Shijiazhuang is a simple, old looking, no fashinable capital place. Nothing estremely special. I have been there two years ago, not very clean and the transport is not easy to deal with. Life expenses is not high. This is a industrial city. Hope it is better now.
Good luck~

I am currently a foriegner in Shijiazhuang and can give you some insight. There is not many foriegners here, many a small contigent of foriegn English teachers, and there is not much English spoken here. But, you can easily get around without English, some trial and error etc. not a big deal. Beijing is close by train 2hrs and 90rmb cost. It is a quiet city for a foriegner, which has it's plusses and minuses, but not a bad starting point to figure out what you want to see or do in China. Good luck