Beihai (; Postal romanization: Pakhoi) is a prefecture-level city in the south of Guangxi, People's Republic of China. Its status as a seaport on the north shore of the Gulf of Tonkin has granted it historical importance as a port of international trade for Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan. Between 2006 and 2020, Beihai was predicted to be the world's fastest growing city. Beihai has a large shipyard, but most of the money generated in the city is derived from trade.
In addition, it governs the small islands of Weizhou and Xieyang, and is directly west of Leizhou Peninsula. At the end of 2024, the city's resident population is 1.91,700, of which 1.169 million are urban residents, accounting for 61.52% of the resident population (urbanization rate of the resident population).
Subdivisions
Up to 2022, Beihai contains 3 districts and 1 county, which are subdivided into 7 urban sub-districts, 22 towns, 1 townships, 95 neighborhood committees, 336 village committees. (see also Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China#Levels)
- Haicheng District ()
- Yinhai District ()
- Tieshangang District ()
- Hepu County ()
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History
thumb|right|350px|[[French Indochina postage stamps for use in Beihai (Pakhoi)]]
After the 1876 Sino-British Treaty of Yantai, eight Western nations (the UK, US, Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Italy, Portugal, and Belgium) set up consulates, hospitals, churches, schools, and maritime customs. Today, 15 of these western buildings remain in Beihai. It officially became an international tourist spot () in 1982.
City timeline
- December 4, 1949: Beihai became a town of Hepu County under the Chinese Communist Party.
- January 1951: a province-administered city of Guangdong
- May 1951: entrusted to Guangxi
- March 1952: officially administered by Guangxi
- May 1955: Administered by Guangdong again
- 1956: reduced to a county-level city
- 1958: reduced to Beihai People's Commune of Hepu County
- 1959: county-class town
- 1964: restored to county-class city
- June 1965: Administered by Guangxi again
- October 1983: restored to prefecture-level city
Climate
Beihai has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa), with mild to warm winters and long, hot (but not especially) summers, and very humid conditions year-round. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in July, while extremes have ranged from . Rain is both the heaviest and most frequent from June to September, when 70% of the annual rainfall also occurs. This is in contrast to the autumn and winter months, where only of rain falls per month. The area receives about 2,000 hours of sunshine annually.