Tongguan Subdistrict

Tongguan is a subdistrict of Wangcheng district, Changsha, China. It is located on the eastern bank of Xiang river, the subdistrict is bordered by Dingziwan subdistrict to the south, Qiaoyi and Chating towns to the east and north, Jinggang Town and Gaotangling subdistrict across the Xiang river to the west. Tongguan has an area of 90.3 km2 with a population of 50 thousand, its administrative centre is at Huacheng village. the subdistrict has five residential communities and nine villages under its jurisdiction. Tongguan is located on the eastern bank of Xiangjiang River in the northern part of Wangcheng District. It has one provincial-level cultural relic protection unit, one municipal-level cultural relic protection unit, four county-level cultural relic protection unit and two county-level cultural relic site. Tongguan has been known as "Town of Ceramics" and "Ancient Tongguan Town".

Tongguan is a national famous tourism town with characteristic landscape published in 2015, also a small town with a particular character of Hunan; it was designated a famous historical and cultural town of Hunan province in 2007.

Early history
Tongguan is an ancient town with a history of over 2,100 years. There was a bridge named Wuchu (吴楚桥) at Shigang (誓港), According to legend, the bridge was at the boundary point of Wu and Chu states in the Warring States period (476–221 BC). The unearthed earthenwares at Mawangdui proved that at latest Tongguan started to produce potteries in the western Han periods  (206 BC–9 AD). The archaeological excavation at Tongguan Kiln Site showed that, the technology of underglazed color figure was originated there in the Tang (618–907 AC) and Five Dynasties periods (907–960 AC). The production of underglaze wares was once prosperous at the later Tang period, and declined in the Five Dynasties periods in the place.



During An Lushan Rebellion (755–763 AC), the Land traffic from the North, Northwest China to the Middle East Arabdom and Persia was blocked, meanwhile the maritime trade was thriving in the South China. As a commercial port and one of pottery industrial centres, early in the Tang dynasty, pottery trade between Tongguan and other areas already began, the place should be also the earliest export trade port in the history of Changsha. A Tang Belitung wreck was discovered by fishermen in 1988 At Belitung island, Indonesia (Gaspar Strait). Radiocarbon dating of the ship's timber produced a relatively wide range date of 710–890 AD for the wreck. the cultural relics was so-called "Tang treasure" in the salvage of the wreck, the majority of that are wares from Changsha produced in kilns in Tongguan, and the text transcript on relics used the calendar era of Tang period (618–907 AC). What above-mentioned is a strong evidence, as once a trade-exported port and centre of pottery production, the place of Tongguan played an important role in the history of China or Hunan.

Subdivision
The Tongguan subdistrict was formed by merging the former Tongguan town (铜官镇), Shutangshan subdistrict (书堂山街道), Guoliang village (郭亮村) of Chating town and a portion of Shenjiaqiao residential community (慎家桥社区) of Dongcheng town on November 19, 2015; there were 10 villages and five residential communities in the subdistrict at that time. Tanzhou residential community was formed by merging Taifeng village (太丰村) and Hongjiazhou residential community (洪家洲社区) on March 23, 2016; the subdistrict has nine villages and five residential communities in 2016.

Unearthed pottery at Tang Belitung wreck
The following are the showpieces of Tang Belitung wreck at Marina Bay Sands museum, Singapore. the showpieces are the unearthed cultural relics from the wreck, the potteries made in Tongguan in Tang period.

Culture
The Tongguan pottery firing technology was selected into the list of state-level intangible cultural heritage.

Attractions
Tongguan Street, Fanjia Kiln of the Tang dynasty (618–907), Waixing Kiln of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Yixing Kiln of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), Du Fu Shoufeng Pavilion, Wuchu Bridge , Dongshan Temple , ancient tomb complex of the Warring States period (475 B.C-221 B.C) and ancient architecture complex of the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1912)  have innumerable links to the ancient marks of Tongguan.