Chengde

Not to be confused with Chengdu.

For other uses, see Chengde County.

Chéngdé 承德
—  Prefecture-level city  —
承德市
Location of Chengde in Hebei Province, and location of Hebei Province within the People's Republic of China
Chéngdé Location of Chengde in Hebei Province, and location of Hebei Province within the People's Republic of China
Coordinates: 40°58′N 117°56′E / 40.967°N 117.933°E / 40.967; 117.933Coordinates: 40°58′N 117°56′E / 40.967°N 117.933°E / 40.967; 117.933
Country	China
Province	Hebei
Area
– Prefecture-level city	39,519 km2 (15,258.4 sq mi)
– Urban	709 km2 (273.7 sq mi)
Population (2004)
– Prefecture-level city	3,610,000
– Density	91/km2 (235.7/sq mi)
– Urban	457,300
– Urban density	645/km2 (1,670.5/sq mi)
License Plate Prefix	冀H
GDP (2004)	CNY 30 billion
Website	http://www.chengde.gov.cn
City tree Pagoda Tree City flower Rugosa Rose

Chengde (Chinese: 承德; pinyin: Chéngdé), previously known as Jehol or Re He (Chinese: 热河; pinyin: Rèhé), is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, People's Republic of China, situated northeast of Beijing. It is best known as the site of the Mountain Resort, a vast imperial garden and palace formerly used by the Qing emperors as summer residence.^[1] The urban center had a population of approximately 450,000 as of 2009.

History

The Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735–1796) touring Chengde.

In 1703, Chengde was chosen by the Kangxi Emperor as the location for his summer residence. Constructed throughout the eighteenth century, the Mountain Resort (避暑山庄; literally "avoiding the heat mountain villa") was used by both the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors. The site is currently an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since the seat of government followed the emperor, Chengde was a political center of the Chinese empire during these times.

The city of Jehol reached its height under the Qianlong Emperor 1735-1796 (died 1799). The great monastery temple of the Potala, loosely based on the Potala in Lhasa, was completed after just four years of work in 1771. It was heavily decorated with gold and the emperor worshipped in the Golden Pavilion. In the temple itself was a bronze-gilt statue of Tsongkhapa, the Reformer of the Gelugpa sect.

Under the Republic of China, Chengde was the capital of Rehe province. From 1933 to 1945 the city was under Japanese control as a part of the Manchurian puppet state known as Manchukuo. After World War II the Kuomintang regained jurisdiction. In 1948, the People's Liberation Army took control of Chengde. It would remain a part of Rehe until 1955, when the province was abolished, and the city was incorporated into Hebei.

The city is home to large populations of ethnic minorities, Mongol and Manchu in particular. The name for Chengde in Manchu is Erdemu be aliha fu.

Administrative divisions

Chengde comprises:

Map
#	Name	Hanzi	Hanyu Pinyin	Population (2004 est.)	Area (km²)	Density (/km²)
1	Shuangqiao District	双桥区	Shuāngqiáo Qū	290,000	311	932
2	Shuangluan District	双滦区	Shuāngluán Qū	100,000	250	400
3	Yingshouyingzi Mining District	鹰手营子矿区	Yīngshǒuyíngzi Kuàngqū	70,000	148	473
4	Chengde County	承德县	Chéngdé Xiàn	470,000	3,990	118
5	Xinglong County	兴隆县	Xīnglóng Xiàn	320,000	3,116	103
6	Pingquan County	平泉县	Píngquán Xiàn	470,000	3,297	143
7	Luanping County	滦平县	Luánpíng Xiàn	320,000	3,195	100
8	Longhua County	隆化县	Lónghuà Xiàn	420,000	5,474	77
9	Fengning Manchu Autonomous County	丰宁满族 自治县	Fēngníng Mǎnzú Zìzhìxiàn	380,000	8,747	43
10	Kuancheng Manchu Autonomous County	宽城满族 自治县	Kuānchéng Mǎnzú Zìzhìxiàn	230,000	1,933	119
11	Weichang Manchu and Mongol Autonomous County	围场满族 蒙古族自治县	Wéichǎng Mǎnzú Měnggǔzú Zìzhìxiàn	520,000	9,058	57

Geography

Chengde
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     2.5   −2 −14     3.6   2 −11     8.3   10 −4     19   19 5     50   25 11     87   29 16     145   30 20     118   29 18     48   24 11     21   17 4     7.5   7 −5     2.5   0 −12 Average max. and min. temperatures in °C Precipitation totals in mm Source: CMA [2]
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     0.1   28 6     0.1   36 13     0.3   49 26     0.7   66 41     1.9   77 52     3.4   84 62     5.7   86 67     4.7   84 64     1.9   76 52     0.8   63 39     0.3   45 24     0.1   31 11 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation totals in inches

Chengde is located in the northeastern portion of Hebei province, with latitude 40°12′－42°37′ North, and longitude 115°54′－119°15′ East. It borders Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Beijing, and Tianjin. Neighbouring prefecture-level provincial cities are Qinhuangdao and Tangshan on the Bohai Gulf, and land-locked Zhangjiakou. Due to its Liaoning border, it is often considered a part of both Northern and Northeastern China. From north to south the prefecture stretches 269 kilometres (167 mi), and from west to east 280 kilometres (174 mi), for a total area of 39,702.4 square kilometres (15,329.2 sq mi), thus occupying 21.2% of the total provincial area. It is by area the largest prefecture in the province, though as most of its terrain is mountainous, its population density is low.

