It hosts a large coal and ore discharging port, which forms one of the prime ports of Northern China, namely (from South to North) Tianjin - Jingtang port - Caofeidian - Qinhuangdao - Yingkou - Bayuquan - Dalian).[2] Caofedian and Jingtang ports are often referred together as Tangshan port, though Tangshan is actually a large inland city away from the shore.[3]
The island is 200 km from Beijing, the island spans 60 km2 and is a 2005-listed pilot area for the development of a Recyclable/Circular Economy (Industrial ecology) in China. Huadian Power and PetroChina have some of their energy bases there. The island is expected to have a population of 300,000 by 2010.[4]