In the northwest is Inner Mongolian Plateau. The plateau transitions gradually to northern low mountains. These drop to the North China Plain which continues to the sea. The western bound of the province is the Taihang mountains which rise abruptly from the plain.
Two river systems, the Yuan and the Hai, each with fans of tributaries, flow to the sea. Before modern controls, floods were common. There are many canals connnecting the rivers. The largest lakes are flood control reservoirs.
The Hebei area in central_and_northeastern China includes Beijing (Peking), the nation's capital--with over ten million metropolitan residents, Tientsin, Shijiazhuang, Baodong, Handan, Tangshan, Zhenjiakou and seven other cities (shi) with a million or more residents.
north
northeast
east
southeast
south
west
(1)Zhongguo in Pinyin transliteration and Chung-hua in Wade-Giles transliteration; translates literally as the Middle Land or Middle Kingdom.
(2) Ho-pei in Wade-Giles transliteration; translates as North of the River.
(3) Sheng in Wade-Giles transliteration.
(4) Beijing in Pinyin and Pei-ching in Wade-Giles transliteration; translates as the Northern Capital.
(5) Shih in Wade-Giles transliteration.
(6) Tianjin in Pinyin and T'ien-chin in Wade-Giles transliteration; translates literally as Heavenly Ford.