro_km2 = | area_blank1_km2 = | area_blank2_km2 = <!-- hectares --> | area_total_ha = | area_land_ha = | area_water_ha = | area_urban_ha = | area_rural_ha = | area_metro_ha = | area_blank1_ha = | area_blank2_ha = | length_km = | width_km = | dimensions_footnotes = | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = | population_as_of = | population_footnotes = <ref name="census2020"> {{cite web |url=http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202105/t20210510_1817185.html |title=Main Data of the Seventh National Population Census |publisher=National Bureau of Statistics of China |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511031334/http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202105/t20210510_1817185.html |archivedate=May 11, 2021 }}</ref> | population_total = 164,823,136 | population_density_km2 = auto | population_note = | population_demonym = North Chinese | demographics_type2 = GDP {{Nobold|(nominal, 2024)}} | demographics2_title1 = Total | demographics2_info1 = CN¥{{FXConvert|CHN|16720|b|lk=on}}<ref name="China NBS GDP data">see China national data {{cite press release | url=https://data.stats.gov.cn/english| title=regional - quarterly by province - national accounts - gross regional product| publisher=China NBS|access-date=February 25, 2025}}</ref> | timezone1 = | utc_offset1 = | postal_code_type = | postal_code = | area_code_type = | area_code = | iso_code = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> | footnotes = }} thumb|250px|Northern China (a much broader area named Beifang) '''North China''' ({{zh|s=华北}}) is a geographical region of the People's Republic of China, consisting of five provincial-level administrative divisions, namely the direct-administered municipalities Beijing and Tianjin, the provinces Hebei and Shanxi, and the autonomous region Inner Mongolia (although the four prefectures east of the Greater Khingan Range are sometimes regarded as parts of Northeast China).
Part of the larger region of Northern China (''Beifang''), it lies north of the Qinling–Huaihe Line,<ref name="progressingeography_36314">{{cite journal |first1=Shuangshuang |last1=Li |first2=Saini |last2=Yang |first3=Xianfeng |last3=LIU |title=Spatiotemporal variability of extreme precipitation in north and south of the Qinling-Huaihe region and influencing factors during 1960-2013 |journal=The Chinese Journal of Geography |date=10 September 2015 |volume=34|issue=3|pages=354–363 |url = http://www.progressingeography.com/article/2015/1007-6301/36314 |access-date=25 May 2017}}</ref> with its heartland in the North China Plain. Most inhabitants here speak variants of Northern Chinese languages such as Mandarin, which includes the Beijing dialect and its cousin variants. The Beijing dialect is largely the basis of Standard Chinese (or Standard Mandarin), the official language of the People's Republic of China. Jin Chinese and Mongolian are also widely spoken due to the political and cultural history of the area.
==History== {{expand section|date=December 2016}} In prehistory, the region was home to the Yangshao and Longshan cultures. Peking Man was found near modern-day Beijing. [[File:ROC North China.svg|thumb|North Central China in the Republic of China]] The main agricultural lands of China lay in the area known as the Central Plain, an area bordered by the Yangtze River to its south and the Yellow River to its north. Further north of the Yellow River lies the Gobi Desert and steppe lands that extend west across Eurasia. This region has long, harsh winters. It has relatively little in the way of water resources.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Hu |first=Richard |title=Reinventing the Chinese City |date=2023 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-21101-7 |location=New York}}</ref>{{Rp|page=132}}
