A report on Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin and Jing-Jin-Ji

It is the biggest urbanized megalopolis region in North China, including an economic region surrounding the municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin, and along the coast of the Bohai Sea.

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.

Beijing is mostly surrounded by Hebei Province with the exception of neighboring Tianjin to the southeast; together, the three divisions form the Jingjinji megalopolis and the national capital region of China.

Tianjin borders Hebei Province and Beijing Municipality, bounded to the east by the Bohai Gulf portion of the Yellow Sea.

Part of the Bohai Economic Rim, it is the largest coastal city in Northern China and part of the Jing-Jin-Ji megapolis.

Jingjinji includes the Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei provinces.

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)".

The capital was also moved from Baoding to the upstart city of Shijiazhuang, and, for a short period, to Tianjin.

Today, Hebei, along with Beijing and Tianjin municipalities which it enclaves, make up the Jing-Jin-Ji megalopolis region.