prefecture-level city, northern Henan sheng (province), China. Once a county seat in Anyang prefecture, Hebi is situated in the foothills of the southern Taihang Mountains, some 16 miles (25 km) southwest of Anyang. Until the early 1950s Hebi was little more than a local market town, but the area had long been known to have rich coal reserves. Under China's First Five-Year Plan (1953–57) it became the centre for exploiting these deposits. As part of the plan, a branch railway line was built connecting Hebi with Tangyin (just south of Anyang) on the Beijing-Guangzhou (Canton) railway, and the town grew rapidly. It is now a medium-sized industrial city with chemical, electronics, and machine-making industries as well as activities associated with coal mining. Pop. (2002 est.) 331,501.