Tangshan Department Store (historic retail center)
Modern high-rise development in downtown
Xiaonan Park (urban green space)
From top, left to right:Eastern Qing tombs, Tangshan Southlake Convention & Exhibition Center, Dachengshan Park, Cao Xueqin Cultural Park, Tangshan Art Museum
Tangshan (Chinese:唐山;pinyin:Tángshān) is acoastal, industrialprefecture-level city in the northeast ofHebei 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 theBohai Rim and serves as the main traffic corridor to theNortheast. The city faces theBohai Sea in the south, theYan Mountains in the north,Qinhuangdao across theLuan River to the east, andTianjin to the west.
Much of the city's development is thanks to the industrialization, beginning in 1870, whenKailuan Group established coal mines in the region. It is the birthplace of China's firststandard-gauge railway,[3] the first railway plant,[4] the firststeam locomotive,[5] and the first cement factory.[6] It was hailed as China's "cradle of industrialization". Even today, Tangshan is a hub of steel, energy,chemical, and ceramics production.[7]Ping opera, which originated from the city'sLuanzhou county, is one of the five most popular Chinese operas.
The city has also become known foran earthquake in 1976 which measured 7.8 on theRichter scale. It 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 the10 largest ports in China.[8]
The city of Tangshan is approximately 149 km (93 mi) east by south east of Beijing and 110 km (68 mi) northeast ofTianjin.[9] 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.
Tangshan is named afterDacheng Hill (大城山), which was formerly called Mount Tang (唐山) and is located in the middle of the city.
In A.D. 645,Li Shimin, an emperor ofTang dynasty, with his army, was stationed at Dacheng Hill on his way back from theKorean Peninsula. Unfortunately, Caofei, his beloved concubine, died there. In order to commemorate her, he named the mountain after the name of the empire, Tang. Later, the city took the name of the mountain.[citation needed]
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 theGuzhu Kingdom (1600BC) at the time of theShang dynasty and later became a part of theState of Yan, one of theseven Warring States (403 – 221BC). During theHan dynasty (206BC – 220AD) it became part of the ancient province ofYouzhou. It was under the jurisdiction ofZhili province and Zunhua State successively during theQing dynasty.
Tangshan was a village at the time of theTang dynasty (619–907) and developed further in agriculture, oil exploitation and ceramics during theMing dynasty (1368–1644).
During theHundred Days' Reform in the late Qing dynasty, the Kaiping Mining Administration was established in the third year of theGuangxu Emperor (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 ChinaRepublican era continued to follow the Qing system. In 1929,Zhili Province changed its name toHebei Province. On January28, 1939, because of Tangshan's special economic and political position, theEast 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 asBeijing) 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 theChinese Communist Party Hebei Provincial Committee to set up Tangshan City and on May5 of the same year, the Tangshan Municipal government was founded.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
On April28, 1958, theState 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 administered 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.[citation needed]
Tangshan suffered anearthquake ofmagnitude 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 movieAftershock.
Tangshan is located in the central section of theBohai Economic Rim, facing theBohai Sea to the south. Lying on theNorth China Plain, Tangshan is adjacent to theYan Mountains to the north, borders theLuan River andQinhuangdao to the east, and to the west and southwest bordersTianjin. Because of its location in the northeast of Hebei, it is a strategic area and a corridor linking two China'snorth andnortheast regions. The largest river in the prefecture is the Luan River.
Tangshan has amonsoon-influenced,humid continental climate (KöppenDwa), 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 −3.6 °C (25.5 °F), and 26.9 °C (80.4 °F) in July, and the annual mean is 12.8 °C (55.0 °F). Close to 60% of the annual precipitation of 590 mm (23.2 in) 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.
Climate data for Tangshan, elevation 23 m (75 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–present)
Asair 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 includingXingtai,Shijiazhuang,Baoding,Handan,Langfang,Hengshui and Tangshan, are among China's 10 most polluted cities.[14]
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 lateQing dynasty, as Guangdong merchantTong King-sing opened the firstcoal mine using modern techniques in Kaiping in 1877.[15] Since the construction of theCaofeidian Project, it has hosted large iron and steel plants, chemical projects, and electricity plants. It is China's largest steel-producing city.[16] Tangshan is also called the "porcelain capital of North China."[17]
Modern industry in China first arose in Tangshan. The second railway in China – after the abortiveWoosung Railway inShanghai – was the six-mile track laid betweenHsukochuang and Tangshan which opened in 1881;[18] this eventually grew into theImperial Railroad of North China and China's modernJingshan andJingha Railways. The first fire-resistant material manufactory and the first and largestcement 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.[19] In 2008, theGDP of Tangshan was ¥353.747 billion, which nearly doubled to ¥612.121 billion by 2013, and grew further to ¥695.500 billion in 2018.[19] Tangshan's GDP was ranked the 26th largest among Chinese cities according to data from 2017.[20] The city's exports were valued at $7.109 billion in 2016.[21] Government figures for 2017 show that the city's economy was largely dominated by thesecondary industry, contributing ¥408.14 billion to the city's economy.[22]
Government data from 2017 shows that 7.897 million people live in Tangshan, of which, 61.64% live in an urban area.[23] The city's residents had a meandisposable income of ¥27,786, which was ¥36,415 among urban residents.[23]
Tangshan, like many other locations in China, is largelyHan Chinese, who account for 95.25% of the city's population.[24] In Zunhua City, there are 3ethnic townships andethnic towns.[24] The following table shows the city's ethnic breakdown:
As of 2017, Tangshan has 18,000 kilometers of roads, of which, 16,000 were in rural areas.[27] The city's roads served 410 million tons of freight, and the city's port served 570 million tons.[27] As of 2023, Tangshan is the largest city in China without an operating or planned metro system.
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