Северный Китай: География, история и культура

North China is a geographical region of China, consisting of two direct administered municipalities (Beijing and Tianjin), two provinces (Hebei and Shanxi), and one autonomous region (Inner Mongolia). Part of the larger region of Northern China (Beifang), it lies north of the Qinling–Huaihe Line, with its heartland in the North China Plain. In modern times, the area has shifted in terms of socio political and economic composition. Nowadays unique, embracing a North Chinese culture, it is influenced by Marxism, Soviet systems of industry while preserving a traditional Chinese indigenous culture. Agriculturally, the region cultivates wheat. Most inhabitants here speak variants of Northern Chinese languages such as Mandarin, which includes 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 (PRC). Jin Chinese and Mongolian are also widely spoken due to the political and cultural history of the area.

In prehistory, the region was home to the Yangshao and Longshan cultures. Peking man was found near modern day Beijing. The main agricultural lands of China lay in the area known as the Central Plain, an area located 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. 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. It is known as North China because it is at the northernmost point of the country China.

Provincial capitals in bold. #CityUrban areaProv. Census date1Beijing16,446,85718,827,26219,612,368BJ2010 11 012Tianjin9,562,25511,090,78312,938,693TJ2010 11 013Taiyuan3,154,1573,426,5194,201,592SX2010 11 014Shijiazhuang2,770,3442,834,94210,163,788HE2010 11 015Tangshan2,128,1913,187,1717,577,289HE2010 11 016Baotou1,900,3732,096,8512,650,364NM2010 11 017Hohhot1,497,1101,980,7742,866,615NM2010 11 018Datong1,362,3141,737,5143,318,054SX2010 11 019Handan1,316,6741,445,3389,174,683HE2010 11 0110Baoding1,038,1951,138,52111,194,382HE2010 11 01