Tangshan

Industrial city in Hebei province, China, 160 km/100 mi southeast of Beijing; population (2000) 1,660,100. A centre of heavy industry, traditional coalmining and ceramic industries that have been augmented by iron, steel, and cement production, and engineering. Almost destroyed by an earthquake in 1976, which measured 8.2 on the Richter scale and killed 242,000 people, the city was rebuilt on a new site.

History Tangshan was a small town known for its coal deposits from the 16th century. Primitive mines and small-scale industries such as ceramics, powered by local coal, had developed by the 19th century. Under British management in the 1880s, the coalfield, known as the Kailan Basin, was modernized and developed into a large coalmining centre. In 1882 the British mine manager also built China's first successful railway to transport coal towards Tianjin. The mines remained under British management, with a break between 1941 and 1945, until 1952 when the communist government took them over. Tangshan's coal field and ceramics industry were further developed and modernized, and iron and steel, engineering, and cement manufactures introduced. Coal seams were opened up under the old city after the earthquake of 1976.