Tangshan () is a coastal, industrial
prefecture-level city
A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure.
During the Republican era, many of Chi ...
in the northeast of
Hebei
Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...
province. It is located in the eastern part of Hebei Province and the northeastern part of the North China Plain. It is located in the central area of the
Bohai Rim and serves as the main traffic corridor to the
Northeast
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...
. The city faces the
Bohai Sea in the south, the
Yan Mountains in the north,
Qinhuangdao across the
Luan River to the east, and
Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...
to the west.
Much of the city's development is thanks to the industrialization, beginning in 1870, when
Kailuan Group established coal mines in the region. It's the birthplace of China's first
standard-gauge railway,
the first railway plant, the first
steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...
,
and the first cement factory.
It was hailed as China's "cradle of industrialization". Even today, Tangshan is a hub of steel, energy,
chemical, and ceramics production.
Ping opera, which originated from the city's
Luanzhou county, is one of the five most popular Chinese operas.
The city has also become known for the
1976 Tangshan earthquake which measured 7.8 on the
Richter scale
The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...
, flattened much of the city, and killed at least 255,000 residents according to official estimates. The city has since been rebuilt, has become a tourist attraction, and is among the
10 largest ports in China.
The city of Tangshan is approximately east by south east of Beijing. It takes roughly 2 hours by road to get from Tangshan to Beijing and 1 hour by road to reach
Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...
. Tangshan's prefecture population was 7,717,983 at the 2020 census, with 3,687,607 in the built-up (''or metro'') area made of the 7 urban core districts.
In 2022, the
Tangshan restaurant attack attracted the attention and discussion of the international community.
Etymology
Tangshan is named after
Dacheng Hill (), which was called Mount Tang (唐山), in the middle of the city.
In A.D. 645,
Li Shimin, an
emperor of Tang Dynasty
This is a list of emperors of the Tang dynasty (618–690, 705–907) of China.
List of emperors
''The Chinese naming conventions is "Tang" (唐)+ temple name (e.g. Tang Gaozu), except for Emperors Shang and Ai, who are better known by thei ...
and his army were stationed at Dacheng Hill on his way back from the
Korean Peninsula
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...
. Unfortunately, Caofei, his beloved concubine, died there. In order to commemorate her, he named the mountain with the name of the empire — Tang. Later, the city took the name of the mountain.
History
Early history
Tangshan has a long history, with ancient humans living in the area as early as 4,000 years ago. It fell within the territory of the
Guzhu Kingdom (1600BC) at the time of the
Shang Dynasty
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty a ...
and later became a part of the
State of Yan, one of the
seven Warring States (403221BC). During the
Han Dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...
(206BC220AD) it became part of the ancient province of
Youzhou
You Prefecture or You Province, also known by its Chinese name Youzhou, was a prefecture ('' zhou'') in northern China during its imperial era.
"You Province" was cited in some ancient sources as one of the nine or twelve original provinces ...
. It was under the jurisdiction of
Zhili province and Zunhua State successively during the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
.
Tang, Ming and Qing dynasties
Tangshan was a village at the time of the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
(619907) and developed further in agriculture, oil exploitation and ceramics during the
Ming Dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
(13681644).
During the Hundred Days' Reform in the late Qing dynasty, the Kaiping Mining Administration was established in the third year of the
Guangxu Emperor
The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), personal name Zaitian, was the tenth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign lasted from 1875 to 1908, but in practice he ruled, w ...
(1877). In 1878, Qiaotun town was established at Tangshan and renamed Tangshan Town in 1889. In 1938, Tangshan City was formally founded. The administrative system of Tangshan during the Republic of China
Republican era continued to follow the Qing system. In 1929,
Zhili Province changed its name to
Hebei Province. On January28, 1939, because of Tangshan's special economic and political position, the
East Hebei Autonomous Government established Tangshan City which was initially called “Tangshan Municipal Government” and later changed to “Tangshan Municipal Office”. After Japan surrendered in 1945, the Chinese Nationalist Party in Peking (now known as
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...
) took over the political control of Tangshan from Japan and set up an Administration Inspectors Office. In April 1946, it was decided at the 132nd Meeting of the
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...
