Tangshan (Chinese: 唐山; pinyin: Tángshān) is a coastal, industrial prefecture-level city in the northeast of Hebei province.

It is located in the central area of the Bohai Rim and serves as the main traffic corridor to the Northeast.

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 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.

[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 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 and his army were stationed at Dacheng Hill on his way back from the Korean Peninsula.

[citation needed] Tangshan has a long history, with ancient humans living in the area as early as 4,000 years ago.

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).

[citation needed] After the establishment of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949, Tangshan remained a provincially administered municipality with 12 areas under its jurisdiction.

[citation needed] On April 28, 1958, the State Council approved the establishment of Tangshan prefecture.

On May 23, 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 June 3, 1959.

On May 13, 1983, the Hebei Provincial People's Government announced the cancellation of the Civic Administration office of Tangshan region, which ceased operation on May 15, 1983.

[citation needed] Tangshan suffered an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 (7.5 according to official reports) at 3:42 am on July 28, 1976, which resulted in many casualties.

Tangshan has a monsoon-influenced, humid continental climate (Köppen Dwa), with cold and very dry winters, and hot, rainy summers.

Its output include machinery, motor vehicles, chemicals, textiles, glass, petroleum products, and cement.

It has been a coal-mining center since late Qing dynasty, as Guangdong merchant Tong King-sing opened the first coal mine using modern techniques in Kaiping in 1877.

Tangshan has experienced near-constant GDP growth in recent years, but has slowed down in the latter-half of the 2010s.

5The claimed province of Taiwan no longer have any internal division announced by Ministry of Civil Affairs of PRC, due to lack of actual jurisdiction.