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Tianjin is a
direct-administered municipality A direct-administered municipality ( zh, s=直辖市, p=Zhíxiáshì, labels=no, l=; ; commonly known as municipality) is a provincial-level administrative division in China. The municipalities are directly affiliated to the State Council of ...
in
northern China Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions that display certain differences in terms of their geography, demographics, economy, and culture. Extent The Qinling, Qinling–Daba Mountains serve as the transition zone ...
on the shore of the
Bohai Sea The Bohai Sea ( zh, c=渤海, p=Bó Hǎi, l=Bo Sea) is a gulf/inland sea approximately in area on the east coast of Mainland China. It is the northwestern and innermost extension of the Yellow Sea, to which it connects via the Bohai Strait. It ...
. It is one of the nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the
2020 Chinese census The Seventh National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (), also referred to as the 2020 Chinese Census, was the seventh National Population Census of the People's Republic of China, national census conducted by the National Bure ...
. Its
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...
, which is made up of 12 central districts (other than Baodi, Jizhou, Jinghai and Ninghe), was home to 11,165,706 inhabitants and is also the world's 29th-largest agglomeration (between
Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...
and
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
) and 11th- most populous city proper. Tianjin is governed as one of the four municipalities (alongside
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
,
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
, and
Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...
) under the direct administration of the State Council of
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. The city borders
Hebei Province Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
and Beijing Municipality, bounded to the east by the Bohai Gulf portion of the
Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea, also known as the North Sea, is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. Names It is one of four ...
. Part of the Bohai Economic Rim, it is the largest coastal city in Northern China and part of the Jing-Jin-Ji megapolis. In terms of urban population, Tianjin is the seventh largest city in China. In terms of administrative area population, Tianjin ranks fifth in mainland China. The walled city of Tianjin was built in 1404. As a treaty port since 1860, Tianjin has been a seaport and gateway to Beijing. During the
Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...
, the city was the seat of the Tianjin Provisional Government. Under the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
and the Republic of China, Tianjin became one of the largest cities in the region. At that time, European-style buildings and mansions were constructed in concessions, some of which are preserved today. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Tianjin suffered a depression due to the policy of the central government and the
1976 Tangshan earthquake The 1976 Tangshan earthquake () was a 7.6 earthquake that hit the region around Tangshan, Hebei, China, at 3:42 a.m. on 28 July 1976. The maximum intensity of the earthquake was XI (''Extreme'') on the Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli sca ...
; however, it has been recovering since the 1990s. Tianjin is classified as the largest type of port city, a Large-Port
Megacity A megacity is a very large city, typically with a population of more than 10 million people. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in its 2018 "World Urbanization Prospects" report defines megacities as urban a ...
, due to its large urban population and port traffic volume. Tianjin is currently a dual-core city, with its main urban area (including the older part of the city) located along the
Hai River The Hai River (海河, lit. "Sea River"), also known as the Peiho, ("White River"), or Hai Ho, is a Chinese river connecting Beijing to Tianjin and the Bohai Sea. During the Song dynasty, the main stream of the Hai River was called the lowe ...
, which connects to the
Yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In t ...
and
Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...
Rivers via the Grand Canal; and Binhai, an adjacent New Area urban core located east of the older part of the city on the coast of the Bohai. As of the end of 2010, approximately 285
Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...
companies have operated in buildings located in Binhai. Since 2010, Tianjin's Yujiapu Financial District has become known as China's
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
and the city is considered to be one of the world's top 100 cities, including in the
Global Financial Centres Index The Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) ranks the competitiveness of financial centres based on over 29,000 assessments from an online questionnaire and over 100 indices from organisations such as the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co ...
. As of 2024, Tianjin was ranked as a Beta+ (global second tier) city together with Barcelona and Rome by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Tianjin is one of the top 20 cities in the world with the highest scientific research outputs. The city is also home to multiple institutes of higher education in Northern China, including
Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...
Nankai, Tianjin Normal, Tianjin Medical, Tianjin Foreign Studies, Tiangong, Tianjin University of Science & Technology, Tianjin University of Technology, and Hebei University of Technology.


Name

''Tianjin'' is the
pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...
spelling of the
Chinese characters Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...
. The name literally means 'the port of the emperor'. The origin of the name is disputed. One traditional theory says that it was an homage to the Chu
poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...
Qu Yuan, whose " Li Sao" includes the verse "... departing from the Ford of Heaven at dawn ..." (). Another says that it honors the former name of the
Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. While the term ''girl'' has other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.com, "Girl"'' Retrieved January 2, 2008. '' daughter'' or '' girlfriend'' regardless of age ...
, a Chinese constellation recorded under the name ''Tianjin'' in the Astronomical Record section of the Book of Sui. A third says that it derives from a place name noted in the River Record of the History of Jin. The most common theory says that it was bestowed by the
Yongle Emperor The Yongle Emperor (2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Chengzu of Ming, personal name Zhu Di, was the third List of emperors of the Ming dynasty, emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 142 ...
of the Ming, who crossed Tianjin's Gu River on his way south to overthrow his nephew, the Jianwen Emperor. Prior to the introduction of pinyin, the city's name was historically romanized as in the
Chinese postal romanization Postal romanization was a system of transliterating place names in China developed by postal authorities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For many cities, the corresponding postal romanization was the most common English-language for ...
. The current English spelling of Tianjin was adopted in 1958, after pinyin was introduced by the PRC government. Several countries, international organizations and media outlets have adopted the pinyin name since 1979. The Government of the Republic of China (ROC) has continued to use the postal and Wade–Giles spelling since the adoption of pinyin by the ROC government in 2009.


