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Tianjin Travel Guide

Tianjin Overview

Tianjin is one of the four municipalities directly under the Central Government in China, is located in the northeast of the North China Plain and is the closest seaport to Beijing. The city is one of the biggest industrial and port cities in China and it is also known as 'the diamond of the Bohai Gulf'. Tianjin covers an area of 11,000 square kilometers and has a population in excess of 10 million people.

Historical changes in the past 600 years have made Tianjian a unique city with a mixture of ancient and modern in both Chinese and Western styles. The city has developed a tourism pattern with its downtown area as its main body which is supported by Tanggu and Jixian Counties. In its downtown area there are the Water Amusement Center, Tianhou Palace, Dabei Temple, Muslim Mosque and on its outskirts there are Panshan Mountain, Dule Temple and White Pagoda. Tianjin is regarded as a bright pearl on Beijing-Tianjin itinerary.

Tianjin lies in a temperate zone and it enjoys four distinct seasons a year. The average yearly temperature is only 13C with hot summers (in July the temperature can be higher than 26C) and freezing temperatures in January. The best periods to visit Tianjin are spring and autumn when pleasant temperatures can be expected.

More than 20 varieties of minerals worthy of excavation have been discovered in Tianjin. These include manganese, manganese-boron stone, gold, tungsten, molybdenum, copper, aluminum, zinc, limestone, marble, medical stone, barite, and natural oilstone. Petroleum and natural gas are reserved underground in the plain and the continental framework of the Bohai Sea.

The city is located across the River Haihe, the largest river in north China, which has at its upper reaches more than 300 tributaries of more than 10 km or longer. These tributaries converge into the North Canal, Yongdin River, Daqing River, Ziya River, and South Canal, which, further converge themselves into the Haihe River at Sanchakou near the Jin'gang Bridge of Tianjin. The Haihe, which flows into the Bohai Sea at Dagukou, runs 72 km long with an average width of 100 meter and a depth of 3-5 meter. It used to have 3,000-ton ships navigating on it. Since the project of diverting the water from the Luanhe River to Tianjin was finished in the 1980s, a billion cubic meters of water has been sent to the city every year. The city also has a rich deposit of underground water. In the mountainous area, quality mineral water with low mineral contents oozes from cracks of rocks at a rate of 7.2-14.6 tons per hour, and the flow can reach 720-800 tons per hour during the rainfall reason. There are three large reservoirs with a total capacity of 340 million cubic meters.

In the coastal area, there are a lot of salt- and alkali-resistant plants, such as Chinese ash, Chinese scholar tree, Chinese toon, willow, poplar, and phoenix tree. In recent years, orchards of pear, Chinese date, apricot, peach, grape, and apple have been developed. In the wetlands, there are reeds, calamus, and cultivated water chestnut and lotus root. In the northern mountainous area, there grow Chinese pine, Chinese walnut, walnut, haw, and persimmon. The wild animals are mostly herbivores, such as wild goat, river deer, hedgehog, squirrel and birds. There are about 30 varieties of freshwater fish in ponds and reservoirs, most of which being common carp, snail carp, grass carp, silver carp, and mullet.

Tianjin Facts

Area Code: 022

Zip Code: 300000

Area: Survey on land use conducted in 1990 reveals that Tianjin totals 11919.70 square kilometers in land area, approximately equivalent to 119.2 hectares.

Population: Tianjin has a Population of 11,519,000 (2007).

Geography: Tianjin is located at the lower reaches of the Haihe River, its territory lying on both sides of the river. Besides Haihe, several other rivers also run into the sea through the area, such as the New Ziya River, the Duliujian River, the New Yongding River, the New Chaobai River and Canal Ji. The distance from the city proper to the sea coast is 50 km and that to Beijing is 120 km. It is an important passage by sea to Beijing, having served as an important fort and doorway to Beijing since ancient times. It is also a communication hub linking north China, northeast China and northwest China.

The direct distance from Tianjin to Shenyang in northeast China, to Baotou in northwest China and to Xuzhou and Zhengzhou in the south is less than 600 km. The city boasts the largest man-made harbor in the north; its Tianjin Port is an important passage linking a dozen of provinces and cities in the north with the sea. With more than 30 navigation routes leading to more than 300 international ports, it serves as a major channel linking the continents of Asia and Europe by sea. Tianjin geographical position and strategic importance is unmatchable.

Administrative Division: Tianjin is divided into 16 county-level divisions, including 13 districts and 3 counties. In addition, the Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area (TEDA) is not a formal level of administration, but nevertheless enjoys rights similar to a regular district.

These districts and counties are further subdivided, as of December 31, 2004, into 240 township-level divisions, including 120 towns, 18 townships, 2 ethnic townships and 100 sub districts.