Hebei Provincial Committee to set up Tangshan City and on May5 of the same year, the Tangshan Municipal government was founded.
People's Republic
After the establishment of the People's Republic of China on October1, 1949, Tangshan remained a provincially administered municipality with 12 areas under its jurisdiction.
In March 1955, it was decided at the 2nd session of the first People's Congress of Tangshan City to change Tangshan Municipal people's government to Tangshan people's committee without changing its administration areas.
On April28, 1958, the
State Council approved the establishment of Tangshan prefecture. On August29, 1958, it was decided at the Seventh Session of the first People's Congress of Hebei Province to move the Tangshan Commissioner Office from Changli County to Tangshan City.
The CPC Central Committee decided to designate Tangshan city as one of the 45 cities open to the world on June3, 1959. On June 8, 1959, the CPC Hebei Provincial Committee and the Hebei Provincial People's Congress decided to combine the Tangshan Commissioners Office and the Tangshan People's Committee into the Tangshan People's Committee. On April2, 1960, the State Council officially approved the abolition of Tangshan prefecture. Qinhuangdao city, Qian'an, Changli, Laoting, Baodi, Yutian, Jixian County and Zunhua which were formerly administrated by Tangshan Prefecture were incorporated into the Tangshan Municipality. Luanxian County, Fengrun County (formerly a district) and Baigezhuang Farm were also incorporated into Tangshan Municipality. Meanwhile, Tangshan became a provincially administered municipality.
On May23, 1961, the State Council approved the reinstatement of Tangshan prefecture, which was adopted at the 14th Meeting of the Hebei Provincial People's Committee on June3, 1959. Tangshan prefecture and Tangshan municipality were separated again and Tangshan turned into a specially administered municipality.
The Tangshan Municipal Revolutionary Committee affiliated to the Revolutionary Committee of Tangshan Region was set up on January6, 1968,
On March 11, 1978, Tangshan turned to be a provincially administered municipality.
In October 1982, it was decided at the Seventh People's Congress of Tangshan city to abolish the Tangshan Municipal Revolutionary Committee and set up the Tangshan Municipal People's Government.
The State Council approved the move on March 3, 1983 and thereafter implemented the city-governing-county system. On May13, 1983, the Hebei Provincial People's Government announced the cancellation of the Civic Administration office of Tangshan region, which ceased operation on May15, 1983.
On December15, 1984, the State Council approved Tangshan city as one of 13 national “comparatively big” cities.
1976 Tangshan earthquake
Tangshan suffered an
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...
of
magnitude 7.8 (7.5 according to official reports) at 3:42am on July28, 1976, which resulted in many casualties. The official death toll was 255,000, but many experts believe that the actual number of fatalities was two to three times that number, making it the most destructive earthquake in modern history. As a result of the earthquake, most of the town had to be rebuilt. The earthquake was depicted in the 2010 movie ''
Aftershock
In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in the same area of the main shock, caused as the displaced crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthquakes can have hundreds to thousa ...
''.
Geography
Tangshan is located in the central section of the
Bohai Economic Rim, facing the
Bohai Sea to the south. Lying on the
North China Plain
The North China Plain or Huang-Huai-Hai Plain () is a large-scale downfaulted rift basin formed in the late Paleogene and Neogene and then modified by the deposits of the Yellow River. It is the largest alluvial plain of China. The plain is border ...
, Tangshan is adjacent to the
Yan Mountains to the north, borders the
Luan River and
Qinhuangdao to the east, and to the west and southwest borders
Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...
. Because of its location in the northeast of Hebei, it is a strategic area and a corridor linking two China's
north
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north ...
and
northeast
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...
regions. The largest river in the prefecture is the Luan River.
Climate
Tangshan has a
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
-influenced,
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...
(
Köppen ''Dwa''), with cold and very dry winters, and hot, rainy summers. Spring and autumn are short with some rainfall. The monthly 24-hour average temperature in January is , and in July, and the annual mean is . Close to 60% of the annual precipitation of falls in July and August alone. The frost-free period lasts 180−190 days, and the area receives 2,600−2,900 hours of sunshine annually.
