The renaming history of Shijiazhuang behind "rock": Shijiazhuang Village, an "international village" with a population of tens of thousands to tens of millions over a century | IP | International
When Shijiazhuang began to rock and roll, another star level city IP following Zibo Barbecue received public attention.
Compared to Zibo, which has a history of over two thousand years, Shijiazhuang, as an urban level city, has a much shorter history. From the "Shimen City" nearly a hundred years ago to the "Yanjin Throat" with a population of millions today, the "unbeatable Shijiazhuang" is "using rock and roll to fight against mediocrity.".
However, as Shijiazhuang became known as "Rock Home Town" through the power of rock and roll, discussions about renaming Shijiazhuang have resurfaced. The alternative names provided include "Zhengding City", "Shimen City" or "Changshan City", "Jizhou City".
The reporter from Pengpai News noticed that the local authorities had a clear attitude more than a decade ago regarding whether it was necessary to change the name of Shijiazhuang.
Fourteen years ago, the official made it clear that development cannot be measured solely by the beauty of city names
According to Xinhua News Agency, in August 2009, the Shijiazhuang Municipal Government Information Office held a press conference stating that the Municipal Party Committee and Government had never proposed a name change for Shijiazhuang City. There is some hype about this matter within a certain scope, which stems from a suggestion made by an individual in our city.
The Shijiazhuang official stated at the press conference that the name "Shijiazhuang City" has a long history and should not be changed. Shijiazhuang City is the capital of Hebei Province. The name "Shijiazhuang City" has a history of 61 years and has a long history. This name is not only a name of an administrative region, but more importantly, it carries the history of the establishment, evolution and development of a city, and records the historical process of the establishment of various organizations and activities of the CPC in Shijiazhuang during a certain period of time. In the modern history of China and the history of the Chinese revolution, Shijiazhuang has a brilliant page, and those historical events with far-reaching educational significance are recorded in the glorious history of the Chinese revolution with "Shijiazhuang". The name "Shijiazhuang City" carries the development history and culture of this city, as well as the development context of Shijiazhuang. From the history of Shijiazhuang, changing its name will make these histories fade and disappear from people's memory, and will also cause incalculable losses in ideological education and glorious traditional education.
Shijiazhuang believes that from an economic perspective, the cost of renaming is high: changing the name of "Shijiazhuang City" may seem like a simple task, but a provincial capital name involves various sectors of society, national economy, and people's livelihood. For example, reprints of world maps, maps of China, and maps of provinces, cities, counties, and districts; City, county, district, township, town, village, residential, public, procuratorial, legal, administrative, school, kindergarten, hospital, etc., as well as any changes in the names of administrative organs, enterprises and institutions related to the name of Shijiazhuang City, as well as the names of Chinese, provincial, and foreign resident units in Shijiazhuang; All changes to the official seals, financial seals, inspection, verification, certification, record and other types of seals of all units; The change of signs, marks, plaques and various registered residence, identity cards, graduation certificates and work cards; Publications, official documents, red headed document paper, unit letterhead, and other printed materials with Shijiazhuang city letterhead must be discarded and reprinted. According to estimates from relevant experts, if the name of Shijiazhuang city is changed and the old is replaced with a new one, it cannot be completed without one billion yuan, and the incalculable economic losses will be far greater than this.
At that time, the Shijiazhuang side also stated that we should cherish the achievements made by the city in reform and development, and not only measure the overall development status of Shijiazhuang based on whether the city name is beautiful or not. We should see that Shijiazhuang is undergoing changes day by day... The name "Shijiazhuang City" does not affect urban development, and there is no need to invest heavily in changing a city name to create a city name card.
The renaming history of Shijiazhuang: from a small town with a population of ten thousand to a city with a population of ten million over a hundred years
The reporter from Pengpai News noticed that the Chinese Geographical Names Society also published an article in January 2023 titled "The Renaming History of Shijiazhuang", reviewing the development of the city of Shijiazhuang.
Article Introduction: Shijiazhuang, abbreviated as "Shi" and formerly known as Shimen, is the capital of Hebei Province and the political, economic, technological, financial, cultural, and information center of the province. It is an important central city in the Beijing Tianjin Hebei region of China approved by the State Council for the implementation of coastal opening policies, financial opening-up, and approval. It is also an important commodity distribution center in the country, a major commercial port in the north, a national commercial and trade exhibition center city, a permanent venue for the China International Digital Economy Expo, and a China Free Trade Pilot Zone.
Shijiazhuang is located in North China, central and southern Hebei Province, and the Bohai Bay Economic Zone. It spans the North China Plain and Taihang Mountains. It is one of the main grain, vegetable, meat, eggs, and fruit producing areas in China. It has been identified as a high-quality wheat production base by the state, and is known as the "granary in the north". The intersection of six main railway lines, namely the Beijing Guangzhou, Shitai, Shide, and Shitai Passenger Dedicated Lines, the Beijing Guangzhou High speed Railway, and the Shiji High speed Railway, is a major hub city for railway transportation in China, known as the "north-south thoroughfare and throat of Yanjin".
