 In August 1945 Tonghua briefly served as the temporary capital of Manchukuo, where Puyi claimed to abdicate at the behest of the Kwantung Army.In 1985, Tonghua became a prefecture-level city under the approval of the State Council.The city has a recent record of extreme violence including the in 1945, the Tonghua Incident in 1946 and the Tonghua Iron and Steel Group riot in 2009.