structural:scholar_edition, structural:summarization
People's Republic of China

The founding of the People's Republic of China saw several changes. The region around Chengde, previously part of Rehe Province (historically part of Manchuria), and the region around Zhangjiakou, previously part of Chahar Province (historically part of Inner Mongolia), were merged into Hebei. This extended its borders northwards beyond the Great Wall. Meanwhile, the city of Puyang was carved away, causing Hebei to lose access to the Yellow River. The city became part of the short-lived Pingyuan Province before eventually being annexed into Henan.

The capital was also moved from Baoding to the new city of Shijiazhuang, and, for a short period, to Tianjin. On July 28, 1976, Tangshan was struck by the Tangshan earthquake, the deadliest earthquake of the 20th century, killing over 240,000 people. There were a series of smaller earthquakes in the following decade.

Today, Hebei, along with Beijing and Tianjin municipalities which it includes, make up the Jing-Jin-Ji megalopolis region. With a population of 130 million, it is about six times the size of the New York metropolitan area and is one of the largest megalopolis clusters in China. Beijing had also unloaded some of its non-capital functions to the province with the establishment of the Xiong'an New Area, which integrates the three municipalities.