Tianjin Climate & Weather

Tianjin lies 120 kilometres southeast of Beijing; a port city, it is frequently influenced by the weather patterns of the Bohai Sea. Tianjin is a historic city and an important industrial base and trade centre of northern China. In late Winter and early Spring Tianjin is a windy city, so it is no surprise that one of the special celebrations of Tianjin is the two day kite-flying festival held in early April or late September.

The city of Tianjin falls in the temperate zone, enjoying a semi-moist continental climate and experiencing hot Summers and cold Winters. The city's annual average temperature is about 13°C. Like many cities in Northern China, the hottest month is July when the temperature is approximately 34°C, while the coldest month is January with the temperatures below freezing, therefore, the best times to visit Tianjin are Spring and Autumn. The area's annual precipitation is rather low, although the weather is occasionally influenced by monsoon weather patterns in Summer.

Tianjin Culture

Tianjin is a provincial level municipality of China, ranking the third largest urban land area after Beijing and Shanghai. It is the only city in China that has the exact record of city construction. With a history of more than 600 years, Tianjin created a uniquely compatible urban style, Chinese and Western, ancient and modern. Tianjin is a cultural city. in the following, culture of Tianjin will be introduce to you including Tianjin Language, folk customs, worship, etc. These will allow you to know more about this city near Beijing.

Language

People who are from urban Tianjin speak Tianjin dialect, which comes under the Mandarin subdivision of spoken Chinese. Although it is much similar to Beijing dialect, Tianjin dialect sounds quite different from Beijing dialect, which provides the basis for Putonghua, the official spoken language of the People's Republic of China. Tianjin dialect usually sound funny when it is speak by the local people.

Folk Customs

There are a couple of folk customs which are well-known in the whole country. Tianjin is a respected home base of Beijing opera, one of the most prestigious forms of Chinese opera. Some stories about these famous folk customs are even written in the textbooks for students to know.

Xiangsheng
Xiangsheng (相声) is usually known as comic cross talk. Xiangsheng is a hugely popular form of Chinese entertainment, similar to comedy. Tianjin, along with Beijing, is a center for the art of xiangsheng. Xiangsheng is a traditional Chinese comedic performance in the form of a dialogue between two performers, or, much less often, a solo monologue or, even less frequently, a multi-person dialogue. The language, rich in puns and allusions, is delivered in a rapid, bantering style. Crosstalk is one of China's foremost and most popular performing arts

Famous crosstalk comedians in Tianjin include Ma Sanli, Hou Baolin, Ma Yingpei, Ma Ji, Feng Gong, Niu Qun, Guo Degang, Yu Qian and so on. Ma Sanli (马三立) (1914–2003), an ethnic Hui and longtime resident of Tianjin, is renowned for his hilarious Xiangsheng. He delivered some of his Xiangsheng in the Tianjin dialect

Yangliuqing colorful wash painting
Yangliuqing colorful wash painting (Chinese:杨柳青年画) is a kind of popular Chinese New Year-themed and traditional-style folk woodcut painting. Yangliuqing (Green Willows) is a town about 15 km west of Tianjin's urban area and the seat of Tianjin's Xiqing District. It is named after its production place - Yangliuqing Town of Tianjin. It is famous for its popular wash paintings. And this is how this painting got its name. Thanks to its rich themes, elegant patterns and comely color, the Yangliuqing New Year Picture is very popular in many places. One main variety is the chubby and lovely babies with either lotus in their hands or carps in their arms, which symbolizes the auspices.

Zhang's clay figurines
Tianjin is also famous for Zhang's clay figurines (泥人张) which are a type of colorful figurine depicting a variety of vivid characters. It was initiated by Zhang Mingshan (1826-1906), a folk artist of Tianjin, during Daoguang period in Qing Dynasty (1821-1851). Up until now, Clay Figure Zhang has four generations and nearly 180 years of history.

The images of Clay Figure Zhang vary from palace maids in costume, historic figures, religious figures, and modern figures to local customs. It is usually displayed indoor, on the shelf for example, because of its small size (usually 20 cm high).

Wei's kites
Tianjin's Wei's kites (风筝魏), which can be folded to a fraction of their full sizes, are noted for portability. It is a traditional Chinese folk handicraft, originating during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC). Kite Wei developed some 200 kites with many new designs, such as soft-winged, flat hard-winged, three-dimensional and foldaway kites, among which foldaway kite is most noticeable.

Worship

There are five religions which got recognition from the government: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestants. Tianjin has a Roman Catholic Diocese of Tianjin, Buddhist Temple of Great Compassion, a Catholic Our Lady of Victory Church (Wanghailou Church), a Catholic St. Joseph's Cathedral (Laoxikai Church) and a Tianjin Jewish Synagoge.

Tianjin Tours & Tings to Do