Hebei is a northern province of the People's Republic of China. Its one-character abbreviation is (pinyin: j¨¬), named after Ji Province (J¨¬ Zh¨u), a Han Dynasty province (zhou) that included southern Hebei. The name Hebei means "north of the (Yellow) River".
Zhili meaning "Directly Ruled (by the Imperial Court)", was the name of Hebei before 1928.
Hebei completely surrounds Beijing and Tianjin municipalities (which also border each other). It borders Liaoning to the northeast, Inner Mongolia to the north, Shanxi to the west, Henan to the south, and Shandong to the southeast. Bohai Bay of the Yellow Sea is to the east. A small part of Hebei, an exclave disjointed from the rest of the province, is wedged between the municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin.
A common alternate name for Hebei is Y¨¡nzh¨¤o, after the state of Yan and state of Zhao that existed here during the Warring States Period of early Chinese history.
