Baoding

Baoding, a city in North China's Hebei province, covers a total area of 19,000 square kilometers. It manages three county-level cities, five districts, 12 counties and two development zones.

With a good location, the city center is about 140 kilometers away from Beijing and Tianjin and about 120 kilometers away from Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital.

In the major national strategy for the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Baoding is an important regional central city.

With a history of more than 3,000 years, it is the birthplace and fief of Emperor Yao (c.24th-23th century BC), one of the most respected emperors in Chinese history, and the birthplace of Yan culture.

It is a national historical and cultural city. Many historical figures hailed from the area, including Liu Bei, a powerful warlord and the founding emperor of the Shu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280) and Li Daoyuan, a geologist of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534).

The Baoding Military Academy is the first formal modern military academy in the country, and it has trained more than 1,800 senior generals.

At present, there are 16 higher education institutions in Baoding, including North China Electric Power University, Hebei University and Hebei Agricultural University, with 244,000 students enrolled.

Baoding has three 5A-level scenic spots – such as Yesanpo Scenic Spot – and 12 4A-level scenic spots, including Langya Mountain.

It is a low-carbon pilot city identified by the World Wide Fund for Nature and the National Development and Reform Commission. It is also the first innovation-driven development model city among the prefecture-level cities identified by the China Association for Science and Technology.

Baoding focuses on the development of six industries: advanced manufacturing, new energy and smart grids, biomedical health, new-generation information technology, new materials, energy conservation and environmental protection.