This paper examines the characteristics of historical meteorological hazards and associated natural-anthropogenic variations in China,with specific attention given to the drought hazards occurring at very high frequency and affecting social-economic development in cities of North China.Owing to an increasing awareness of droughts in this area,the aim of this contribution is to provide a comprehensive overview of the droughts in North China by reviewing the meteorological references and their intrinsic linkages with climatic and anthropogenic controls.Our study highlights the region-wide droughts with a rather clear recurrence of 30 and 100 years,totally indicating the cities in Shanxi and Shandong being the predominated area suffering from extreme droughts.The spatial and temporal distribution of drought hazards in this region is considered to bea function of climatic,hydrological,and anthropogenic characteristics.In view of the wide distribution and linkage with hazards and changes of dynasties,the drought hazard is one of key issues for long-term social-economic harmonization.This study can be expected to prioritize drought mitigation measures and ensure regional sustainable development in the cities of North China.