Within a 16-hour span on July 28, 1976, two major shocks, both magnitude 7 or greater, occurred in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. Tangshan City, which was heavily industrial, was razed to the ground instantly. According to the book "The Shaking of the Earth" published by China's Seismological Press, the earthquake damaged more than 30,000 square kilometers, killing at least 242,769 people, seriously injuring 164,851 people, and causing 5.3 million houses to collapse. However, the exact number of casualties is still subject to debate.

At that time in China, Mao Zedong was critically ill; the Cultural Revolution was unsustainable; and political struggle was fierce. In addition, a decade of turmoil had significantly affected the society as a whole, resulting in slow, low-quality disaster relief efforts. Furthermore, ultra-leftist forces were extremely resistant to foreign influence at the time, so they refused foreign aid on the grounds of "self-reliance". On August 11, the Gang of Four instructed the "People's Daily" newspaper to publish an editorial titled "In-depth Criticism of Deng, Fighting the Earthquake, and Seeking Disaster Relief", which continued to emphasize the importance of class struggle. The article said: "We can't allow disaster relief to dampen criticism of Deng. That a few hundred thousand people died in the Tangshan earthquake is nothing special; criticizing Deng is a matter of concern to 800 million people."

By 1979, the large-scale restoration and construction of Tangshan City was in full swing. Later on, Tangshan City built the Memorial to Fighting the Tangshan Earthquake in 1986, and then the Tangshan Earthquake Memorial Park in 2008.

References: [紐約時報中文網("New York Times Chinese Edition")(Chinese)] (https://cn.nytimes.com/china/20160819/china-quake-aftermath-1976/); "Wikipedia" (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/唐山大地震)