Sister State Agreement with Iowa
Geography
Main Cities and Towns
Population
Language
Agriculture
History
Culture
Transportation
Education
Sister
State Agreement with Iowa
A Sister State relationship was established between the State of Iowa and the
Hebei Province of China, during a visit from a Hebei delegation in 1983. Iowa
Governor Terry Branstad and Hebei Governor Zhang Shu Guang formalized the partnership
during that visit on July 22. Geography
Hebei is a coastal province on the Bohai Bay. It surrounds the major cities
of Beijing and Tienjin. It covers an area of 187,000 square kilometers
with 487 kilometers of coast line. A circle with a radius of 300 kilometers,
centered on Beijing, covers most of Hebei province. The climate in Hebei
is much the same as that of Iowa. There is frequently flooding from heavy
summer rains.
Top Main
Cities and Towns
Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province, is the sister city of Des Moines. Handan
is the sister city of Dubuque. Tangshan is the sister city of Cedar Rapids.
Hebei has 11 cities and prefectures and 139 counties under its jurisdiction.
Population
68 million people
Language
98% of the population is Han Chinese and the common language is Mandarin Chinese.
Top Main
agricultural products
Hebei Province has 6.55 million hectares of cultivated land, ranking fourth
in China. It is a major producer of corn, cotton, wheat, and maize. In addition it has
many specialties such as Zhaozhou snow pear, Shenzhou peach, Hebei Ya pear,
fish and prawns.
History
While one tends to think of Iowa's history in terms of the past 150 years,
Hebei traces its history to the time when it was known as the state of "Ji" during
the Xia Dynasty, 2200-1700 B.C.
Culture
Major attractions are performing arts including Wuqiao acrobatics, with a history
of 2000 years. Hebei's history is over 3700 years old. Cultural sights
include the Great Wall of China, which passes through the north, the 1300-year-old Anji bridge from the Sui Dynasty, and the Longzing Buddhist temple
built in 586 during the Sui Dynasty.
Top Transportation
There are 17 national highways and 14 national railroads across Hebei Province.
It is a major rail hub handling 12.1 % of traffic in China. There are three
ports on the coast. Jingtang Port is planned to be a new deep-water port
for the major industrial city of Tangshan. Shijiazhuang Airport opened
in 1995. It now provides service to 23 cities.
Education
Hebei Province possesses 50 universities and colleges, secondary schools and
adult institutions of higher learning.
Top
Return to Homepage
| 
