About The Tangshan

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Tangshan is such a city, with a profound historical and cultural base. The Luanhe River basin is one of the birthplaces of ancient Chinese civilization. As early as 45,000 years ago, the ancestors of Tangshan started life and work in this rich land. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, Tangshan wasunder the jurisdiction of Guzhu Kingdom. During the Warring States Period, it was under the Kingdom of Yan. In the Han Dynasty, it belonged to Youzhou. The integration of agricultural culture, central plain culture, grassland culture and overseas culture forged a unique character.

Tangshan is home to Laoting drums, pingju opera and puppet shows. These three art forms are known as the”three flowers in the east of Hebei province”. This is also the birthplace of Zhao Pu,a renowned general in the Northern Song Dynasty; Cao Xueqin,a great man of letters of the Qing Dy-nasty; LiDazhao, one of the founders of the Communist Party of China; and Cheng Zhaocai, creator of pingju opera.

As one of the birthplaces of revolution in northern China, Tangshan has been honored with several titles that identify its spirit. It is known as”a champion of righteousness and justice”, holder of the Kailuan spirit of”carrying out especially arduous work”, as Comrade Mao Zedong once said. It is known as the place where the spirit of “poor farmers”from the Wang Guofan Co-operative at Zunhua can be found along with the spirit of the”modern foolish old man who removed mountains”, as the story is told by people in Shashiyu who carried thousands of buckets of earth from 5,000 kilometers away tobuild a one mu field praised by Comrade Zhou Enlai. The spirit born of fighting the Tangshan earth-quake was immortalized by Comrade Jiang Zemin as the one that drives people”to forget selfishness in the interest of the public, share weal and woe, be undaunted by repeated setbacks and march forward courageously.”In today’s Tangshan, people define the spirit of the times as”being unwilling to be left behind, dare to be the first, strive to make progress and being able to give full rein to one’s ability.”

Tangshan is one of the places where China’s modern industry was born. It is also a cradle of China’s national industry and the proletariat. In the mid-19th century, along with the rise of the Westerniza-tion Movement, the roar of modern industry accelerated the pace of progress in the city.

Many of China’s firsts were born here. The first mechanized coal mine shaft, the first railway with standard rail gauge, the first steam locomotive, the first bucket of machine-made cement and the first sanitary ceramic ware. All of these had an impact on the rise of China’s modern industry. Compared with the development history of most Chinese cities, the formation and development of Tangshan has many fresh and distinctive features. Tangshan was the first place in China to open its door to the outside world when the country was secluded due to feudal politics and economics. It realized a great breakthrough to the feudal economy, resulting in the integration of modern Western material culture and traditional Chinese culture and making the co-existence of Chinese and Western culture its unique feature. After inheriting a hundred years of industrial culture, Tangshan is again moving forwardat the front of a wave of industrialization.

Tangshan enjoys an advantage of geographic location. It has long been known as a precious land in the east of Beijing due to its rich resources and abundant products. The advantageous natural resources provide a foundation for modern industry and create the conditions for the rise and develop-ment of modern industry. Before the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty, people were unable to exploit resources in large scale due to limitations of science and technology, culture, politics and economics. After the rise of the Westernization Movement and the penetration of Western science, technology and culture, Tangshan found opportunities for rapid development. With modern coal min-ing as its leading industry,a modern industrial city took shape and gave birth to Qinhuangdao,a port city along the Bohai Bay.

Along with the rise of modern and large-scale industry during the Westernization Movement, Tangshan became a starting point of China’s modern industrial civilization. During the past 100 years, it has led the Chinese nation during the process of modernization and shouldered numerous hardships and honors in the struggle for the national independence, liberation, prosperity and sustainable devel-opment. It has long striven at the forefront of modern industrial development.

Tangshan is a heroic city born from catastrophe. On July 28,1976, Tangshan suffered a rare mas-sive earthquake. The 100-year-old city was destroyed in the blink of an eye.A total of 240,000 people were buried in the debris. It was one of the “Top 10 Global Disasters of the 20th Century”.

Some foreigners said Tangshan had vanished.

However, the people of Tangshan demonstrated how to rise from adversity. They created a miracle.

After 10 years of re-building,10 years of revitalization and 10 years of rapid development,a modern city was re-born from the debris. The new Tangshan is a testament to how human beings can resist natural disasters. The long-lasting spirit of fighting the earthquake is melted into the blood of the city.

Entering the 12th Five-year Plan period, the strategic status of Tangshan in the national produc-tivity layout is more and more obvious. Today, the city sticks to the theme of scientific development, accelerates the transformation of the pattern of economic development, adjusts its economic structure and speeds up its pace to make progress. It is going all out to take lead Hebei province forward.

The glories of the past 100 years are history come to life. The records that agglomerate the dream of building a strong country by recent ancestors have closely linked the pulse of China’s modern indus-try to the city. The name of Tangshan is closely related to China’s modern industry. In the historical records of China’s modern industry, Tangshan has set many national firsts, Asian firsts and world firsts. The city itself is a milestone of the past century.

Entering the new century, people in Tangshan cast their eyes on the blue sea. Relying on its port, the city will march forward to the ocean to realize a leap in development. The rapid rise of Caofeidian district is evidence of this. As one of the starts closest to the Eurasia Continental Bridge for Northeast Asia, Tangshan has launched the most important and convenient maritime route for northern China Mongolia and the Central Asian region. With the acceleration of the integration of Beijing, Tianjin andHebei, Tangshan relies on its exceptionally rich resources and strong comprehensive strength to form a tripartite balanced force with Beijing and Tianjin. The reality of Tangshan is turning into a demonstra-tive district with a prosperous economy, social harmony, ecological beauty, perfect mechanisms where people are happy.

Tangshan continues to write new chapters in the legend of the city.