Air pollution
As
air pollution in China has worsened in recent years, reports suggest cities in Hebei among the most polluted in the country, with Tangshan being no exception. According to a survey made by "Global voices China" in February 2013, 7 cities in Hebei including
Xingtai,
Shijiazhuang
Shijiazhuang (; ; Mandarin: ), formerly known as Shimen and romanized as Shihkiachwang, is the capital and most populous city of China’s North China's Hebei Province. Administratively a prefecture-level city, it is about southwest of Beijin ...
,
Baoding
Baoding (), formerly known as Baozhou and Qingyuan, is a prefecture-level city in central Hebei province, approximately southwest of Beijing. As of the 2010 census, Baoding City had 11,194,382 inhabitants out of which 2,176,857 lived in the b ...
,
Handan
Handan is a prefecture-level city located in the southwest of Hebei province, China. The southernmost prefecture-level city of the province, it borders Xingtai on the north, and the provinces of Shanxi on the west, Henan on the south and Shan ...
,
Langfang,
Hengshui and Tangshan, are among China's 10 most polluted cities.
Economy
Tangshan is an important heavy industrial city in North China. Its output include machinery, motor vehicles, chemicals, textiles, glass, petroleum products, and cement. It has been a coal-mining center since late
Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
, as Guangdong merchant
Tong King-sing opened the first
coal mine
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
using modern techniques in Kaiping in 1877. Since the construction of the
Caofeidian Project, it has hosted large iron and steel plants, chemical projects, and electricity plants. It is China's largest steel-producing city. Tangshan is also called the "porcelain capital of North China."
Modern industry in China first arose in Tangshan. The second railway in Chinaafter the abortive
Woosung Railway in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...
was the six-mile track laid between
Hsukochuang and Tangshan which opened in 1881; this eventually grew into the
Imperial Railroad of North China and China's modern
Jingshan and
Jingha Railways. The first fire-resistant material manufactory and the first and largest
cement
A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixe ...
manufactory were constructed in Tangshan as well.
Tangshan has experienced near-constant GDP growth in recent years, but has slowed down in the latter-half of the 2010s.
In 2008, the
GDP of Tangshan was ¥353.747 billion, which nearly doubled to ¥612.121 billion by 2013, and grew further to ¥695.500 billion in 2018.
Tangshan's GDP was ranked the 26th largest among Chinese cities according to data from 2017. The city's exports were valued at $7.109 billion in 2016. Government figures for 2017 show that the city's economy was largely dominated by the
secondary industry, contributing ¥408.14 billion to the city's economy.
Industrial zone
*
Caofeidian New Zone.
Demographics
Government data from 2017 shows that 7.897 million people live in Tangshan, of which, 61.64% live in an urban area.
The city's residents had a mean
disposable income of ¥27,786, which was ¥36,415 among urban residents.
Ethnic composition
Tangshan, like many other locations in China, is largely
Han Chinese
The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive v ...
, who account for 95.25% of the city's population.
In Zunhua City, there are 3
ethnic townships
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
and
ethnic towns.
The following table shows the city's ethnic breakdown:
Administration
The
prefecture-level city
A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure.
During the Republican era, many of Chi ...
of Tangshan administers 14 county-level divisions including 7
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
, 4
counties and 3
county-level cities
A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...
.
Education
Universities and colleges
*North China University of Science and Technology (formerly named Hebei United University), which was co-established by
Hebei Polytechnic University and
North China Coal Medical College
North China University of Science and Technology is a university in Tangshan City, Hebei Province, People's Republic of China. North China University of Science and Technology is one of the key universities of Hebei Province, China. It is a c ...
in May 2010
*Tangshan Normal University
*Tangshan College
*
Hebei University of Science and Technology Tangshan Branch
High schools
*
Tangshan No.1 high school (founded 1902), one of the most famous high schools in China
*
Hebei Tangshan Foreign Language School
Culture
Specialty
*Diet
**Wanlixiang
Roast Chicken ()
**
Chessboard pancake ()
**Honey sugar candy ()
**Peanut crisp ()
**Big gezhe ()
**Small gezhe ()
*Dried Fruits
**
Chinese chestnut ()
**
Walnut
Traditional Arts
*
Ping opera, or Pingju, one of the most popular operas in China
*Tangshan
Shadow Play
Shadow play, also known as shadow puppetry, is an ancient form of storytelling and entertainment which uses flat articulated cut-out figures (shadow puppets) which are held between a source of light and a translucent screen or scrim. The cut-ou ...
