Tongzhou District borders the Beijing districts of Shunyi, Chaoyang and Daxing, Wuqing District of Tianjin Municipality, and Langfang City (both the Sanhe City−Dachang County−Xianghe County exclave and Guangyang District) of Hebei province, and is 12 miles from Tiananmen Square and 10 miles from Beijing Capital International Airport.
In the 1960s, it was developed by breeding Russian Thoroughbred, Akhal-Teke, Sanhe, and Chinese Mongolian, after which Kabarda and Don breeding were introduced into the breed.