History


Early history

The land where Tianjin is now located was created in between 900 and 1300 CE by the sediments of rivers entering the sea at the Bohai Gulf, including the Yellow River, which entered the open sea in the area at one time. The construction of the Grand Canal under the
Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty ( ) was a short-lived Dynasties of China, Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 581 to 618. The re-unification of China proper under the Sui brought the Northern and Southern dynasties era to a close, ending a prolonged peri ...
helped the future development of Tianjin, as the canal ran from
Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...
to the
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
and Tianjin region by 609 CE. Grain from southern China was regularly transported to the north through the canal and was used during the subsequent dynasties. Tianjin began to be increasingly mentioned in records during the
Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...
and gained importance during the
Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...
. Tianjin experienced development under the Yuan and became a location for the storage of goods and grains. Tianjin became a garrison town and shipping station during the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
; it was a center of commerce by the 17th century.


Qing dynasty

During the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
(16441911), the Tianjin
Prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...
, or ''Zhou'' (), was established in 1725, and Tianjin County was established within the prefecture in 1731. Later, it became an urban prefecture or ''Fu'' (), before becoming a relay station () under the command of the
Viceroy of Zhili The Viceroy of Zhili, officially in Chinese as the Governor-General of the Directly Subordinate Province and Other Local Areas, in Charge of Military Affairs, Food and Wages, Management of Rivers and Governor Affairs, was one of eight regional ...
.


Opening up as a treaty port

In 1856, Chinese soldiers boarded ''The Arrow'', a Chinese-owned ship registered in Hong Kong that flew the British flag and which was suspected of piracy, smuggling, and involvement in the opium trade. The soldiers captured twelve men and imprisoned them. In response, the British and French sent gunboats under the command of Admiral Sir Michael Seymour to capture the Taku forts near Tianjin in May 1858. At the end of the first part of the
Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War or ''Arrow'' War, was fought between the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the United States against the Qing dynasty of China between 1856 and 1860. It was the second major ...
in June of the same year, the British and French prevailed, and the
Treaty of Tientsin The Treaty of Tientsin, also known as the Treaty of Tianjin, is a collective name for several Unequal treaty, unequal treaties signed at Tianjin (then Postal Map Romanization, romanized as Tientsin) in June 1858. The Qing Empire, Qing dynasty, ...
was signed, which opened Tianjin (Tientsin) to foreign trade. The treaties were ratified by the Xianfeng Emperor in 1860, so Tianjin was formally opened to Great Britain and France and thus to the outside world. Between 1895 and 1900, Britain and France were joined by Japan, Germany and
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, and some countries without Chinese concessions, such as
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
, Italy and
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
, in establishing self-contained concessions in Tianjin, each with its own prisons, schools, barracks and hospitals. These nations left architectural reminders of their rule, which include churches and thousands of villas. The presence of foreign influence in Tianjin was not always peaceful; one violent incident was that of the Tianjin Church Massacre. In June 1870, the orphanage held by the Wanghailou Church (translated as Church Our Lady's Victories) in Tianjin, which built by French Roman Catholic missionaries, was accused of kidnapping and brainwashing Chinese children. On June 21, the
magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...
of Tianjin County initiated a conflict at the church that developed into violent clashes between the church's Christian supporters and some non-Christian Tianjin residents. The protesters eventually burned down Wanghailou Church and the nearby French consulate, killing eighteen foreigners, including ten French nuns, the French consul, and merchants. France and six other Western nations complained to the Qing government, which was forced to pay compensation for the incident. In 1885, Li Hongzhang founded the Tianjin Military Academy ( zh, labels=no, t=天津武備學堂) for Chinese army officers with German advisors as a part of his military reforms. The academy's founding was supported by the Anhui Army commander Zhou Shengchuan. The academy was to serve the Anhui Army and the Green Standard Army officers. The instructors were German officers. In 1887, the academy started a program to train teenagers to become army officers; the program continued for five years. Practical and technical subjects including sciences, foreign languages, Chinese literature, mathematics, and history were taught at the school and exams were administered to students. The lessons taught at the Tianjin Military Academy were copied for the Weihaiwei and Shanhaiguan military schools. A maritime defense fund supplied the budget for the Tianjin Military Academy, which was located in the same area as the Tianjin Naval Academy. In 1886, the Tianjin Military Academy adopted ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' () is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 AD and ...
'' as part of its curriculum. Among its alumni were
Wang Yingkai Wang Yingkai (; 1861–1908), whose courtesy name was Shaochen (), was a Chinese general in the Beiyang Army and Royal and noble ranks of the Qing dynasty, first rank official of the Qing dynasty, late Qing dynasty, who served as the vice preside ...
and Duan Qirui; its staff included Yinchang. In June 1900, the Boxers were able to seize control of parts of Tianjin. On June 26, European defense forces heading towards Beijing were stopped by Boxers at nearby
Langfang Langfang is a prefecture-level city of Hebei Province of China, Province, China, and was known as Tianjin Prefecture until 1973. It was renamed Langfang Prefecture after Tianjin became a Direct-controlled municipalities of China, municipality ...
; they were defeated and forced to turn back to Tianjin. The foreign concessions were also under siege for several weeks. In July 1900, the Eight-Nation Alliance recaptured Tianjin. This alliance soon established the Tianjin Provisional Government, which was composed of representatives from each of the occupying forces (Russia, Britain, Japan, Germany, France, America, Austro-Hungary, and Italy). The city was governed by this council until August 15, 1902, when the city was returned to Qing control. Qing General
Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 18596 June 1916) was a Chinese general and statesman who served as the second provisional president and the first official president of the Republic of China, head of the Beiyang government from 1912 to 1916 and ...
led efforts to transform Tianjin into a modern city, establishing the first modern Chinese police force. In 1907, Yuan supervised China's first modern democratic elections for a county council. Western nations were permitted to garrison the area to ensure open access to Beijing. The British maintained a brigade of two battalions in Tianjin, and the Italians, French, Japanese, Germans, Russians, and Austro-Hungarians maintained their forces using strength regiments; the United States did not initially participate. During
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, the German and Austro-Hungarian garrisons were captured as
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
by Allied Forces; meanwhile, in 1918, the Bolshevik government withdrew the Russian garrison. In 1920, the remaining participating nations asked the United States to join them, and the US then sent the 15th Infantry Regiment, minus one battalion, to Tianjin from the Philippines. Because of the development of industry, commerce and finance in the city, Tianjin was established as a
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...
of China in 1927. From 1930 to 1935, Tianjin was the provincial capital of
Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
; afterwards, it was reestablished as an independent municipality. Garrison duty was highly regarded by the troops. General George C. Marshall, the "architect of victory" in World War II, during which he was the
Chief of Staff of the United States Army The chief of staff of the Army (CSA) is a statutory position in the United States Army held by a general officer. As the highest-ranking officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, the chief is the principal military advisor and a ...
, served in Tianjin in the 1920s as the Executive Officer of the 15th Infantry. The US withdrew the infantry unit in 1938, but the nation's presence was maintained by the dispatch of a small US Marine Corps unit from the Embassy Guard at Beijing.


