Tongzhou is a district of

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. It is located in southeast Beijing and considered the eastern gateway to the nation's capital. Downtown Tongzhou itself lies around east of 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 file:50th anniversary of PRC 1.jpg, 250px, Chang'an Avenue hosts military parades. Here are armoured fighting vehicles leaving Tian'anmen Square during the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, 1999 National Day parade. Chang'an ...

. The entire district covers an area of , 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, growing to a population of 1,184,000 at the 2010 Census and 1,840,295 at the 2020 census. The district is subdivided into four subdistricts, ten towns, and one ethnic township.

History

Tongzhou was founded in 195 BC during the

Western Han The Han dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warring int ...

dynasty under the name of Lu (路) County, although there is evidence for human settlement in the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

. 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 Jin may refer to: States Jìn 晉 * Jin (Chinese state) (晉國), major state of the Zhou dynasty, existing from the 11th century BC to 376 BC * Jin dynasty (266–420) (晉朝), also known as Liang Jin and Sima Jin * Jin (Later Tang precursor) ...

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.

Ming, Qing & Republican era

In July 1937, subsequent to the infamous Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Tongzhou became another site of determined Chinese resistance. In the Tongzhou mutiny troops of the nominally Japanese-puppet East Hebei Army rebelled and came to the aid of hard-pressed

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

troops, and attacked the Japanese garrison. In the fall of Tongzhou to the Nationalists, many civilians were tortured and murdered as well as captured Japanese military personnel.

People's Republic

The place name changed to Tong County () when the area was placed under the new municipal region of Beijing in 1914. It again reverted to "Tongzhou" when the area was upgraded in 1997 to a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

. On 11 July 2015, Tongzhou became the second administrative seat of Beijing as a "sub-administrative center" for the municipality. Numerous local government departments will be moved to Tongzhou to reduce crowding within the city center of Beijing.

Economy

In 2017, the regional GDP of the district was 75.8 billion yuan, with GDP per capita at 50.3 thousand yuan.

Geography and environment

Tongzhou District borders the Beijing districts of Shunyi, Chaoyang and Daxing, Wuqing District of

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

Municipality, and

Langfang Langfang is a prefecture-level city of Hebei Province of China, Province, China, and was known as Tianjin Prefecture until 1973. It was renamed Langfang Prefecture after Tianjin became a Direct-controlled municipalities of China, municipality ...

City (both the Sanhe City− Dachang County− Xianghe County exclave and Guangyang District) of

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

province, and is 19 km (12 miles) from

Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square () is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen ("''Gate of Heavenly Peace''") located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City. The square contains th ...

and 16 km (10 miles) from

Beijing Capital International Airport Beijing Capital International Airport is the busier of the two international airports serving Beijing, the capital city of China (the other one being Beijing Daxing International Airport). The airport is located northeast of downtown Beijing ...

. Tongzhou is situated on the

North China Plain The North China Plain () is a large-scale downfaulted rift basin formed in the late Paleogene and Neogene and then modified by the deposits of the Yellow River. It is the largest alluvial plain of China. The plain is bordered to the north by th ...

with an average elevation of . Its climate belongs to the mild temperate zone, with distinct seasons including hot summers and freezing winters. Dust storms are common. It has an annual mean temperature of . and of rainfall. Several large rivers, among them the Wenyu, the Liangshui and Chaobai flow through the district.

Climate

Tongzhou District has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

with

humid subtropical A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between la ...

influences (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Dwa/Cwa''). The average annual temperature in Tongzhou is . The average annual rainfall is with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Administrative divisions

Tongzhou District is divided into six subdistricts, ten towns, and one ethnic township. Two of the towns of which carry the "area" () label.These towns are officially classified as subdistricts, but as they coincide with the area of the same name, they are commonly named "areas" () On May 11, 2020, Tongzhou District Government made a series of changes to its administrative divisions by adding the following subdistricts: * Wenjing Subdistrict (文景街道) * Jiukeshu Subdistrict (九棵树街道) * Linheli Subdistrict (临河里街道) * Yangzhuang Subdistrict (杨庄街道) * Luyi Subdistrict (潞邑街道)

Transportation

Downtown Tongzhou is connected to downtown Beijing by Jingtong Expressway and several metro lines operated by

Beijing Subway The Beijing Subway is the rapid transit system of Beijing Direct-controlled municipality, Municipality that consists of 29 lines including 24 rapid transit lines, two airport rail links, one maglev line and two light rail, light rail tram line ...

. Beijing's Fifth and Sixth Ring Road are roughly equidistant from Tongzhou's CBD. Highways lead to

Shenyang Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...

Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...

and

/ Tanggu.

Metro

Tongzhou is currently served by six metro lines operated by

: * – Wuzixueyuanlu, Tongzhou Beiguan, Beiyunhe West, Beiyunhe East, Haojiafu, Dongxiayuan, Lucheng * – Wansheng Xi (West), Wansheng Dong (East), Qun Fang, Gao Lou Jin, Hua Zhuang , * (S) - Beishenshu, Ciqubei, Ciqu , Jiahuihu * – Tongzhou Beiyuan, , , , , , Hua Zhuang , * – Tongjinanlu, Jinghailu, Ciqu South, Ciqu , Yizhuang railway station * - , ,

Suburban railway

Tongzhou is also served by two suburban railway lines: * – Tongzhou, Qiaozhuang East * – Tongzhou West

Industry and tourism

There are seven industrial zones with a total area of in Tongzhou, focusing on 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 emphasizes 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. The Universal Beijing Resort is also located in Tongzhou, and opened on 20 September 2021. Canal Business District 13

Canal Business District is under construction. Headquarters of Beijing branches of Central Government-owned Enterprises and Headquarters of Beijing Government-owned Enterprises will move to Tongzhou. Canal Business District plans to develop industrial clusters of headquarters economy and wealth management. Gallery of the construction site of Canal Business District: Canal Business District 01.jpg, Canal Business District 02.jpg, Canal Business District 12.jpg, Canal Business District 03.jpg, Canal Business District 04.jpg, Canal Business District 05.jpg, Canal Business District 06.jpg, Canal Business District 08.jpg, Canal Business District 07.jpg, Canal Business District 09.jpg, Canal Business District 10.jpg, Canal Business District 11.jpg,

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 center and a hospital specializing in traditional Chinese medicine. Private schools include: * Beijing Shuren Ribet Private School

Notes

References

External links

Official website of the Tongzhou District People's Government

Tongzhou website of the Tongzhou Government
{{authority control Districts of Beijing 195 BC 190s BC establishments States and territories established in the 2nd century BC 2nd-century BC establishments in China National Civilized City