Zhili, alternately romanized as Chihli, was a northern administrative region of China since the 14th century that lasted through the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty until 1911, when the region was dissolved, converted to a province, and renamed Hebei in 1928. The capital city of Imperial China, Beijing, was located within Zhili.
Baoding is a prefecture-level city in central Hebei province, approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) southwest of Beijing. As of the 2020 census, Baoding City had 11,544,036 inhabitants, of which 2,549,787 lived in the metropolitan area made of 4 out of 5 urban districts: Lianchi, Jingxiu, Qingyuan, and Mancheng all of which are largely conurbated. Accounting for about one-sixth of the population of Hebei Province. At the end of 2024, the city's resident population is 9,046,200, of which the urban resident population is 5,527,200.Baoding is among 13 Chinese cities with a population of over 10 million, ranking seventh. Zhuozhou City in the northern part has now grown into part of the Beijing metro area.
Baoding was the capital of Zhili Province and the residence of the Viceroy of Zhili in the Qing dynasty. The city was also the capital of Hebei province until 1968, and is now a national historical and cultural city and one of the central cities in the Jing-Jin-Ji cluster, with the Xiong'an new area located within its jurisdiction.
Hebei is a province in North China. It is China's sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It borders Shanxi to the west, Henan to the south, Shandong and Liaoning to the east, and Inner Mongolia to the north; in addition, Hebei entirely surrounds the direct-administered municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin on land. Its population is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and 0.3% Mongol. Varieties of Chinese spoken include Jilu Mandarin, the Beijing dialect of Mandarin, and Jin Chinese.
During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (771–226 BC), the region was ruled by the states of Yan and Zhao. During the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), the region was called Zhongshu. It was called North Zhili during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), and simply Zhili during the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). The modern province of Hebei was created in 1928. Five UNESCO World Heritage Sites can be found in the province: the Great Wall of China, Chengde Mountain Resort, Grand Canal, Eastern Qing tombs, and Western Qing tombs. It is also home to five National Famous Historical and Cultural Cities: Handan, Baoding, Chengde, Zhengding and Shanhaiguan.
The Zhili clique (Chinese: 直隸系軍閥; pinyin: Zhílì xì jūnfá) was a military faction that split from the Republic of China's Beiyang Army during the country's Warlord Era. It was named for Zhili Province (modern-day Hebei), which was the clique's base of power. At its height, it also controlled Jiangsu, Jiangxi, and Hubei.
The Beiyang Army fragmented following the death of Yuan Shikai, who had been the only person keeping regional factions from contesting territory throughout China. Unlike other cliques, Zhili was formed by army officers, who felt they had been snubbed by Premier Duan Qirui regarding appointments and promotions. These officers rallied around President Feng Guozhang, who had to share power with Duan's dominant Anhui clique in the Beiyang government. Lacking strong bonds, they were more willing to abandon or betray one another.
The term Beiyang (Chinese: 北洋; pinyin: Běiyáng; Wade-Giles: Peiyang) literally means Northern Ocean. Initially a purely geographic term, it originated toward the end of the Qing dynasty, and it referred to the coastal provinces of Zhili (Traditional Chinese:直隸, Simplified Chinese: 直隶, pinyin: Zhílì, today's Hebei), Shandong and Liaoning that bordered the Yellow Sea (itself a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean) and surrounded the imperial capital of Beijing (then known as Peking).
The term later acquired a political significance, denoting the imperial heartland. The position of Minister of Beiyang (北洋通商大臣) in the late Qing Dynasty was held by the Viceroy of Zhili, whose main responsibilities were trade relations and occasionally foreign affairs.
Lu Yongxiang (Chinese: 盧永祥; Chinese: 卢永祥; pinyin: Lú Yǒngxiáng; Wade–Giles: Lu Yung-hsiang; IPA: [lú i̯ʊ̌ŋɕi̯ɑ́ŋ] October 22, 1867 – May 15, 1933) was an Anhui clique warlord and military governor of Zhejiang, Zhili, and Jiangsu.