Second Sino-Japanese War

On July 30, 1937, during the
Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...
, Tianjin fell to Japan, but was not entirely occupied, as the Japanese generally respected foreign concessions until 1941, when American and British concessions were occupied. In the summer of 1939, the Tientsin Incident damaged Anglo-Japanese relations. On June 14, 1939, the
Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...
surrounded and blockaded a British concession due to the refusal of British authorities to transfer six Chinese people, who had assassinated a Japanese collaborator and taken refuge in the British concession, to be under Japan's authority. For a time, the events of 1939 appeared likely to cause an Anglo-Japanese war, especially when reports of the Japanese Army mistreating British subjects wishing to leave or enter the concession appeared in British newspapers. The situation ended when British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from ...
was advised by the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
and the Foreign Office that the only way to force the Japanese to lift the blockade was to send the main British battle fleet to Far Eastern waters, and that given the situation in Europe, it would be inappropriate to send the British fleet out of European waters, thus leading the British to finally turn over the six Chinese people, who were then executed by the Japanese. During the Japanese occupation, Tianjin was ruled by the North China Executive Committee, a
puppet state A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its ord ...
based in Beijing. On August 9, 1940, all of the British troops in Tianjin were ordered to withdraw. On November 14, 1941, the American Marine unit stationed in Tianjin was ordered to leave, but before it left, the Japanese attacked the United States. The American Marine detachment surrendered to the Japanese on December 8, 1941. Only the Italian and French concessions (the local French officials were loyal to Vichy) were allowed by the Japanese to remain. When Italy signed an
armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...
with the Allies in September 1943, Japanese troops took the Italian concession, following a battle with its garrison, and the
Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic (, ; RSI; , ), known prior to December 1943 as the National Republican State of Italy (; SNRI), but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò (, ), was a List of World War II puppet states#Germany, German puppe ...
formally ceded the concession to Wang Jingwei's Japan-controlled
puppet state A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its ord ...
. Japanese occupation of the city lasted until August 15, 1945, with the surrender of Japan marking the end of World War II.


