Every 1M+ Chinese City #2

Name

Simplified Chinese: 秦皇岛

Traditional Chinese: 秦皇島

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: qín huáng dǎo

Cantonese jyutping: ceon4 wong4 dou2

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,630,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,881,047

Qinhuangdao (literally the "Qin emperor island") is a popular seaside resort town for the residents of Beijing and Tianjin, something like Brighton to London and the Hamptons to New York. The Shanhai Pass of the Great Wall and Beidaihe, the Communist Party's summer retreat similar to Camp David, are located nearby.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 唐山

Traditional Chinese: 唐山

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: táng shān

Cantonese jyutping: tong4 saan1

Population

citypopulation.de: 2,650,000

census 2020 (metro): 3,687,607

Tangshan will forever be remembered for the devastating earthquake of 1976, in which 300,000 people lost their lives.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 天津

Traditional Chinese: 天津

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: tiān jīn

Cantonese jyutping: tin1 zeon1

Population

citypopulation.de: 11,400,000

census 2020 (metro): 11,165,706

Tianjin is one of the four municipalities under direct central government rule. It serves as the gateway to the capital Beijing. Since the Second Opium War, foreign countries set up concession territories within the city. It developed into one of the most important commercial centres and the base for the Westernisation Movement in the 19th century.

Today, Tianjin is a megapolis with over 10 million people. Beside its CBD, Binhai New Area, located on the coast of Bohai Sea, is a new CBD being developed to replicate the success of Shenzhen and Pudong in Shanghai. It was where the massive explosion occurred in 2015.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 北京

Traditional Chinese: 北京

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: běi jīng

Cantonese jyutping: bak1 ging1

Population

citypopulation.de: 20,900,000

census 2020 (metro): 22,366,547

Beijing, the capital of China, does not need much introduction. The Forbidden City, the Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square, the Bird's Nest Stadium are all located here. The top two universities in China (Peking and Tsinghua) are here, as well as many large corporate headquarters. It is the only city that hosted both Summer and Winter Olympics. The "Northern Capital" is the centre of power in China.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 张家口

Traditional Chinese: 張家口

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: zhāng jiā kǒu

Cantonese jyutping: zeong1 gaa1 hau2

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,400,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,339,384

Zhangjiakou is the northern gateway to Beijing, connecting it to Mongolia. It used to be a military stronghold defending the country. With its mountain slope nearby, it was the co-host of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 保定

Traditional Chinese: 保定

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: bǎo dìng

Cantonese jyutping: bou2 ding6

Population

citypopulation.de: 2,075,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,940,384

Baoding was once the capital of Zhili and later Hebei province. Xiong'an New Area, the government's "millennium strategy" to build a new city to alleviate overcrowding of Beijing and Tianjin, is located in the east within its administrative boundary, but it is now under the direct oversight of the central government.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 石家庄

Traditional Chinese: 石家莊

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: shí jiā zhuāng

Cantonese jyutping: sek6 gaa1 zong1

Population

citypopulation.de: 6,000,000

census 2020 (metro): 6,230,709

Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei, is a lesser-known provincial capital in China. Since Beijing and Tianjin were carved out of Hebei, what remained are second-tier cities like this one. It only became a large city after the railway was built, and the provincial capital relocated to here due to the chaos in Baoding during the Cultural Revolution.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 邢台

Traditional Chinese: 邢臺

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: xíng tái

Cantonese jyutping: jing4 toi4

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,590,000

census 2020 (metro): 971,300

Xingtai is an ancient city and appears in various stages in Chinese history textbooks. But other than that, it is a relatively small city in China.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 邯郸

Traditional Chinese: 邯鄲

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: hán dān

Cantonese jyutping: hon4 daan1

Population

citypopulation.de: 2,750,000

census 2020 (metro): 2,845,790

Handan is another historical city. It was the capital of Zhao during the Warring States period in the 5th century BC. The two characters in its name are specifically used for this city only. The uneducated ones would probably mispronounced 邯 (hán) as 甘 (gān).

Name

Simplified Chinese: 大同

Traditional Chinese: 大同

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: dà tóng

Cantonese jyutping: daai6 tung4

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,900,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,790,542

Datong is the second largest city in Shanxi. It has a long history and was the capital of Northern Wei in the 5th century. It has many historical sites and relics, such as the Yungang Grottoes which is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 太原

Traditional Chinese: 太原

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: tài yuán

Cantonese jyutping: taai3 jyun4

Population

citypopulation.de: 5,750,000

census 2020 (metro): 5,433,659

Taiyuan is the capital and largest city in Shanxi. It was the founding city of the Tang dynasty in the 7th century. Back then, it was the third largest city after Chang'an and Luoyang.

It suffered from severe air pollution in the 90s due to its reliance on coal burning heavy industries. The situation is now slowly improving, but poor air quality still hampers the city's reputation.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 长治

Traditional Chinese: 長治

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: cháng zhì

Cantonese jyutping: coeng4 zi6

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,200,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,214,940

Changzhi is a medium-size city in southeast Shanxi, probably not familiar to anyone outside the province. I did a bit of research on the city, but there is really nothing significant worth writing about.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 西安

Traditional Chinese: 西安

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: xī ān

Cantonese jyutping: sai1 on1

Population

citypopulation.de: 12,300,000

census 2020 (metro): 12,283,922

Xi'an, literally means "western peace", is the capital of Shaanxi. It is one of the most important cities in Chinese history, being the capital since the 11th century BC for over a thousand years. It was the start of the ancient Silk Road. Historically, it was a cosmopolitan city, a gateway where foreign traders brought in their goods, culture and religions (Buddhism, Islam and Christianity). The city was at its peak during the Tang dynasty in the 7th and 8th centuries, when it reached a population of over a million people.

Today, Xi'an remains the largest city and the economic centre to Northwest China, and a key city to the Belt and Road Initiative. The city wall, bell tower and drum tower are some of the oldest and best preserved in China. The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor and the Terracotta Warriors attract tourists from all over the world, making Xi'an one of the better known Chinese cities to foreigners.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 宝鸡

Traditional Chinese: 寶雞

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: bǎo jī

Cantonese jyutping: bou2 gai1

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,170,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,475,962

Baoji (literally "treasure rooster") is surrounded by mountains. Originally called Chencang, it was a choke point connecting Xi'an, and was contested by many armies. The Chinese idiom "sneak through the passage of Chencang" refers to this city.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 兰州

Traditional Chinese: 蘭州

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: lán zhōu

Cantonese jyutping: laan4 zau1

Population

citypopulation.de: 3,400,000

census 2020 (metro): 3,042,863

Lanzhou is the capital of Gansu, a key city on the Silk Road. Most people could only associate this city with its famous beef noodle soup though.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 西宁

Traditional Chinese: 西寧

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: xī níng

Cantonese jyutping: sai1 ning4

Population

citypopulation.de: 2,100,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,954,795

Xining, literally means "western tranquillity", is the capital of Qinghai and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau. It is the start of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world's highest railway.