In pre-Han times (i.e., before 206 BC) it was the site of the city of Shiyi in the state of Zhao, and, from Han (206 BC–AD 220) to Sui (581–618) times, it was the site of a county town with the same name. With the reorganization of local government in the early period of the Tang dynasty (618–907), the county was abolished. Shijiazhuang then became little more than a local market town, subordinated to the flourishing city of Zhengding (modern Zhengding) a few miles to the north.
The growth of Shijiazhuang into one of China's major cities began in 1905, when the Beijing–Wuhan (Hankou) railway reached the area, stimulating much new trade and encouraging local farmers to grow cash crops. Two years later the town became the junction for the new Shitai line, running from Shijiazhuang to Taiyuan in central Shanxi province. This connection immediately transformed the town from a local collecting centre and market into a communications centre of national importance on the main route from Beijing and Tianjin to Shanxi and later, when the railway from Taiyuan was extended to the southwest to Shaanxi province as well. The city also became the centre of an extensive road network.
During the pre-World War II period, Shijiazhuang was a large railway town as well as a commercial and collecting centre for Shanxi and the regions farther west and for the agricultural produce of the North China Plain, particularly for grain, tobacco, and cotton. By 1935, it had far outstripped Zhengding as an economic centre. At the end of World War II, the character of the city changed once again. Not only did it assume an administrative role as the preeminent city in western Hebei but it also developed into an industrial city. Some industry, such as match manufacturing, tobacco processing, and glassmaking, had already been established before the war.
Until 1948, the city was instead known as Shímén, and then it was renamed to Shijiazhuang.
Xibaipo, a village