After World War II

In the Pingjin Campaign of the Chinese Civil War, the city was captured after 29 hours of fighting. The
Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
(CCP) took Tianjin on January 15, 1949. From 1949 to February 1958, Tianjin was a municipality directly under the control of the central government. In October 1952, Tanggu New Port officially opened its doors, and the first 10,000-ton ferry arrived at Newport Pier. In February 1958, due to the "Great Leap Forward" and the city's industrial foundation, Tianjin was incorporated into
Hebei Province Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
, the capital of which was relocated to Tianjin for eight years. During the period, under the coordination of the State Council, the city of Tianjin implemented a separate policy for central planning, which was independent of Hebei Province. However, a number of factories and colleges in Tianjin moved to Hebei, hindering Tianjin's economic development. In January 1967, due to preparation and concerns that Tianjin would become a battlefield, Hebei Province repatriated its provincial capital to Baoding, and the CCP Central Committee decided that Tianjin should be restored to the central municipality and remain so. In April 1970, since the central government had applied for funding for the construction of the subway, the Tianjin Municipal Government decided to raise funds on its own to establish the project using the name of the channel and by build it on the basis of the old walled river. In July 1973, five counties, including Jixian, Baodi, Wuqing, Jinghai, and Ninghe, were formally placed under the jurisdiction of Tianjin. On July 28, 1976, during the 7.6 magnitude Tangshan Earthquake, Tianjin was affected by shock waves and experienced a loss of life. In the city, 24,345 people died and 21,497 were seriously injured. 60% of the city's buildings were destroyed and more than 30% of the enterprises and Peking Port Reservoir and Yuqiao Reservoir were seriously damaged. Nearly 700,000 people were left homeless. On October 10 of the same year, the Tianjin Underground Railway was opened to traffic. In 1981, Miyun Reservoir was built on the upper reaches of the Hai River; it is now used to supply water for Beijing; however; the reservoir stopped the river from supplying water to Tianjin, resulting in difficulty with water usage in the city. As a result, during 1976, the
State Council of the People's Republic of China The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and national cabinet. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the e ...
decided to initiate a project to solve the problem of water usage in Tianjin by attracting individuals to the city's academic centers. In 1984, during the beginning of the Chinese government's economic reforms, Tianjin was listed as one of the 14 coastal open cities by the State Council and the Tianjin Development Zone's economy began to develop. However, the overall speed of development in Tianjin is still slower than that of
special economic zone A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within a country's national borders, and their aims include increasing trade balance, employment, increas ...
s and that of other southeast coastal areas. In 1994, Tianjin began its industrial shift towards the east and developed the Binhai New Area, with the Tianjin Port as its core. In October 2005, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 16th CCP Central Committee convened; its meeting decided to incorporate the development and opening of the Binhai New Area into its Eleventh Five-Year Plan and the national development strategy. In March 2006, the State Council executive meeting positioned Tianjin as an "international port city, a northern economic center, and an ecological city." Since then, the dispute between the Beijing-Tianjin economic center at the policy level has come to an end. In May 2006, the State Council approved the Binhai New Area as a national integrated reform pilot area. In June of the same year, the State Council's Opinions on Promoting the Development and Opening of the Tianjin Binhai New Area were announced; they stated the following: "In financial enterprises, financial services, financial markets, and finance Major reforms such as opening up can, in principle, be scheduled to precede the Tianjin Binhai New Area." In August 2008, China's first
high-speed railway High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...
, the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway, which has a speed of 350 kilometers per hour, was opened. In August 2008, Tianjin was the co-host city of the 29th Olympic Games. In September 2008, the Annual Meeting of the New Champions of
World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...
(also called Summer Davos) began to be established in Tianjin; it is now held every two years. In October 2010, the UN Climate Change Conference convened in Tianjin. In 2012, the
Tianjin Metro The Tianjin Metro or Tianjin Rail Transit is the rapid transit system in the city of Tianjin, which was the second city in mainland China after Beijing to operate a subway system (the Beijing Subway opened in 1971). First opened in 1984, the ...
Lines 2, 3, and 9 were completed and open to traffic, and Tianjin Rail Transit was formally networked. In October 2013, Tianjin hosted an international comprehensive event for the first time by hosting the East Asian Games. In 2014, the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei was officially incorporated into the national strategy; Tianjin was positioned as the National Advanced Manufacturing R&D Base, Northern International Shipping Core Area, Financial Innovation Operation Demonstration Area, and Reform and Opening-up Preceding Area. In the same year, the first phase of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project was completed, so water availability in Tianjin increased. On February 26, 2015, the Tianjin National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone was formally established. On April 21, the China (Tianjin) Free Trade Pilot Zone was also formally established. On April 27, Jincheng Bank, the first private bank in northern China, officially opened its doors. On August 12, 2015, a fire and explosion occurred in a
chemical A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...
warehouse in Tianjin Port, causing 173 deaths, hundreds of injuries, and property losses.The cost to businesses caused by the explosion was estimated to be $9 billion, making it the most expensive supply chain disruption of 2015. Tianjin will host the SCO Tianjin Summit 2025.


