Tongzhou District
Encyclopedia
Tongzhou District is a district of Beijing, the capital of People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

. It is located in southeast Beijing and considered the eastern gateway to the Chinese capital. Downtown Tongzhou itself lies twelve miles from central Beijing, at the northern end of the Grand Canal (on the junction between the Tonghui Canal and the Northern Canal) and at the easternmost end of Chang'an Avenue
Chang'an Avenue
Chang'an Avenue , literally "Eternal Peace Street", is a major thoroughfare in Beijing, China.Chang'an is the old name for Xi'an which was the capital of China during the Tang Dynasty and other periods....

. The entire district covers an area of 906 square kilometers, or 6% of Beijing's total area. It had a population of 673,952 at the 2000 Census, and has seen significant growth and development since then. It had a population of 1.184,000 at the 2010 Census. The district is subdivided into 4 subdistricts of the city of Tongzhou, 10 towns, and 1 ethnic rural township.

History

Tongzhou was founded in 195 BC during the Western Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...

 under the name of Lu (路) County, although there is evidence for human settlement in the Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

. At the start of the Eastern Han Dynasty the character Lu by which it was known was altered by the addition of a water radical to become Lu (潞). In 1151 under the Jin Dynasty Lu County was renamed Tongzhou, roughly meaning 'the place for passing through', in recognition of its importance as the land and water approach to Beijing.

Qing & Republic

In July 1937, subsequent to the galvanising Marco Polo Bridge Incident
Marco Polo Bridge Incident
The Marco Polo Bridge Incident was a battle between the Republic of China's National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army, often used as the marker for the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War .The eleven-arch granite bridge, Lugouqiao, is an architecturally significant structure,...

, Tongzhou became another site of determined Chinese resistance. In the Tongzhou Mutiny
Tungchow Mutiny
The , sometimes referred to as the Tōngzhōu Incident, was an assault on Japanese civilians and troops by East Hopei Army in Tōngzhōu, China on 29 July 1937 shortly after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident that marked the official beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War.In early 1937, Tōngzhōu was...

 troops of the nominally Japanese-puppet East Hopei Army
East Hopei Army
The East Hopei Army was raised from the former soldiers of the Peace Preservation Corps that had been created by the Tangku Truce of 31 May 1933...

 rebelled and came to the aid of hard-pressed Guomindang troops, and attacked the Japanese garrison. In the fall of Tongzhou to the Nationalists, many civilians were murdered and abused as well as captured Japanese military personnel.

Liberation

The place-name changed to Tongxian when the area was placed under the new municipal region of Beijing. It reverted again to Tongzhou when the area was upgraded in 1997 to a district
District (China)
The term district, in the context of China, is used to refer to several unrelated political divisions in both ancient and modern China....

.

Location and environment

Tongzhou District borders the Beijing districts of Shunyi
Shunyi District
Shunyi District is an administrative district of Beijing, located outside of the city proper.-Overview:...

, Chaoyang
Chaoyang District, Beijing
Chaoyang District is a district of Beijing, China.Chaoyang is home to the majority of Beijing's many foreign embassies, the well-known Sanlitun bar street, as well as Beijing's growing CBD. The Olympic Park, built for the 2008 Summer Olympics, is also in Chaoyang...

 and Daxing
Daxing District
Daxing District is a suburb of Beijing, situated to the south of the city.-Overview:...

, the directly administered municipality of Tianjin
Tianjin
' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...

 and part of Hebei
Hebei
' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...

 province, and is 12 miles from Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen Gate located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world...

 and 10 miles from Beijing Capital International Airport
Beijing Capital International Airport
Beijing Capital International Airport, is the main international airport serving Beijing, China. It is located northeast of Beijing's city center in an enclave of Chaoyang District that is surrounded by rural Shunyi District. The airport is owned and operated by the Beijing Capital...

.

Tongzhou is situated on the Beijing plain with an average altitude of 20 metres. Its climate belongs to the mild temperate zone, with distinct seasons including hot summers and freezing winters. Dust storms are common. It has a year-round average temperature of 11.3°C and 620mm of rainfall. Several large rivers, amongst them the Wenyu, the Liangshui and Chaobai flow through the district.

Transportation

Downtown Tongzhou is connected to downtown Beijing by Jingtong Expressway
Jingtong Expressway
The Jingtong Expressway is an expressway with express road characteristics in Beijing, China which links central Beijing to Tongzhou District...

 and Line Batong, Beijing Subway. Beijing's Fifth
5th Ring Road (Beijing)
Beijing's 5th Ring Road is a ring road encircling the city about 10 kilometres away from the city centre. It takes the form of an expressway and is 98 kilometres in length...

 and Sixth Ring Road are roughly equidistant from Tongzhou's CBD
Central business district
A central business district is the commercial and often geographic heart of a city. In North America this part of a city is commonly referred to as "downtown" or "city center"...

. Highways lead to Shenyang
Shenyang
Shenyang , or Mukden , is the capital and largest city of Liaoning Province in Northeast China. Currently holding sub-provincial administrative status, the city was once known as Shengjing or Fengtianfu...

, Harbin
Harbin
Harbin ; Manchu language: , Harbin; Russian: Харби́н Kharbin ), is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, lying on the southern bank of the Songhua River...

 and Tianjin
Tianjin
' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...

/Tanggu. A seventh ring road, a sixth subway line, a Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway and a Beijing-Tianjin shuttle are under construction.

Industry and tourism

There are seven industrial zones with a total area of 64 square kilometers in Tongzhou, focusing on modern manufacturing and high-tech industries. Downtown Tongzhou is earmarked for redevelopment into a comprehensive central business district with an emphasis on consumer retail. In agriculture, the district places emphasis on horticulture, fruit-farming, seed-growing and aquatics. The district government is currently promoting Tongzhou's position at the head of the Grand Canal to attract tourists to its Grand Canal Cultural Park.

The Songzhuang artists' village, where many Chinese contemporary artists live and work, is located in the Tongzhou District.

Education and health

Tongzhou has good education facilities including 113 kindergartens, 141 primary schools, 51 high schools and many adult education colleges. It also boasts the Beijing Materials Institute, Beijing University of Technology and the Beijing Institute of Music. Its hospitals include a specialist tuberculosis treatment centre and a hospital specializing in traditional Chinese medicine.

External links

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