Tangshan

Tangshan (Chinese: 唐山; pinyin: Tángshān) is a largely industrial prefecture-level city in northeastern Hebei province, China. It has become known for the 1976 Tangshan earthquake which measured 7.8 on the Richter scale and killed at least 255,000 residents. The city has since been rebuilt and has become a tourist attraction.

The city of Tangshan is approximately 149 kilometers, 92 miles or 80 nautical miles east by south east of the country's capital city of Beijing. It takes roughly 2 hours by road to get from Tangshan to Beijing.

Tangshan's prefecture population was 7,577,289 at the 2010 census, with 3,187,171 in the built-up (or metro) area made of the 6 urban core districts.

Etymology

Tangshan is named after Dacheng Mountain (which is also named Mountain Tang[Tangshan in Chinese]) in the middle of Tangshan city.

In A.D. 645, Li Shimin-emperor of Tang Dynasty and his army stationed at Dacheng Mountain on his way back from Korean Peninsula. Unfortunately, Caofei, his beloved concubine, died here. In order to commemorate his Caofei, he named the mountain with the name of the state—Tang. Later, the name of the mountain became the name of the city.