Geography

Tianjin is located on the west coast of the Bohai Gulf; the provinces of
Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...
and
Liaoning ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...
are located across those waters. The city is bordered by
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
, which is to the northwest. Tianjin is surrounded on all sides by
Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
, with the exception of its eastern border, which is the
Bohai Sea The Bohai Sea ( zh, c=渤海, p=Bó Hǎi, l=Bo Sea) is a gulf/inland sea approximately in area on the east coast of Mainland China. It is the northwestern and innermost extension of the Yellow Sea, to which it connects via the Bohai Strait. It ...
. With a latitude ranging from 38° 34' to 40° 15' N and a longitude ranging from 116° 43' to 118° 04' E, the total area of the city is . The city has of coastline and of land border. It is located at the northern end of the Grand Canal of China, which connects with the
Yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In t ...
and
Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...
s. The municipality is generally flat and is swampy near the coast; however, it has hills in the north, where the
Yan Mountains The Yan Mountains, also known by their Chinese name Yanshan, are a major mountain range to the north of the North China Plain, principally in the province of Hebei. The range rises between the Chaobai River on the west and the Shanhai Pass on ...
enter Tianjin. Tidal flats occur on the coastal plain adjacent to the city. The highest point in the municipality is Jiuding Peak () in Ji County on the northern border with Hebei; the mountain has an altitude of . In the Tianjin Municipality, the
Hai River The Hai River (海河, lit. "Sea River"), also known as the Peiho, ("White River"), or Hai Ho, is a Chinese river connecting Beijing to Tianjin and the Bohai Sea. During the Song dynasty, the main stream of the Hai River was called the lowe ...
forms at the confluence of the Ziya River (), Daqing River (), Yongding River, North Grand Canal, and South Grand Canal; it enters the Pacific Ocean within the municipality as well as in
Tanggu District Tanggu District () was a district in the Tianjin municipality, now part of the Binhai New Area. It is on the Hai River where it enters the Bohai Sea, and is a port for Tianjin, which is about upriver. The Tianjin Economic-Technological De ...
. Reservoirs include the
Beidagang Reservoir Beidagang Reservoir is a large reservoir in southern Tianjin built between 1974 and 1980. It is the only large reservoir on the route of the Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and t ...
in the south (in
Dagang District Dagang District () was a former district of Tianjin, located at the city's southeast. It had a population of 440,000 and occupied in size, with a coast line stretching approximately on the eastern side. Established in 1979, Dagang has develop ...
) and the Yuqiao Reservoir in the north in Ji County.


Climate

Tianjin has a
semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...
(using the
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
system, the city has a ''BSk'' climate bordering on ''Dwa'' and ''Cwa''). As in other areas of East Asia, the city has a four-season,
monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...
-influenced climate; it also has cold, windy, and dry winters due to the Siberian anticyclone and hot, humid summers due to the monsoon season. Spring in the city is dry and windy; the season sometimes consists of sandstorms blowing in from the
Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...
, which are capable of lasting for several days. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in July, with an annual mean of . Extreme temperatures in the city at the main weather station in Xiqing District have ranged from to . With the monthly percentage of the possible amount of sunshine ranging from 45% in July to 61% in March and April, the city receives 2,460 hours of sunshine annually. Having an annual total precipitation of , with nearly three-fifths of it occurring in July and August alone, the city lies within the
semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a aridity, dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below Evapotranspiration#Potential evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, but not as l ...
climate zone, although parts of the municipality are humid continental (
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
''BSk''/''Dwa'', respectively).


Measures to improve air quality

In May 2014, the city's administration enacted new laws in an attempt to lower the city's pollution levels. These measures included several methods to restrict pollution on days when is severe, such as by halving the number of vehicles allowed on roads, halting construction and manufacturing activity, closing schools, and halting large-scale outdoor activities. In the past, flights have also been grounded and highways have been closed. Foreign-born professional sportsmen have made statements regarding Tianjin's air quality, citing it as an impediment to athletic activity and being thick enough to "taste".


Administrative divisions

Tianjin is divided into 16
county-level division The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since 1412, due to mainland China's large population and geographical area. In the People's Republic of China, the constitution provides for three levels of government. Ho ...
s, which are all
districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...
. The Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area (TEDA) is not a formal level of administration, but has rights similar to those of a regular district. At the end of 2017, the total population of Tianjin was 15.57 millio

As of December 31, 2004, these districts and counties have been further subdivided into 240 Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China#Township level, township-level divisions, including 120
towns A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
, 18 townships, 2 ethnic townships and 100
subdistrict A subdistrict or sub-district is an administrative division that is generally smaller than a district. Equivalents * Administrative posts of East Timor, formerly Portuguese-language * Kelurahan, in Indonesia * Mukim, a township in Brunei, Ind ...
s.


Politics

Like all governing institutions in mainland China, Tianjin has a parallel party-government system, in which the CCP Tianjin Municipal Committee Secretary outranks the
Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
. The CCP Tianjin Municipal Committee acts as the top policy-formulation body, and has control over the Tianjin Municipal People's Government.


