A report on Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Beijing and Manchu people

Nevertheless, its built-up area, the third largest in China after Guangzhou and Shanghai, is slightly bigger, including three districts in Hebei (Sanhe, Dachang Hui and Zhuozhou) being conurbated but with Miyun and Pinggu Districts in Beijing not agglomerated yet.

The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui and 0.3% Mongol.

Among them, Liaoning has the largest population and Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Beijing have over 100,000 Manchu residents.

Hebei borders the provinces of Shanxi to the west, Henan to the south, Shandong to the southeast and Liaoning to the northeast, as well as the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to the north.

In 1421, when the Yongle Emperor moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing, the province started to be called as "North Zhili" or just "Zhili", which means "Directly Ruled (by the Imperial Court)".

During the Warring States period, King Wuling (340–295 BC) of the state of Zhao based in what is now Hebei and Shanxi Provinces pursued an expansionist policy towards the region.

The Khitans were later replaced by the Jurchens, precursors to the modern Manchus, who established the Jin dynasty over Manchuria and Northern China.

In 938, after the fall of the Tang, the Later Jin ceded the frontier territory including what is now Beijing to the Khitan Liao dynasty, which treated the city as Nanjing, or the "Southern Capital", one of four secondary capitals to complement its "Supreme Capital" Shangjing (modern Baarin Left Banner in Inner Mongolia).

The capture of Beijing by Li Zicheng's peasant army in 1644 ended the dynasty, but he and his Shun court abandoned the city without a fight when the Manchu army of Prince Dorgon arrived 40 days later.

Bashang Grasslands, on the border close to Beijing, is a popular retreat for urban residents wanting to get a taste of grasslands life.