Climate

Chengde has a four-season, monsoon-influenced humid continental climate (Köppen Dwa), with widely varying conditions through the prefecture due to its size: winters are moderately long, cold and windy, but dry, and summers are hot and humid. Near the city, however, temperatures are much cooler than they are in Beijing, due to the high altitude of at least 1000 metres: Monthly means range from −9.1 °C (15.6 °F) in January to 24.5 °C (76.1 °F) in July. Spring warming is rapid, but dust storms can blow in from the Mongolian steppe; autumn cooling is similarly quick. Precipitation averages at 512 millimetres (20.2 in) for the year, with more than two-thirds of it falling during the three summer months.

Climate data for Chengde (1971−2000)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	−2.2 (28.0)	2.2 (36.0)	9.6 (49.3)	19.0 (66.2)	25.2 (77.4)	29.1 (84.4)	30.1 (86.2)	28.7 (83.7)	24.2 (75.6)	17.3 (63.1)	7.2 (45.0)	−0.3 (31.5)	15.8
Average low °C (°F)	−14.4 (6.1)	−10.6 (12.9)	−3.6 (25.5)	4.9 (40.8)	11.3 (52.3)	16.4 (61.5)	19.5 (67.1)	17.8 (64.0)	11.2 (52.2)	3.8 (38.8)	−4.6 (23.7)	−11.8 (10.8)	3.3
Precipitation mm (inches)	2.5 (0.098)	3.6 (0.142)	8.3 (0.327)	18.9 (0.744)	49.5 (1.949)	86.8 (3.417)	144.7 (5.697)	118.2 (4.654)	48.2 (1.898)	21.3 (0.839)	7.5 (0.295)	2.5 (0.098)	512.0 (20.157)
% humidity	51	46	44	39	46	58	71	74	67	58	56	54	55.3
Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm)	1.6	2.1	3.7	4.5	7.8	11.1	14.2	12.6	7.7	5.0	2.5	1.4	74.2
Sunshine hours	195.6	202.3	240.6	258.7	276.4	262.0	229.1	234.0	240.2	236.2	193.5	177.2	2,745.8
Source: China Meteorological Administration [2]

Economy

With road and railroad links to Beijing, Chengde has developed into a distribution hub, and its economy is growing rapidly. The newly-built Jingcheng Expressway connects Chengde directly to central Beijing, and more freeways are planned for the city.

Sights

The Putuo Zongcheng Temple complex, completed in 1771 during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.

The project of building Chengde Mountain Resort started in 1703 and finished in 1790. The whole mountain resort covers an area 5,640,000 square meters. It is the largest royal garden in China. The wall of the mountain resort is over 10,000 meters in length. In summers, emperors of Qing Dynasty came to the mountain resort to relax themselves and escape from the high temperature in Beijing.

The whole Resort can be divided into three areas which are lakes area, plains area and hills area. The lakes area, which includes 8 lakes, covers an area of 496,000 square meters. The plains area covers an area of 607,000 square meters. The emperors held horse races and hunted in the area. The largest area of the three is the hills area. It covers an area of 4,435,000 square meters. Hundreds of palaces and temples were built on the hills in this area.

The elaborate Mountain Resort features large parks with lakes, pagodas, and palaces ringed by a wall. Outside the wall are the Eight Outer Temples (外八庙), built in varying architectural styles drawn from throughout China. One of the best-known of these is the Putuo Zongcheng Temple, built to resemble the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. The resort and outlying temples were made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. The nearby Puning Temple, built in 1755, houses the world's tallest wooden statue of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara.

Chengde's older name of Rehe (or Jehol) came from the name for the local river (热河; Pinyin: Rèhé) which translates as "hot river." The river was so named because it did not freeze in the winter. Most sections of the river are currently dry because of a new damming project.

Another popular attraction of the Chengde area is Sledgehammer Peak (磬锤峰), a large rock formation in the shape of an inverted sledgehammer. A variety of other mountains, valleys, and grasslands lie within the borders of the city.

Gallery

• 

  Downtown Chengde, seen from the Mountain Resort.

• 

  A city street.

• 

  Bridge across the Rehe, with new housing development and Sledgehammer Peak visible in the background.

• 

  Saihanba National Park, in northern Chengde, near the border with Inner Mongolia.

Sister cities

Chengde has city partnerships with the following cities:

• Santo André, Brazil
• Takasaki, Japan
• Dakota County, Minnesota, USA

References

Footnotes

1. ^ Hedin (1933), pp. 1, 14.
2. ^ ^{a b} "中国地面国际交换站气候标准值月值数据集（1971－2000年）". China Meteorological Administration. http://cdc.cma.gov.cn/shuju/search1.jsp?dsid=SURF_CLI_CHN_MUL_MMON_19712000_CES&tpcat=SURF&type=table&pageid=3. Retrieved 2010-05-25. 

Sources

• Hedin, Sven (1933). Jehol: City of Emperors. Reprint (2000): Pilgrim's Book House, Varanasi. ISBN 81-7769-009-4.

External links

• Chengde Government Online
• Chengde Travel Guide