The Tangshan Earthquake Memorial Park stands on the south side of the city, around the remains of a collapsed factory and a memorial wall. The earthquake of 28 July 1976 destroyed most of Tangshan and killed a very large number of people; the official figure is 242,000 dead. The museum and park record the event and the reconstruction, and the preserved ruins are kept as evidence rather than rebuilt.
Before dawn on 28 July 1976 an earthquake of magnitude 7.6 broke directly under Tangshan. In minutes most of the city's buildings were unusable, the mines and railways were damaged, and 242,000 people were dead by the official count. The city was rebuilt, and coal, steel and a port are the result.