The name of Shijiazhuang City originated from Shijiazhuang Village, which was first mentioned in the Ming Dynasty. In the inscription of the 14th year of the Ming Jiajing reign of the Pilu Temple in Shangjing, there is the name of Shijiazhuang Village. In the fourth year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty, the "Huolu County Annals" recorded that "Shijiazhuang is 35 miles away from the county, with six streets, six temples, and four springs.". At that time, the location and scope of Shijiazhuang Village were west of Beida Street, north of Daqiao Road, south of Beihou Street, and east of Jiahutong in the southeast of Xinhua District. There are many legends about how Shijiazhuang was named. Some say it was named after the surname "Shi", some say it was falsely passed down from "Ten Family Villages", and some say it was named after many stonemasons in the village, but there are no historical records and further research is needed.
Shijiazhuang city has a long history. According to the "Yu Gong", during the Xia Yu period, it was the territory of Jizhou. During the Spring and Autumn period, Xianyu Kingdom, Gu Kingdom, and Fei Kingdom were successively established in the region. After Emperor Qin Shi Huang unified China, it belonged to Julu County. In the tenth year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Dongyuan County was renamed Zhending County during the Qin Dynasty. Through generations of changes, during the Qing Dynasty, it belonged to Zhending Prefecture, Baoding Prefecture, Zhaozhou, and Dingzhou in Zhili Province.
In 1912, the Republic of China was established, still following the Qing system. In 1903 and 1907, the Jinghan Railway and the Zhengtai Railway successively built stations in Shijiazhuang. Due to the small size and low popularity of Shijiazhuang Village at that time, Zhentou, a big town seven miles away, was chosen as the station name. The establishment of this station has played a historic decisive role in the development of Shijiazhuang. From then on, Shijiazhuang became the intersection of the Beijing Han and Zhengtai railways, a hub for material transportation between Shanxi and Hebei, and effectively promoted the economic development of Shijiazhuang, becoming a pioneer in the rise of the city.
In early 1925, the Shijiazhuang Chamber of Commerce requested that Shijiazhuang establish its own city. On June 24th of that year, the Provisional Government of the Republic of China signed an order approving the implementation of municipal autonomy in 11 towns including Tangshan, Zhengding, and Huolu under the jurisdiction of Zhili Province from July 1st, establishing "Shijiazhuang City" with "Shijiazhuang as its area". According to regulations, the population of cities implementing municipal autonomy must be over 10000, and among the 11 municipalities in Zhili Province that also implement municipal autonomy, only Shijiazhuang has not yet reached its population. Therefore, Xiumen and Licun, east of the railway, were merged to achieve a population of over 30000. Due to the fact that Xiumen is a large village, we do not agree to the merged name of Shijiazhuang City. After consultation among multiple parties, we have decided to use the words "Shijiazhuang" and "Xiumen" respectively to refer to it as "Shimen City".
On November 12, 1947, Shimen Market was liberated, and on December 26, it was renamed Shijiazhuang City. On April 28, 1958, Shijiazhuang City was changed from a provincial-level city to a specialized city. On May 3, 1960, the State Council approved the revocation of the Shijiazhuang Special Zone and changed it to Shijiazhuang City. On January 29, 1968, the capital of Hebei Province was relocated to Shijiazhuang City.
According to the website of the Shijiazhuang Municipal Government, on March 11, 1978, Shijiazhuang was designated as a municipality directly under the Hebei Province. In July 1978, the Shijiazhuang Regional Revolutionary Committee was abolished and the Shijiazhuang Regional Administrative Office of Hebei Province was established. On August 12, 1982, the Shijiazhuang Revolutionary Committee was abolished and the Shijiazhuang Municipal People's Government was restored. On June 30, 1993, the Shijiazhuang Regional Administrative Office merged with the Shijiazhuang Municipal People's Government to establish the new Shijiazhuang Municipal People's Government.
Shijiazhuang City governs 8 districts and 13 counties, including Chang'an District, Qiaoxi District, Xinhua District, Yuhua District, Jingxing Mining Area, Gaocheng District, Luquan District, Luancheng District, Jingxing County, Zhengding County, Xingtang County, Lingshou County, Gaoyi County, Shenze County, Zanhuang County, Wuji County, Pingshan County, Yuanshi County, Zhao County, Jinzhou City, and Xinle City.
There are two national level development zones, namely Shijiazhuang National High tech Industrial Development Zone and Shijiazhuang Economic and Technological Development Zone.
On June 1, 2013, the original Xinji City in Shijiazhuang adjusted its zoning and was placed under the direct jurisdiction of Hebei Province. There are also three dispatched agencies exercising administrative management rights in their respective regions.
On September 9, 2014, the State Council approved the request of the Hebei Provincial Government for the adjustment of some administrative divisions in Shijiazhuang City, and agreed to abolish Qiaodong District, Gaocheng City, Luquan City, and Luancheng County in Shijiazhuang City, while establishing Gaocheng District, Luquan District, and Luancheng District in Shijiazhuang City.
At the end of 2022, the total GDP of Shijiazhuang city was 710.06 billion yuan, an increase of 6.4% compared to the previous year. The per capita GDP for the whole year was 63319 yuan, an increase of 6.5% compared to the previous year. At the end of 2022, the total permanent population of the city was 11.2235 million, an increase of 18800 people compared to the end of the previous year.