()
*
Laoting drums ()
Tourism
*
Eastern Tombs of the Qing Dynasty
*
Anti-Seismic Monument, located in Anti-Seismic Square
*
Tangshan Nanhu Park (
Lunan District)
*
Kailuan National Mine Park (
Lunan District)
*
Tangshan science and Technology Museum (
Lubei District)
Religion
* Datang Xingguo Chan Temple (), a
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
temple
*
Jingzhong Mountain, a joint religious shrine for the believers of
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...
, Buddhism, and
Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...
, respectively.
* Two Christian churches.
Transport
As of 2017, Tangshan has 18,000 kilometers of roads, of which, 16,000 were in rural areas.
The city's roads served 410 million tons of freight, and the city's port served 570 million tons.
Air
*
Tangshan Sannühe Airport, from the city center, in Fengrun District
Rail
*
Beijing–Harbin Railway
*
Tianjin–Shanhaiguan Railway
*
Beijing-Qinhuangdao Railway
*
Tianjin-Shanxi Railway
Roads
*
China National Highway 102, in the south of Fengrun District
*
China National Highway 112
China National Highway 112 is a 1228 km ring road which runs outside Beijing (municipality).
Route and distance
See also
* China National Highways
The China National Highways (CNH/Guodao) () is a network of trunk roads across m ...
, ring road encircling Beijing, traversing the west side of Tangshan's urban area
*
China National Highway 205, which runs along the eastern and southern front of the urban area
*
G1 Beijing–Harbin Expressway, on the northern side of the urban area
*
G25 Changchun–Shenzhen Expressway, on the western side of the urban area
Notable people
*
Li Dazhao - early founder and leader of Chinese Communist Party
*
Jiang Wen - a contemporary director and actor
*
Cao Xueqin - author of
Dream of the Red Chamber
''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (''Honglou Meng'') or ''The Story of the Stone'' (''Shitou Ji'') is a novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known fo ...
*
Liu Wenjin - classical Chinese music composer
*
Zhang Tielin
Zhang Tielin (born 15 June 1957) is a British actor and film director. He is best known for portraying the Qianlong Emperor in the first two seasons of the Chinese television series ''My Fair Princess''.
Early life and education
Zhang was born ...
- Chinese-born British actor
*
Zhao Lijian - Chinese spokesman of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The enti ...
*
Gao Yuanyuan - Chinese actress and model
*
Tseng Cheng - businessman and philanthropist
*
Wu Guiying - Chinese Communist Party Secratary of
Changsha
Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, and ...
*
Zhang Xudong
Zhang Xudong (; November 1962 – 1 October 2021) was a general ('' Shangjiang'') of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China. He was commander of the Western Theater Command. He was promoted to the rank of major general ('' shaojiang'') in Ju ...
- General of the
PLA
PLA may refer to:
Organizations Politics and military
* People's Liberation Army, the armed forces of China and of the ruling Chinese Communist Party
* People's Liberation Army (disambiguation)
** Irish National Liberation Army, formerly called t ...
and former commander of the
Western Theater Command
The Western Theater Command ()is one of the five theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, founded on 1 February 2016.
Its jurisdiction includes Sichuan, Tibet, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Shaanxi, Yunnan, Chongqing. Guizhou ...
*
Fu Zhenghua
Fu Zhenghua (; born 13 March 1955) is a former Chinese politician and public security officer. In March 2013, Fu was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Public Security (minister-level) and Deputy Communist Party Secretary of the Ministry of ...
- Former politician and
Minister of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
See also
*
List of twin towns and sister cities in China
*
1976 Tangshan earthquake
*
2022 Tangshan restaurant attack
References
External links
Official website of Tangshan Government
{{Authority control
Cities in Hebei
Prefecture-level divisions of Hebei
Cities destroyed by earthquakes