Tonghua (original) (raw)

Prefecture-level city in Jilin, People's Republic of China

Tonghua 通化市T'ung-hua
Prefecture-level city
From top, left to right: View from Yuhuang Mountain; Night Street in Dongchang; Tonghua Science and Culture Center; Yang Jingyu Memorial Park; Yuhuang Temple
Location of Tonghua City (yellow) in Jilin (light grey) and China
TonghuaLocation of the city centre in Jilin
Coordinates (Tonghua government): 41°43′42″N 125°56′23″E / 41.7283°N 125.9397°E / 41.7283; 125.9397
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Jilin
County-level divisions	7
Municipal seat	Dongchang District
Government
• Type	Prefecture-level city
• CPC Tonghua Secretary	Liu Baowei (刘保威)
• Mayor	Tian Yulin (田玉林)
Area
• Prefecture-level city	15,195 km2 (5,867 sq mi)
• Urban	761 km2 (294 sq mi)
• Metro	761 km2 (294 sq mi)
Elevation	374 m (1,227 ft)
Population (2020 census)[1]
• Prefecture-level city	1,812,114
• Density	120/km2 (310/sq mi)
• Urban	446,917
• Urban density	590/km2 (1,500/sq mi)
• Metro	446,917
• Metro density	590/km2 (1,500/sq mi)
GDP[2]
• Prefecture-level city	CN¥ 100 billionUS$ 16.1 billion
• Per capita	CN¥ 45,171US$ 7,252
Time zone	UTC+8 (China Standard)
Postal code	134000
Area code	0435
ISO 3166 code	CN-JL-05
Licence plate prefixes	吉E
Website	tonghua.gov.cn

Tonghua
"Tonghua", as written in Chinese
Chinese	通化
Postal	Tunghwa
TranscriptionsStandard MandarinHanyu PinyinTōnghuàWade–GilesT'ung1-hua4

Tonghua (Chinese: 通化; pinyin: Tōnghuà) is a prefecture-level city in the south of Jilin province, People's Republic of China. It borders North Korea's Chagang Province to the south and southeast, Baishan to the east, Jilin City to the north, Liaoyuan to the northwest, and Liaoning province to the west and southwest. Its population was 1,812,114 registered residents at the 2020 census living in an area of 15,195 square kilometres (5,867 sq mi). Its built-up (or metro) area made of the two urban districts was home to 446,917 inhabitants. It is known as one of the five medicine production centres in China.[3]

Map including Tonghua (labeled as T'UNG-HUA 通化) (AMS, 1955)

Human settlement in the Tonghua area dates from about 6,000 years ago.[4] In the Western Han Dynasty, Tonghua belonged to the Liaodong Fourth Commandery (遼東四郡).

Tonghua was the birthplace of Goguryeo culture and shaman culture.[4] The Goguryeo kingdom established its capital at Gungnae in 425 A.D., which, together with the Tombs of the Ancient Gogoryeo Kingdom, represents the only successful, independent submission to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[4][5]

Under the Japanese occupation of Manchuria after 1932, a railway was constructed linking Tonghua with the main Manchurian rail network and with northern Korea.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Yang Jingyu led the First Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army to battle the Imperial Japanese Army, and was killed in battle.[4][5]

In August 1945 Tonghua briefly served as the temporary capital of Manchukuo, where Puyi claimed to abdicate at the behest of the Kwantung Army. In 1985, Tonghua became a prefecture-level city under the approval of the State Council.[6]

The city has a recent record of extreme violence including the Shosankoku incident [ja] in 1945, the Tonghua Incident in 1946 and the Tonghua Iron and Steel Group riot in 2009.

Administrative divisions

[edit]

Map
Dongchang Erdaojiang Tonghua County ※ ※ Huinan County Liuhe County Meihekou (city) Ji'an (city)
#	Name	Hanzi	Hanyu Pinyin	Population (2010 est.)	Area (km2)	Density (/km2)
1	Dongchang District	东昌区	Dōngchāng Qū	360,195	383	940
2	Erdaojiang District	二道江区	Èrdàojiāng Qū	146,682	378	388
3	Meihekou City	梅河口市	Méihékǒu Shì	615,367	2,175	283
4	Ji'an City	集安市	Jí'ān Shì	232,358	3,408	68
5	Tonghua County	通化县	Tōnghuà Xiàn	247,225	3,729	66
6	Huinan County	辉南县	Huīnán Xiàn	359,453	2,277	158
7	Liuhe County	柳河县	Liǔhé Xiàn	363,962	3,348	109

Tonghua has a monsoon-influenced, humid continental climate (Köppen Dwa), with long, very cold, windy, but dry winters and hot, humid summers; spring and autumn are brief. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −13.9 °C (7.0 °F) in January to 22.3 °C (72.1 °F) in July; the annual mean is 6.0 °C (42.8 °F). During the warmer months, rainfall is enhanced by the mountainous topography, allowing for a generous annual precipitation total of 893.44 millimetres (35.2 in). However, the monsoon still means that more than 60% of the annual precipitation falls from June to August alone.

Traditionally, Tonghua occupied a railhub position in a region of China noted for trade in only three agricultural commodities. These were ginseng, marten furs and deer antler products. In the 1980s Tonghua had some success with a wine distillery (see Tonghua Grape Wine) producing sweet, sticky red wines that proved popular with local consumers. From 1987 onwards a biennial wine festival was inaugurated, but this and the industry it promoted ultimately failed commercially owing to competition with joint-venture wine companies such as Dragon, who were able to produce a product that was marketable overseas. Following this failure, Tonghua industry was thrown back on its traditional agricultural products - and a few small but viable factories, including one specialising in artificial furs.

