The province journal
Where the wall meets the sea, and the plain keeps its own ways
Hebei is the province the Great Wall ends in, the province a Qing court built a summer capital in, and the province where the plain still makes things by hand. At Shanhaiguan the masonry stops at the Bohai Sea; at Chengde the emperors received Mongolian princes beside a lake; in the southern villages the kilns, presses and winter stages keep working. This section is being prepared story by story, and what follows is the map of those stories.
The Mountain Resort and its Outlying Temples · Chengde
A stone arch from the Sui dynasty, a reed lake that sheltered resistance, and a kiln that painted everyday life onto bowls.
Zhaozhou County, Shijiazhuang
Built in 605 under the craftsman Li Chun, its shoulders open into four small arches that let flood water pass under the roadway. For a thousand years it was the argument that Chinese engineers did not need the semicircle.
Anxin County, Baoding
The largest freshwater lake on the North China Plain, a maze of reed channels and lotus beds where fishermen wove mats and, in wartime, guerrillas moved between the reeds.
Ci County, Handan
The kilns that gave their name to a district made everyday bowls and jars in white slip with black-and-brown drawings of homes, harvests and children.
The wall and the passes, the water on the plain, and the work of the hands.
The wall, the pass and the road north
At Shanhaiguan the wall walks into the sea; at Dajingmen it opened onto a border market where caravans traded furs for tea; at Jimingyi a courier station still keeps its walls and its courtyards.
Water on the plain
Baiyangdian holds its reeds and lotuses, Hengshui Lake keeps the second largest freshwater stretch of the plain, and the Grand Canal still passes through the east of the province.
What the hands make
A Tang white porcelain, a Song painted bowl, a New Year print cut in woodblocks, paper-cut windows, and a rope trick that has travelled the canals for centuries.
The eleven prefectures of Hebei are being opened one by one. Each has its own weather, its own water and its own work.
Railway city, with the temples of Zhengding and the Sui bridge at Zhaozhou nearby.
The governor's yamen of the Zhili province, the Western Qing tombs and the reeds of Baiyangdian.
The Qing summer capital on the Wulie River, ringed by eight outer temples.
Where the Great Wall ends at the sea, and where the first emperor looked for the immortals.
A border gate, a courier station, snow country and the paper-cuts of Yuxian.
The eastern Qing tombs, the sound of Pingju opera, and a city rebuilt after the earthquake.
The kilns of Cizhou, the stories behind the idioms, and the Zhao capital at Guangfu.
Tang white porcelain from the Xingguo kilns and the physician Bian Que.
A cast iron lion from 953, acrobats on the canal, and donkey burgers from Hejian.
A lake that greets migrating birds and a town that prints New Year pictures in woodblocks.
The new airport on the Beijing plain, an old water town, and the furniture workshops of Xianghe.
The Hebei section is in preparation. The places and threads below have been researched and checked; the articles, photographs and the eleven-language pages are still being written and cleared.