Economy

Tianjin's gross domestic product (GDP) reached 1.572 trillion yuan in 2014, an increase of 10.0 percent over its GDP in 2013. The city of Tianjin had China's highest per-capita GDP of $17,126, followed by Beijing with $16,278 and Shanghai with $15,847. Industries include
petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable s ...
industries, textiles, car manufacturing, mechanical industries, and
metalworking Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals in order to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term, it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on e ...
.
EADS Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate defence and space and helicopter divisions. Airbus has long been th ...
Airbus is one of the manufacturers in the city, and has opened an assembly plant for its Airbus A320 series airliners; the plant has been operational since 2009. As of 2010, the fastest supercomputer in the world, Tianhe-1A, has been located at the National Supercomputing Center of Tianjin. The city's GDP in 2009 was ¥750.1 billion, with a GDP per capita of RMB ¥62,403.


Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area

As one of the first state-level economic and technological development zones, the
Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (), commonly abbreviated as TEDA () is the main free market zone in Binhai, Tianjin, China. It was formed in late 1984. History The area was created in late 1984. Since 1997, the Ministry of C ...
(TEDA) was founded on December 6, 1984, with the approval of the State Council. It is given state preferential policies with the task of attracting domestic and foreign investment to develop new technology-oriented modern industries. As an affiliated organization of the Tianjin Municipal Government, the Administrative Commission of Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area exercises unified administration of TEDA on behalf of the Tianjin Municipal Government and has provincial-level administrative and economic management rights.


Tianjin Export Processing Zone

The Tianjin Export Processing Zone is one of the first 15 export processing zones approved by the State Council, having been approved on April 27, 2000. This area is a special enclosed zone. where Customs officials conduct constant administration for commodities transported into and out of the zone. The central government granted the special economic zone preferential policies to attract enterprises in the business of processing and trade to invest in the zone. The Tianjin Export Processing Zone is located to the northeast of TEDA and has a planned area of . The area developed in the first phase is wide. A permanent wall is built to separate the export processing and non-export processing zones.


Tianjin Airport Economic Area

The Tianjin Airport International Logistics Zone is jointly invested by the Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone and Tianjin Binhai International Airport. It is located inside the airfreight area of Tianjin Binhai International Airport. It has domestic and foreign airfreight logistics enterprises engaged in sorting, warehousing, distribution, processing, and exhibition. It is in the process of constructing the largest airfreight base in northern China.


Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone

The Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone is the only free trade zone in northern China. The zone was approved for establishment in 1991 by State Council. It is from Tianjin city proper, less than away from the wharf, and away from Tianjin Binhai International Airport.


Tianjin Tanggu National Marine High-Tech Development Area

The Tianjin Tanggu Marine High-Tech Development Area was established in 1992 and was upgraded to the national-level high-tech development area by the State Council in 1995. It is the only national-level high-tech development area specializing in developing the marine technology industry. By the end of 2008, the zone had 2,068 corporations and 5 industries there, including those for new materials, oil manufacturing, modern machinery manufacturing, and electronic information.


Tianjin Nangang Industrial Zone

The Tianjin Nangang Industrial Zone is a heavy and chemical industry base and harbor, a part of the"dual-city, dual-harbor" space development strategy of Tianjin, and a zone with a
circular economy A circular economy (also referred to as circularity or CE) is a model of resource Production (economics), production and Resource consumption, consumption in any economy that involves sharing, leasing, Reuse, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and ...
. The total planned area of Nangang Industrial Zone is , of which the terrestrial area is .


Agriculture

Farmland takes up about 40% of Tianjin Municipality's total area. Wheat, rice, and maize are the most economically important crops.


Resources

Geothermal energy Geothermal energy is thermal energy extracted from the crust (geology), crust. It combines energy from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay. Geothermal energy has been exploited as a source of heat and/or electric power for m ...
is another resource of Tianjin. Deposits of
manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...
and
boron Boron is a chemical element; it has symbol B and atomic number 5. In its crystalline form it is a brittle, dark, lustrous metalloid; in its amorphous form it is a brown powder. As the lightest element of the boron group it has three ...
under Tianjin were the first to be found in China.


Utilities and services


Tianjin Electric Power Utility
constructs, delivers and maintains electrical power services.


Binhai New Area

The Tianjin Binhai New Area (TBNA) is located at the juncture of the Beijing-Tianjin City Belt and the Circum-Bohai City Belt. It is the gateway to North China, Northeast China, and Northwest China. Lying in the center of Northeast Asia, it is the nearest point of departure of the Eurasian Continental Bridge.


Demographics

At the end of 2009, the population of Tianjin Municipality was 12.28 million, of which 9.8 million owned and lived in Tianjin ''
hukou ''Hukou'' ( zh, c=户口, l=household individual) is a system of household registration used in the People's Republic of China. The system itself is more properly called ''huji'' ( zh, c=户籍, l=household origin), and has origins in Histo ...
'' (permanent residences). Among permanent residents of Tianjin, 5.99 million lived in urban areas, while 3.81 million lived in rural ones. Tianjin has recently shifted to population growth; its population had reached 14.72 million as of the end of 2013. The encompassing
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...
was estimated by the
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...
(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) to have, , a population of 15.4 million.Linked from the OEC
here
The majority of Tianjin residents are
Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...
. People from 51 out of the 55 minor Chinese ethnic groups live in Tianjin.
Minorities The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...
with higher populations in the city include Hui, Korean,
Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...
, and
Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...
people. The graph above excludes members of the
People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...
in active service.