A fledgling tourist trade sought to highlight Tonghua attractions such as some ski slopes, the tomb of the local hero General Yang (a resister to the Japanese occupation of Manchukuo in the 1930s) and the Changbai Shan Nature Reserve for which Tonghua serves as a connecting railway station from the major population centres to the north and west.

Tonghua's population hovers around 300,000, but census information is difficult to assess as it includes demographic information from other towns nearby (for example, Erdaojiang - a suburb of Tonghua, and even Hunjiang, a city to the east). The inclusion of these suburbs and surrounding towns greatly swells Tonghua's official population beyond the 300,000-mark.

Tonghua Steel Factory

Erdaojiang District has a number of steelworks, and tens of thousands of steelworkers are employed locally. In July 2009, workers at Tonghua Iron and Steel Group rioted (See main article) at news of a takeover deal by privately owned Jianlong Steel, and the general manager of the firm was beaten to death. The unrest reportedly involved 30,000 workers, with up to 100 injured in clashes with police. The takeover was promptly scrapped.[9][10]

Tonghua Iron and Steel became part of Shougang Group in 2010,[11] and is now called Shougang Tonghua Steel Group.[12]

The city of Tonghua has also become a hub for a range of Chinese pharmaceutical firms, including domestic insulin producer Tonghua Dongbao Pharmaceuticals Ltd. These companies are generally spread among the various "Industrial parks" found throughout the city, with 46 projects located in these parks in 2012 alone.[13] Investment in Tonghua's pharmaceutical industry is on the increase, with 27 of these projects worth over 100 million Yuan. Other pharmaceutical producers in the area include Jingma, Zhenghe and Wantong Pharmaceuticals.

Railways from Shenyang to Jilin and Meihekou to Ji'an meets in Tonghua. Trains from Tonghua Railway Station connect the city with Beijing, Qingdao, Shenyang, Dalian and several other major cities in China.

Tonghua is served by G11 Hegang-Dalian Expressway.

Tonghua is served by Tonghua Sanyuanpu Airport.

Yang Jingyu Martyrs Cemetery

[edit]

The Yang Jingyu Martyrs Cemetery is located on the hills adjoining the Tongjiang River in Tonghua and was built to commemorate Second Sino-Japanese War war hero, Yang Jingyu. It was built in July 1954 and completed in September 1957. The cemetery covers an area of 20,000 m2 (220,000 sq ft). There are five buildings in the park, which are classical glazed tile buildings. The front is the mourning hall and the tomb. The four partial temples are the performance exhibition hall of General Yang Jingyu. The bronze statue of General Yang Jingyu erects on the central of the cemetery. The front of the granite base is engraved with Peng Zhen’s handwriting: The National Hero Yang Jingyu.[14]

Baijifeng National Forest Park

[edit]

It is located in the southeast of Tonghua, 25 kilometers away from the urban area. The altitude of the Baiji Yaoshan in the park is 1,318 m (4,324 ft), which is the highest peak of Tonghua.

The Forest Park is dominated by natural landscapes. The total area of the park is about 1,041 hectares (2,570 acres) and the forest coverage rate is 98.7%. The main species are Korean pine, spruce, alfalfa, birch, and rare species such as yew, hedgehog[_clarification needed_], hawthorn, and magnolia. Under the canopy, there are mainly wild ginseng, ginseng, asarum and other medicinal materials.[15]

1. ^ "China: Jílín (Prefectures, Cities, Districts and Counties) - Population Statistics, Charts and Map".
2. ^ 吉林省统计局、国家统计局吉林调查总队 (September 2016). 《吉林统计年鉴－2016》. 中国统计出版社. ISBN 978-7-5037-7899-5. Archived from the original on 2018-04-28. Retrieved 2017-06-05.
3. ^ a b 通化 - 气象数据 -中国天气网 (in Chinese). Weather China. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
4. ^ a b c d "Tonghua Municipal Government" 通化市政府. www.tonghua.gov.cn (in Chinese). Retrieved 12 March 2020.
5. ^ a b "Tonghua - Jilin, China". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
6. ^ Office of the Tonghua Almanac Compilation Committee (1996). 通化市志. China City Press (中国城市出版社). ISBN 7-5074-0818-3.
7. ^ 中国气象数据网 – WeatherBk Data (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
8. ^ "Experience Template" 中国气象数据网 (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
9. ^ One killed in China steel riot, BBC News, 26 July 2009
10. ^ Takeover scrapped after workers kill steel plant manager SCMP, 27 July 2009
11. ^ China's Shougang to take over scandal-hit Tonghua Steel (Reuters, 2010)
12. ^ Shougang Tonghua Steel Group(Shougang.com.cn)
13. ^ "Entrepreneurs transform Tonghua". Chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2022-04-04.
14. ^ 杨靖宇烈士陵园. www.chinamartyrs.gov.cn. Retrieved 2018-11-23.
15. ^ 生态吉林 美丽中国. Jilin Provincial People's Government. Retrieved 2018-11-23.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tonghua.

• Government website of Tonghua Archived 2015-10-23 at the Wayback Machine