Tangshan

Tangshan is named after Dacheng 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 of Tang dynasty, with his army, was stationed at Dacheng Hill on his way back from the Korean 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.

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 (1600 BC) at the time of the Shang dynasty and later became a part of the State of Yan, one of the seven Warring States (403 – 221 BC). During the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) it became part of the ancient province of Youzhou. It was under the jurisdiction of Zhili province and Zunhua State successively during the Qing dynasty. Tangshan was a village at the time of the Tang dynasty (619–907) and developed further in agriculture, oil exploitation and ceramics during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). During the Hundred Days' Reform in the late Qing dynasty, the Kaiping Mining Administration was established in the third year of the Guangxu Emperor (1877). In 1878, Qiaotun town was established at Tangshan and renamed Tangshan Town in 1889. …

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, 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. Because of its location in the northeast of Hebei, it is a strategic area and a corridor linking two China's north and northeast regions. The largest river in the prefecture is the Luan River. Tangshan has a monsoon-influenced, humid continental climate (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 −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. …