Media

Tianjin People's Broadcasting Station is a radio station in Tianjin. Broadcasting for nine channels, it serves most of North China, as well as a part of
East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...
and Northeast China, reaching an audience of over 100 million. Tianjin Television, the local television station, broadcasts on nine channels. It also has a paid
digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...
channel, which features
home improvement The concept of home improvement, home renovation or remodeling is the process of renovating, making improvements or making additions to one's home. Home improvement can consist of projects that upgrade an existing home interior (such as electr ...
programs. Both the radio and television stations are now branches of the Tianjin Film, Radio and Television Group, which was established in October 2002. Local newspapers include the Tianjin Daily and Jin Wan Bao (), which are the flagship papers of Tianjin Daily Newspaper Group and Jinwan Mass Media Group, respectively. There are also three English-language magazines: ''Jin'', ''Tianjin Plus'' and ''Business Tianjin'', which are mainly directed at expats resident in the city.


Previous newspapers

The first German newspaper in northern China, ''Tageblatt für Nordchina'' (also spelled as ''Tageblatt für Nord China''), was published in Tianjin, which was known as ''Tientsin'' at the time.Walravens, p
90
.
In 1912, Tianjin had 17 Chinese-language newspapers and five daily newspapers in other languages. None of the newspapers in the Tianjin district were trade papers. Of the foreign language newspapers, three were in English; the other two were in French and German, respectively. Newspapers from Tianjin published in the city included ''China Critic'', ''Peking and Tientsin Times'', ''The China Times'', United States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce
p. 187
.
''Tageblatt für Nordchina'', ''L'Écho de Tientsin'', ''China Tribune'', '' Ta Kung Pao'' (L'Impartial), ''Min Hsing Pao'', and ''Jih Jih Shin Wen Pao'' (Tsientsin Daily News). United States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce
p. 188
.
Newspapers from
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
published in Tianjin included ''Pei Ching Jih Pao'', ''Peking Daily News'', and ''Le Journal de Peking''. In 1930, the newspaper ''Deutsch-Mandschurische Nachrichten'' moved from
Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...
to Tianjin and changed its name to the ''Deutsch-Chinesische Nachrichten''.Walravens, p
91
.


Censorship capital

China's leading Internet information providers (which are usually located in Beijing), including social networks
Sina Weibo Weibo (), or Sina Weibo (), is a Chinese microblogging ( weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily ...
and
Douban Douban.com (), launched on 6 March 2005, is a Chinese online database and social networking service that allows registered users to record information and create content related to film, books, music, recent events, and activities in Chinese ci ...
, as well as the online video website
Sohu Sohu, Inc. () is a Chinese Internet company headquartered in the Sohu Internet Plaza in Haidian District, Beijing. Sohu and its subsidiaries offer advertising, a search engine (Sogou.com), on-line multiplayer gaming (ChangYou.com) and other se ...
, have been increasingly relocating their censorship departments to Tianjin, where labor costs are cheaper than in Beijing, as censorship is a type of labor-intensive work. In fact, Tianjin is considered to have become the censorship capitol for Chinese Internet.


Tourism

The city's streetscapes incorporate nineteenth and early twentieth-century
European architecture The history of architecture traces the changes in architecture through various traditions, regions, overarching stylistic trends, and dates. The beginnings of all these traditions is thought to be humans satisfying the very basic need of shelt ...
, juxtaposed with the concrete and glass monoliths of contemporary China. Though areas of the city are being redeveloped, much of the colonial architecture has been placed under protection. In the nineteenth century, the port city caught the attention of the seafaring Western powers, who used the boarding of a British ship by Chinese troops as an excuse to declare war. Using armed gunboats, they were victorious; the Treaty of Tianjin, signed in 1856, gave the Europeans the right to establish nine concessionary bases on the mainland, from which they could conduct trade and sell opium. These concessions, which were along the banks of the
Hai River The Hai River (海河, lit. "Sea River"), also known as the Peiho, ("White River"), or Hai Ho, is a Chinese river connecting Beijing to Tianjin and the Bohai Sea. During the Song dynasty, the main stream of the Hai River was called the lowe ...
, were self-contained European communities; the French built
château A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...
x and towers, while the Germans constructed red-tiled Bavarian villas. Tensions between the indigenous population and the foreigners were noticeable in the Tianjin Incident of 1870, which occurred when a Chinese mob attacked a French-run orphanage, and again during the
Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...
in 1900, after which foreigners leveled the walls surrounding the old Chinese city to enable them to watch its residents. The old city was razed entirely during 2000 and 2001 to make way for new developments. Only several old buildings, such as the Tianjin Temple of Confucius, remain. The network of ex-concession streets south and west of the central train station and south of the Hai River now constitute the areas of most interest to visitors. The châteaux of the French concession now make up the downtown district just south of the river and mansions that the British built are east of the area. Farther east and south of the river, the architecture has a slight German construction.


