Tonghua
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Tonghua
通化 | |
|---|---|
| 通化市 | |
 Tonghua City (red) in Jilin province (orange) and China | |
| Country | People's Republic of China |
| Province | Jilin |
| Area | |
| • Prefecture-level city | 15,195 km2 (5,867 sq mi) |
| • Urban | 761 km2 (294 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 374 m (1,227 ft) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Prefecture-level city | 2,325,242 |
| • Density | 150/km2 (400/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 506,877 |
| • Urban density | 670/km2 (1,700/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (China Standard) |
| Licence plate prefixes | 吉E |
| Website | http://www.tonghua.gov.cn/ |
Tonghua (Chinese: 通化; pinyin: Tōnghuà) is an industrial city in the south of Jilin province, Northeast China. It borders North Korea 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. Administratively, it is a prefecture-level city with a total population of 2,325,242 living in an area of 15,195 square kilometres (5,867 sq mi). Urban population is 506,877.[1] It is known as one of the five medicine production centres in China.[2]
Administrative divisions
| Map | # | Name | Hanzi | Hanyu Pinyin | Population (2010 est.) | Area (km²) | Density (/km²) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| 1 | Dongchang District | 东昌区 | Dōngchāng Qū | 360,195 | 383 | 958 | |
| 2 | Erdaojiang District | 二道江区 | Èrdàojiāng Qū | 146,682 | 378 | 397 | |
| 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 | 70 | |
| 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 |
Climate
Tonghua has a monsoon-influenced, humid continental climate (Köppen Dwa), with long, very cold, windy, but dry winters due to the influence of the Siberian high, and hot, humid summers, due to the East Asian monsoon. The coldest month, January, averages −14.2 °C (6.4 °F), while the warmest month, July, averages 22.3 °C (72.1 °F); the annual mean is 5.6 °C (42.1 °F). During the warmer months, rainfall is enhanced by the mountainous topography, allowing for a generous annual precipitation total of 870 millimetres (34.3 in). However, the monsoon still means that more than 60% of the annual precipitation falls from June to August alone.
| Climate data for Tonghua (1971−2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −7.1 (19.2) |
−3 (26.6) |
4.4 (39.9) |
14.3 (57.7) |
20.7 (69.3) |
24.8 (76.6) |
27.1 (80.8) |
26.6 (79.9) |
21.2 (70.2) |
14.0 (57.2) |
3.8 (38.8) |
−4.3 (24.3) |
11.9 (53.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −20.1 (−4.2) |
−15.9 (3.4) |
−6.7 (19.9) |
1.8 (35.2) |
8.1 (46.6) |
14.0 (57.2) |
18.4 (65.1) |
17.2 (63.0) |
9.5 (49.1) |
1.3 (34.3) |
−7 (19.4) |
−15.9 (3.4) |
0.4 (32.7) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 9.7 (0.38) |
9.5 (0.37) |
18.9 (0.74) |
50.3 (1.98) |
78.4 (3.09) |
116.4 (4.58) |
218.0 (8.58) |
203.8 (8.02) |
75.2 (2.96) |
46.9 (1.85) |
30.6 (1.20) |
14.0 (0.55) |
871.7 (34.3) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 7.8 | 6.7 | 8.2 | 9.7 | 13.1 | 14.6 | 16.9 | 14.4 | 11.5 | 9.4 | 9.6 | 8.3 | 130.2 |
| Source: Weather.com.cn [2] | |||||||||||||
Economy
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 producing sweet, sticky red wines that proved popular with local consumers. From 1987 onwards a bienniel 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 impressive ski slopes, the tomb of the local hero General Yang (a resister to the Japanese occupation of Manchukuo in the 1930s) and the beautiful 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.
Poor, backward and, at local level, conservatively led, Tonghua was late in benefiting from the economic reforms (gai ge) of national leaders such as Zhao Ziyang. Although the railway provided useful direct links to major cities such as Shenyang, Tianjin and Changchun, few signs of progress could be seen on Tonghua's dirty streets until the mid-1990s, when plans were approved for a plethora of building projects which transformed the city. These have helped fuel a resurgence in Tonghua's commercial strength. Now, however, significant improvements can be seen and the city is dotted with shops and shopping centers all around.
Steel
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.[3][4]
References
- ^ 2010年通化市第六次全国人口普查主要数据公报（Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China）
- ^ a b "通化城市介绍" (in Simplified Chinese). Weather.com.cn. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
- ^ One killed in China steel riot, BBC News, 26 July 2009
- ^ Takeover scrapped after workers kill steel plant manager SCMP, 27 July 2009
External links
