Tongzhou District (simplified Chinese: 通州区; traditional Chinese: 通州區; pinyin: Tōngzhōu Qū; Wade–Giles: T'ung1chou1 Ch'ü1, alternate spellings Tungchow Tungchou (T'ung-chou), or Tong County during 1914-1997) is a district of Beijing. It is located in southeast Beijing and considered the eastern gateway to the nation's capital. Downtown Tongzhou itself lies around 20 km east of central Beijing, at the northern end of the Grand Canal (on the junction between the Tonghui Canal and the Northern Canal) and at the easternmost end of Chang'an Avenue. The entire district covers an area of 906 square kilometres (350 sq mi), or 6% of Beijing's total area. It had a population of 673,952 at the 2000 Census, and has seen significant growth and development since then, growing to a population of 1,184,000 at the 2010 Census. The district is subdivided into 4 subdistricts, 10 towns, and 1 ethnic township.