Qinhuangdao

Qinhuangdao, seaport city lying on the northeastern coast of Hebei sheng (province), China. It is situated on the Liaodong Gulf, at the eastern extremity of the Hebei Plain before the plain’s narrowing at the coast at Shanhaiguan, approximately 12 miles (20 km) to the northeast. The city’s immediate hinterland is a narrow and not particularly fertile part of the Hebei Plain, backed by barren mountains.

Although it has the only ice-free harbour in Hebei, Qinhuangdao was just a minor fishing village until the end of the 19th century. Its growth resulted from the development of the Kailuan coal mines, some 75 miles (120 km) to the southwest at Tangshan, in the early 1880s. By the end of the 19th century, much of the production of these mines was transported to other Chinese coastal cities, even as far away as Guangzhou (Canton). At first the coal was shipped through Tanggu, the outport of Tianjin, an inconvenient route, since ships had to be loaded by lighter and the port was icebound in winter. By 1894 the rail link from Tianjin to Shanhaiguan had been completed, and plans had been drawn up to build a modern port at Qinhuangdao, linking it with a short railway to Tanghe on the main line. The government also encouraged the development to provide a winter sea-mail service for Tianjin and Beijing. In 1899–1900 the Kaiping Mining Company began construction of the new port. The work was incomplete when the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 broke out. The Tangshan area was occupied by Russian troops and Qinhuangdao by an international force. The Chinese mine administration was replaced by a British-based company, which completed the harbour and its rail link in 1901. Within two years almost all Kailuan coal was exported through the port rather than through Tianjin. The export trade expanded not only to coastal ports in China but also to the major ports of eastern Asia.

Although the town’s trade remained almost a monopoly of the British company, Qinhuangdao was opened to trade as a treaty port in 1901 and developed a secondary role as a winter port for trade with Tianjin and with Yingkou (now in Liaoning province), when those ports were closed by ice. Between World Wars I and II its trade grew rapidly, partly as the production of coal, coke, and cement at Tangshan increased and partly as it became a major port of entry for Japanese goods into North China, both for legitimate trade and for smuggling. It also began to develop its own industry, particularly glass manufacture. The British installed the largest glassworks in China there in the 1930s; Qinhuangdao has remained a major centre of the glass industry.

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Since 1949 Qinhuangdao’s ice-free port has been put to full use, emerging as one of China’s major seaports. The bulk of its exports include coal, coke, petroleum, and timber. Qinhuangdao handles a large proportion of the country’s total coal and petroleum freightage. In addition to glass manufacture, Qinhunagdao has machine-making, ceramic, power, textile, and food-processing industries. The Beijing-Harbin, Beijing-Qinhuangdao, and Datong-Qinhuangdao railway lines meet at the port city, while the Beijing-Shenyang expressway passes by. West of Qinhuangdao is Beidaihe, a summer resort since the early 20th century, which draws large crowds of visitors each year. Another major tourist attraction is Shanhaiguan Pass, a short distance to the east, which was an important strategic point on the Great Wall in ancient times. Qinhuangdao was selected to host preliminary football (soccer) matches during the 2008 Olympic Games. Pop. (2002 est.) city, 549,118; (2007 est.) urban agglom., 1,003,000.