Shanbei specifies the northern portion of Shaanxi

Shaanxi

' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...

 province, Northwest China, and is a natural as well as cultural area, forming part of the Loess Plateau

Loess Plateau

The Loess Plateau , also known as the Huangtu Plateau, is a plateau that covers an area of some 640,000 km² in the upper and middle reaches of China's Yellow River. Loess is the name for the silty sediment that has been deposited by wind storms on the plateau over the ages...

. As it includes Yan'an, it is known as the birthplace of the Chinese Communist revolution.

Geography

Shanbei is located in the middle of the Loess Plateau with a general elevation range of 800 to 1300 metres, occupying approximately 45% of the area of Shaanxi Province. Elevation tends to increase from southeast to northwest. The northern portions degrade into desert, while the southern portions slope down to hills.

Languages

Standard Chinese and ShaanBei dialect which is has a few different words and a strong accent.

Administrative Divisions

Shanbei is generally perceived to include all of Yulin

Yulin, Shaanxi

Yulin is a prefecture-level city in the Shaanxi province of the People's Republic of China. It has an area of 43,578 km² and a population of 3,380,000.-Geography and climate:...

 and most of Yan'an

Yan'an

Yan'an , is a prefecture-level city in the Shanbei region of Shaanxi province in China, administering several counties, including Zhidan County , which served as the Chinese communist capital before the city of Yan'an proper took that role....

 prefectures

Prefecture-level city

A prefectural level city , prefectural city or prefectural level municipality is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China, ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. Prefectural level cities form the second level of the administrative...

, excluding the southern portions.