Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province
Shijiazhuangis the capital of Hebei Province280 km (174 miles) southwest of Beijing. It is a major railroad junction for northern China, and home of China’s largest pharmaceutical factor and a center for the study of traditional Chinese medicine.

Shijiazhuang was little more than a village until the beginning of the 20th century, when it became a transit point on the railway from Beijing to Wuhan in the south. Construction of a second rail line between nearby Zhengding and the northern city of Taiyuan in 1907 led to further expansion of the city. Since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, Shijiazhuang has become a political and economic center of Hebei Province, and a center of the pharmaceutical industry.