Chengde

關於Chengde

Chengde, formerly known as Jehol and Rehe, is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, situated about 225 kilometres (140 mi) northeast of Beijing. It is best known as the site of the Mountain Resort, a vast imperial garden and palace formerly used by the Qing emperors as summer residence. Its local dialect is also known for being the closest to Standard Chinese, which took several inspirations from the Chengde dialect. The permanent resident population is approximately 3,473,200 in 2017. At the end of 2024, the total resident population of the city was 3,285,700, a decrease of 16,500 from the end of the previous year. The urbanization rate of the resident population is 59.77%.

In 1703, Chengde was made the summer residence of the Qing regime. Constructed throughout the eighteenth century, the Mountain Resort was used by the later rulers. The site is currently an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since the seat of government followed the rulers, Chengde was a political center of the Chinese empire during these times.

The city of Jehol—an early romanization of Rehe via the French transcription of the northern suffix ér as eul—reached its height under the in the late 1700s...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.