North Zhili

Beizhili, formerly romanized as Pei-chih-li, Pechili, Peichili, etc. and also known as North or Northern Zhili or Chih-li, was a historical province of the Ming dynasty. Its capital was Beijing, from which it is also sometimes known as Beijing or Peking Province. Beizhili mostly covered the area of the Yuan province of Zhongshu—the "Central Administration"—and took its own name—Chinese for "Northern Directly Administered Area"—from Beijing's status as the Ming's national capital following the Yongle Emperor move there from Nanjing, which oversaw Nanzhili or the Southern Directly Administered Area. In 1645, at the beginning of the Qing dynasty, the name of Beizhili was changed to Zhili. Under the Republic and People's Republic of China, it was divided into Hebei and the provincial-level municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin. (Small parts of what was once Beizhili were also ceded to Henan and Shandong.)

North Zhili
Administrative map of North Zhili in 1820
Beizhili
Traditional Chinese	北直隸
Simplified Chinese	北直隶
Literal meaning	Northern Directly Ruled [Province] Northern Directly Administered [Area]
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Běizhílì Wade–Giles Pei Chih-li Pei-chih-li
Beijing Province
Chinese	北京省
Literal meaning	Province of the Northern Capital
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Běijīng shěng Wade–Giles Pei-ching Sheng

The Great Wall, largely constructed in its present form as protection against the Northern Yuan when the Ming administered the area around it as Beizhili

See also

• Viceroy of Zhili, the highest governor of this region during Ming and Qing dynasty
• Zhili and South Zhili
• Henan, Beijing and Tianjin
• Bay and Gulf of Bohai, both formerly known as Pechili etc. from the nearby province