The place name Tanggu came from the fact that the place is close to the seaside. Since ancient times, people have called it "Tang'ergu", "Tanggu" and so on. According to legend, there are 72 Tanggu all over Tianjin; "Gu" means a small sea, which is Tianjin's Commonly used characters in place names. Tanggu means: a place near the seaside with many harbors and ponds. There are still a large number of breeding ponds around Tanggu.
Tanggu is located at the intersection of China’s Beijing-Tianjin cities and the Bohai Rim urban belt, and is located in the center of Tianjin Binhai New Area. The region has a total area of ??859 square kilometers and a permanent population of 1.5 million.
Tanggu has a history of more than 800 years. In the eighth year of Qingli reign in the Song Dynasty (AD 1048), the Yellow River changed its course three times and moved northward, entering the sea near Tianjin. The Yellow River has "one stone of water and six buckets of mud" and has an astonishing ability to create land. "Where the turbid water passes, it is a flat land." By the second year of Jianyan of the Southern Song Dynasty (1128 AD), Tanggu land gradually formed. The shell embankments, which reflect the eastward movement of the coastline several times, are evidence that the Tanggu area became land. After Tanggu became a land, people gradually came here to cook salt and fish, and gradually formed villages. The Yuan Dynasty opened up maritime water transportation, and the Yuan government garrisoned troops to guard against water transportation, and the population increased day by day. After Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, established his capital in Dadu (now Beijing), immigration here reached a climax, and Dagu and Beitang became larger villages and towns. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Xietai Yamen was established in Dagu and Tongzhi Yamen was established in Tanggu. Before liberation, Tanggu had never been established independently, and both sides of the Haihe River belonged to different administrative regions. On the eve of liberation, the south bank of Haihe River belonged to Tianjin County, and the north bank of Haihe River belonged to Ninghe County. After liberation, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait merged and established Tanggu District (Tanggu, Dagu) of Tianjin City. In February 1952, it was renamed Tanggu District.