Shijiazhuang

There are a number of sightseeing places in the area, both natural and historic. Most are not in the city.

There are some well-equipped leisure centres, especially the luxury bathing centres.

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• • • • There are few foreign restaurants and the ones that exist don't seem very Western. But it's still fun to go to them and try what they think is foreign food.
• Pizza Hut is in SJZ, although the food is different than PH in the States or other places. However, if you want something like pepperoni, they can usually make it, sometimes with a little polite insistence. Just tell them you want a pizza with LaRouChang. They also have decent onion rings.
• If you like ice-cream, there are 3 Dairy Queens in SJZ, within a few blocks of each other. One is in the EGO building beside Tai He, directly underneath McDonald's. The second is in the Wonder Mall, at the corner of ZhongHua DaJie and YuHua Lu. The third on is right across the street from the train station. All three of them also have a Yoshinoya (Japanese fast food) sharing the store space with them. Look for the orange Yoshinoya sign.
• KFC is everywhere.
• Coffee shops in the western style are emerging. There's a new Costa Coffee that just opened in one of the malls, there are some cute coffee cafes, a SPR (starbucks look-alike) and others. You can goto one of the chain restaurants (McDonalds and KFC) and get a "Navy" coffee, and chill out there. One of the best coffee shops and bakeries is across from Beiguo "Tasty Bread." There is, however, a bakery on the bottom of "You Mall" in BeiGuo Shancheng that looks like a real bakery/coffee shop where one might sit down and have a coffee.
• There is a Starbucks in the Wan Da Mall on Huai An Lu in the east side of the city, one in the Wonder Mall on Yu Hua Lu, and a third one in the Enjoy mall on Zhongshan Si near the old train station.

The good citizens of Shijiazhuang enjoy the Chinese alcohol made from rice baijiu, or white spirit. It is a strong drink and you need to develop an acquired taste. You will surely get to try some whenever you eat out with Chinese friends.

• • **There are two internet bars and a movie theater within a five-minute walk, along with three more KTVs and western and Chinese restaurants, as well as a sushi restaurant.

Shijiazhuang is home to three of China's top 10 wholesale markets, which makes it is a good place for great bargains. Be prepared to haggle, either yourself or with a friend!

There are also a number of very large modern department stores. Prices can be a bit steep, but you can usually find reasonably priced, good quality goods.

In the Cangyan Shan region, there are no places to stay for foreigners - in fact this is the issue in much of Hebei province. If a proprietor can be bothered and the police feel inclined, the police can allow you to stay in accommodation not approved for foreigners provided you register with them.

Most tourist attractions are outside the city.

Traffic is marginal, except at high peak hours (American rush hour), at which point it could take as much as 20 minutes to get through certain lights on many of the major roads (especially Ping'An Da Jie, Zhongshan Lu, Yuhua Lu, Jianshe Da Jie and Zhonghua Lu).

Shijiazhuang is a comparatively young city. It was an unimportant town until the Zhengding-Taiyuan and Beijing-Hankou railways were built, whereupon it become a regional transport hub. Captured by the People's Liberation Army under the leadership of the Communist Party in 1947, it was the cradle of the new China, and for three years housed the party headquarters.

In 2007, it was listed as one of the top 15 economic powerhouses of China. It's a modern city that's building many new apartment buildings and shopping malls.

As of 2022, the prefecture had a total population of over 11 million, with over 4 million living in the central metro area.