Despite these challenges, some forms of agriculture have been successful in this region, especially animal husbandry, certainly of horse and camel, and possibly other types of animals. The crops ''Panicum Miliaceum'' and ''Setaria Italica'', both types of millet grain, are believed to be indigenous to northern China. ''Panicum Miliaceum'' is known from the Cishan culture in Hebei province, recovered as Phytoliths from pits in stratigraphic sections. Sediments from the pits have radiocarbon dates from 8500 to 7500 BCE. Archaeological evidence of charred grains found in early Holocene layers in Hebei province at Nanzhuangtou and Cishan has led scholars to revise the earliest dates associated with millet by about two millennia. Millet sites are concentrated along the boundaries of the Loess and Mongolian Plateau, separated by a mountain chain from the Huabei Plain and the Dongbei Plain, North China's main alluvial plains, located to the west. Millet cultivation was similarly situated relative to the Qinling Mountains at Dadiwan, and the Yitai Mountains at Yuezhuang. Macrofossil evidence (charred grains of foxtail and broomcorn millet) has been recovered from Xinglonggou in Inner Mongolia, Xinle in Liaoning, Cishan in Hebei, and Dadiwan in Gansu, among other sites in Eastern and Central China.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge World History Volume II A World With Agriculture 12,000 BCE-500CE |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2015 |pages=316–320}}</ref>
== Administrative divisions in the PRC == {| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 100%;" |- style="background: #efefef;" !align="center"|GB<ref>[http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~chgis/work/design/chinastdb_1210.doc GB/T 2260 codes for the provinces of China]</ref> !align="center"|ISO No.<ref>ISO 3166-2:CN (ISO 3166-2 codes for the provinces of China)</ref> !align="left"|Province !align="left"|Chinese Name !align="left"|Capital !align="right"|Population¹ !align="right"|Density² !align="right"|Area³ !align="center" class="alphabetical"| Abbreviation/Symbol |- {{tent division chn 1|Beijing Municipality |北京市|北京市|Běijīng Shì |{{lang|zh|京}} |11|ff8585| |''Beijing''| 19,612,368| 1,167.40|16,800|BJ|Jīng}} {{tent division chn 1|Tianjin Municipality |天津市|天津市|Tiānjīn Shì |{{lang|zh|津}} |12|ff8585| |''Tianjin''| 12,938,224| 1,144.46|11,305|TJ|Jīn}} {{tent division chn 1|Hebei Province |河北省|河北省|Héběi Shěng |{{lang|zh|冀}}|13|9696ff| |Shijiazhuang| 71,854,202| 382.81|187,700|HE|Jì}} {{tent division chn 1|Shanxi Province |山西省|山西省|Shānxī Shěng |{{lang|zh|晋}} |14|9696ff| |Taiyuan | 35,712,111| 228.48|156,300|SX|Jìn}} {{tent division chn 1|Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region<br>''Nei Mongol Autonomous Region'' |內蒙古自治区|内蒙古自治區|Nèi Měnggǔ Zìzhìqū|{{lang|zh|蒙(內蒙古)}} |15|fffb91||Hohhot| 24,706,321| 20.88|1,183,000|NM|Měng (Nèi Měnggǔ)}} |}
== Cities with urban area over one million in population == : Provincial capitals in '''bold'''. {| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:90%;" !#!!City!!style ="background-color: #aaaaff;"|Urban area<ref name ="2010PRCcensus"/>!!style ="background-color: #aaffaa;"|District area<ref name ="2010PRCcensus"/>!!style ="background-color: #ffaaaa;"|City proper<ref name ="2010PRCcensus">{{cite book |editor1 = 国务院人口普查办公室 |editor2 = 国家统计局人口和社会科技统计司 |year=2012 |script-title=zh:中国2010年人口普查分县资料 |location=Beijing |publisher=China Statistics Press |isbn=978-7-5037-6659-6 }}</ref>!!Prov.!!Census date |- |1||'''Beijing'''||16,446,857||18,827,262||19,612,368||BJ||2010-11-01 |- |2||'''Tianjin'''||9,562,255||11,090,783||12,938,693||TJ||2010-11-01 |- |3||'''Taiyuan'''||3,154,157||3,426,519||4,201,592||SX||2010-11-01 |- |4||'''Shijiazhuang'''||2,770,344||2,834,942||10,163,788||HE||2010-11-01 |- |5||Tangshan||2,128,191||3,187,171||7,577,289||HE||2010-11-01 |- |6||Baotou||1,900,373||2,096,851||2,650,364||NM||2010-11-01 |- |7||'''Hohhot'''||1,497,110||1,980,774||2,866,615||NM||2010-11-01 |- |8||Datong||1,362,314||1,737,514||3,318,054||SX||2010-11-01 |- |9||Handan||1,316,674||1,445,338||9,174,683||HE||2010-11-01 |- |10||Baoding||1,038,195||1,138,521||11,194,382||HE||2010-11-01 |}
== See also == {{Portal|China}} * Northern China ** North China Plain ** Inner Mongolia ** Northeast China ** Northwest China * East China
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Clear}} {{China topics}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Regions of China Category:Northern China