Qinhuangdao, also Ch'in-huang-tao or Chinwangtao, city, northern China, in Hebei Province, a major seaport on the gulf of Bo Hai. Coal from nearby Tangshan in the K'ailuan coalfield and petroleum from the Daqing oil field in the northeast are exported. The port, connected to Daqing by pipeline, is ice-free in winter. In severe winters, when the harbor at Tianjin (Tientsin) freezes, it is an alternate port for Beijing. Glass and chemicals are manufactured. The Great Wall, which stretches about 2400 km (1500 mi) along China's northern border, ends in the east at Qinhuangdao.
Qinhuangdao was a minor fishing village until developed (1899-1903) as a coal port by British mining interests. It was opened as a treaty port in 1907, and its harbor facilities were expanded in the 1970s. Population (1991) 393,914.
