Chengde is prefecture-level city in the northeast of Hebei Province. Nowdays, Chengde is a popular tourist destination famouse for Summer Resort, Temple and attractive scenery. Located 230 km northeast of Beijing, Chengde is covered by mountainous areas and rivers.

Chengde Geography
As a popular tourist destination, Chengde is prefecture-level city in the northeast of Hebei Province and about 230 km to the northeast of Beijing. Geographically speaking, this city is covered by mountainous areas and rivers.

Area
It covers an area of 39,548 square kilometers.

History
Once called Rehe in the ancient times, Chengde boasts a long history. The earliest human beings living in this reign were in the late Neolithic Era. This little city was firstly discovered by the early Qing Emperor Kangxi in the late 17th century and considered this place as a summer retreat due to the pleasant climate and appealing natural scenery. Later, Kangxi and his successors founded about 72 palaces there by the end of the 18th century. From then on, Chengde gained its popularity as a summer resort. Nowadays, it’s still an ideal sightseeing destination and summer retreat.

Climate and Weather
The whole area of Chengde consists of 2 types of terrains: plateau above the dam and mountainous area below the dam, therefore, the climatic differences are also distinct. Enjoying a continental monsoon climate, Chengde has a half wet and half dry weather.

Population
Chengde currently owns a population of around 3.6 million.

Race
Moreover, it’s populated by a large number of ethnic minorities with Manchu and Mongol accounting for the largest proportion.

Top Attractions
As one of hot tourist destinations in China, Chengde is endowed with a large number of fantastic sceneries, among which, the Mountain Resort and Eight Outer Temples have been listed as the world cultural heritage sites by UNESCO. If you’re interested in the horse-riding and hunting, you can go to The Mulan Paddock which is the largest royal hunting paddock in the world.

Best Travel Season
Tourists can tour Chengde in any time with the period from April to October as the best time for traveling due to the beautiful natural scenery and favorable weather.

Transportation
Chengde is not a big city, so it’s very easy for you to get around. A well-organized bus system is available in the city. Taxis are another convenient transportation vehicle with cheap fare. Minibuses and motor-rickshaws are also favorable choices.

Food and Drink in Chengde
The dining in Chengde has a long history. When visiting Chengde, you should not forget to have a taste of the local dishes and snacks. Some of famous dishes here are five spiced venison, game hot pot, Pingquan frozen rabbit, spiced deer meat and so on. After trying the delicious dishes, you should taste the local snacks, some of which are very popular both at home and abroad such as Chengde bean-starch noodles, Donkey Rolling Rolls, Rose Biscuits, Snow-white Imperial Noodles, and You Noodle etc. as for the drinks in Chengde, the almond juice with unique aroma will give you a pleasant experience

Local Products Shopping
Owing to the rich natural resources in this city, Chengde enjoys a great variety of local natural products such as wild almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, mushrooms, and hawthorn, nasturtium and so on besides the maize and sorghum. Also the city’s profound cultural heritage contributes to its unparalleled folk crafts and arts. One of the most popular products is Teng’s Cloth-Paste Painting, being regarded as a ‘unique talent of Cathay’. This is a brand-new style of painting with the combination of brushwork and many other art crafts. Chengde woodcarving, Paper-cutting, silk brocade, porcelain carving, calligraphy and painting, as well as jade pillows are also representative craftworks.

Night life
After enjoying the scenic attractions during the daytime, you have a great variety of places for pleasure and relaxation as the nights fall such as folk singing and dancing, bowling and karaoke etc. Besides, you can also roam around the night market and then have a cup of coffee or wine in a tranquil bar, which will make your travel more pleasant and romantic. If you’d like to have a try of the local snacks, Nanyingzi Street is your best resort.

University
Universities situated in this city: Chengde Medical College, Chengde University

Airport in Chengde
There’s only a small-scale airport in the south of Chengde with occasional charter flights shuttling between Beijing and Chengde.

Chengde Train Station
Chengde Railway Station is situated on Wulie Road in southeast of the city. There’re several routes including Jingcheng (Beijing to Chengde), Shicheng (Shijiazhuang to Chengde) and Shencheng (Shenyang to Chengde) available.

Chengde Useful Telephone Numbers
Some useful telephone numbers are listed as follows and they may help you to some extent:
Inquiries Phone of Chengde Train Station: 0314-7622602, 7622362;
Consumer complaint: 12315;
Tourist complaint: 0314-2024548.