Baoding

Baoding is a prefecture-level city in central Hebei province, approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) southwest of Beijing. As of the 2010 census, Baoding City had 11,194,382 inhabitants, of which 2,176,857 lived in the metropolitan area made of 4 out of 5 urban districts: Lianchi, Jingxiu, Qingyuan, and Mancheng all of which are largely conurbated.[1] Baoding is among 13 Chinese cities with a population of over 10 million, ranking seventh.[5] Zhuozhou City in the northern part has now grown into part of the Beijing metro area.[citation needed] Baoding was the capital of Zhili Province and the residence of the Viceroy of Zhili in the Qing dynasty, and was the capital of Hebei province until 1968, and is now a national historical and cultural city and one of the central cities in the Jing-Jin-Ji cluster,[6] with the Xiong'an new area located within its jurisdiction. The city's name, Baoding (Chinese: 保定),[7][8] dates back to the Song and Yuan dynasties, the name is roughly interpreted as "protecting the capital", referring to the city's proximity to Beijing.