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). 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.Ī 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. 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.
In the 1980s Tonghua had some success with a wine distillery producing sweet, sticky red wines that proved popular with local consumers.
These were ginseng, marten furs and deer antler products. Traditionally, Tonghua occupied a railhub position in a region of China noted for trade in only three agricultural commodities. However, the monsoon still means that more than 60% of the annual precipitation falls from June to August alone. During the warmer months, rainfall is enhanced by the mountainous topography, allowing for a generous annual precipitation total of 870 millimetres (34.3 in). 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 city has a recent record of extreme violence including the Shosankoku incident in 1945, the Tonghua Incident in 1946 and the Tonghua Iron and Steel Group riot in 2009. In 1985, Tonghua became a prefecture-level city under the approval of the State Council. In August 1945 Tonghua briefly served as the temporary capital of Manchukuo, where Puyi claimed to abdicate at the behest of the Kwantung Army.
Under the Japanese occupation of Manchuria after 1932, a railway was constructed linking Tonghua with the main Manchurian rail network and with northern Korea.ĭuring 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. 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. Tonghua was the birthplace of Goguryeo culture and shaman culture. In the Western Han Dynasty, Tonghua belonged to the Liaodong Fourth Commandery ( 遼東四郡). Human settlement in the Tonghua area dates from about 6000 years ago. Map including Tonghua (labeled as T'UNG-HUA 通化) ( AMS, 1955)