Where to Stay in Baoding, Hebei Sheng

What is Baoding known for?

On the plain between Beijing and the mountains, it was for centuries the seat of the Qing governors of Zhili, and it keeps their great walled yamen, the classical garden of the Ancient Lotus Pond, and an old military academy that trained a generation of generals. The flat plain spreads around. The western mountains rise beyond the fields.

What are the main landmarks in Baoding?

The Zhili Governor's Yamen is the pride of Baoding. The great walled complex of halls and courtyards, where the Qing viceroys of the province ruled, has been kept whole as a museum, the emblem of the city, in the old centre. A classical garden lies nearby.

The Ancient Lotus Pond, laid out with pools, pavilions, and bridges, is counted among China's famous gardens, while the old military academy and the western tombs mark the country around Baoding.

What is the history of Baoding?

Baoding rose as the northern shield of the capital. Its name means protecting the peace, for it stood on the road that guarded the way to Beijing from the south, and under the Qing it became the capital of Zhili, the great province around the throne. The governors ruled from a great yamen.

From their walled offices here the viceroys of Zhili governed millions and rose often to the highest posts of the empire, and the yamen still stands as they left it. A garden and an academy gave the town fame. The Ancient Lotus Pond, laid out with pavilions and bridges, became one of the famed gardens of the land, and a military academy here trained many of the generals of the early republic.

The country around held older wonders. In the hills and plains of the wider region lay the Western Qing imperial tombs and the jade-clad tomb of a Han prince, drawing visitors from afar. The old yamen still stands by the pond.

Baoding keeps its yamen and its garden on the Hebei plain.

Where is Baoding?

Baoding lies on the North China plain in central Hebei, China, between Beijing and the Taihang mountains. The city sits on the flat farmland midway between the capital and the hills, on the old road south from Beijing, west of the coast. Flat fields spread all around.

The Taihang range walls the west.

What is the climate of Baoding?

Baoding's year is continental and short on rain. Warm summers and cold, dry winters cross the plain, and most of the rain falls in the summer, with dust winds off the north in spring and hard frost in winter. Yellow dust blows off the plain in spring.

Wheat ripens gold across the plain in June.

How do you get to Baoding?

Baoding lies in central Hebei, on the main line south of Beijing. Fast trains and the expressway run to it from Beijing and Shijiazhuang across the plain, and roads climb west to the Taihang mountains. Field roads run out to the villages.

Beijing lies about an hour north by train.