The Research On The Transition Of The Modern City Function In Hebei Province

Since the Ming dynasty moved its capital to Beijing, the area of Hebei province has become a very important place for Beijing. The layout and function of the cities in the area of Hebei was more related with Beijing because of their Special position for Beijing. Before modern times, on account of the influence of the traditional self-sufficient natural economy in China’s feudal society, the production activities of the cities mainly served for the feudal bureaucrats and the landlord class for a long time. For this reason, the cities were mainly consumption-oriented. In the early and middle period of the Qing dynasty, like other feudal dynasties’ cities, the main function of cities in Hebei was political rule, economy, culture and military defense.In the modern society, along with the development of the social productive forces and the invasion of western powers, great changes appeared in the cities of the area of Hebei province. Firstly, there are some new cities along the new railway system and Shijiazhuang city is the typical city. Secondly, some cities have risen for their rich mineral resources and Tangshan has become an important industrial city for its rich coal resources. Thirdly, due to the development of the domestic and foreign commercial trade and its advantageous geographical location, Tianjin once became the largest trade port in the north. Fourthly, because of the trade development among the mainland of China, Mongolia and Russia, Zhangjiakou changed from an important military city to a big commercial city in the north of Hebei province.These cities developed in high speed and large scale. So the developments of cities in this period, to some extent, promote the development of the modern cities in Hebei province.