Landmarks and attractions

* Astor Hotel * Ritz-Carlton, Tianjin * Binjiang Avenue shopping street * Dabei Monastery * Drum Tower * Five Main Avenues * Former Concessions in Tianjin ** Tianjin Italian Style Town *
Goldin Finance 117 Goldin Finance 117, also known as China 117 Tower (Simplified Chinese characters, Chinese: 中国117大厦), is an under construction supertall skyscraper in Xiqing District, Tianjin, China. The tower was topped out in 2015 at a height of 597 m (1 ...
* Hai River Park * Luzutang
Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...
Museum * Memorial Hall dedicated to
Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai ( zh, s=周恩来, p=Zhōu Ēnlái, w=Chou1 Ên1-lai2; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China from September 1954 unti ...
and Deng Yingchao * Nanshi Cuisine Street * People's Park * St. Joseph's Cathedral of Tianjin * Temple of Confucius Wen Miao * Temple of Great Compassion * Century Clock * Tianjin Ancient Culture Street ** Yuhuangge Taoist Temple * Tianjin Eye * Tianjin Museum * Tianjin Library * Tianjin Binhai Library * Tianjin Art Gallery * Tianjin Natural History Museum * Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium (also known as "The Water Drop") * Tianjin Radio and Television Tower * Tianjin Water Park * Tianjin World Financial Center * Tianjin Zoo * Yangliuqing (including Shi Family Grand Courtyard) * Porcelain House * Nankai University * Nankai Middle School * Tianjin University Sights outside the old city urban core area, but within the municipality (including Binhai/ TEDA), consist of the following: * Huangya Pass, a section of the
Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' long wall") is a series of fortifications in China. They were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against vario ...
* Mount Panshan * Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city *
Soviet Aircraft Carrier Kiev ''Kiev'' () is an aircraft carrier (heavy aircraft cruiser in Russian classification) that served the Soviet Navy and the Russian Navy from 1975 to 1993. She was built between 1970 and 1975 at Chernomorski factory in Mykolaiv and was the first ...
* Taku Forts * TEDA Football Stadium, home stadium of Chinese Super League team Tianjin Jinmen Tiger


Culture

People from Tianjin speak the Tianjin dialect of
Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
, from which it is derived. Despite its proximity to Beijing, the Tianjin dialect sounds different from the
Beijing dialect The Beijing dialect ( zh, s=北京话, t=北京話, p=Běijīnghuà), also known as Pekingese and Beijingese, is the prestige dialect of Mandarin spoken in the urban area of Beijing, China. It is the phonological basis of Standard Chinese, the ...
, which provides the basis for Putonghua (Standard Chinese). Tianjin is considered to be a "home base" of Beijing opera, which is a form of
Chinese opera Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...
. Tianjin is known for its stand-up comedy and comedians, including Guo Degang and Ma Sanli. Ma Sanli (1914–2003), an ethnic Hui person and longtime resident of Tianjin, was known for his '' xiangsheng'', a form of Chinese entertainment akin to stand-up comedy. Ma Sanli delivered some of his ''xiangsheng'' in the Tianjin dialect. Tianjin, along with Beijing, is a center for the art of ''xiangsheng''. Tianjin's general style of stand-up also includes the use of rhythmic bamboo clappers (''kuaiban''). Yangliuqing (), a town about west of Tianjin's urban area and the seat of
Xiqing District Xiqing District () is a district in Tianjin, People's Republic of China. History The current Xiqing area came into existence in the mid and late Tang dynasty. In Northern Song (Song dynasty) period, this area was the border of Song and Liao (Liao ...
, is known for its
Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...
-themed, traditional, and colorful wash paintings (). Tianjin is also known for the Zhang clay figurine, a type of colorful figurine depicting a variety of characters, and Tianjin's Wei's kites, which can be folded to a fraction of their full sizes and are noted for portability. On September 28, 2015, the
Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...
in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
announced an expansion into Tianjin during a visit by China's first lady, Peng Liyuan. At the time, the school had plans to offer a
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
program. The visit was the institution's first full-scale foray outside the United States.


Cuisine

Tianjin cuisine places a focus on seafood, due to Tianjin's proximity to the sea. It can be further classified into several varieties, including rough ( zh, s=粗, hp=cū, links=no), smooth ( zh, s=细, t=細, hp=xì, links=no), and high ( zh, s=高, hp=gāo, links=no) cuisine. Menu options include the Eight Great Bowls ( zh, s=八大碗, hp=Bādà wǎn, links=no), a combination of eight main meat dishes, and the Four Great Stews ( zh, s=四大扒, hp=sì dà bā, links=no), which actually refers to a large number of stews, which may include chicken, duck, seafood, beef, and mutton. The four foods that are considered to be delicacies of Tianjin include Goubuli
baozi Baozi (), or simply bao, is a type of yeast-leavened filled bun in various Chinese cuisines. There are many variations in fillings (meat or vegetarian) and preparations, though the buns are most often steaming, steamed. They are a variation of ...
, Guifaxiang Shibajie Mahua ( zh, s=十八街麻花, hp=shíbā jiē máhuā, links=no), Erduoyan Zhagao ( zh, s=耳朵眼炸糕, hp=erduoyǎn zhà gāo, links=no) and Maobuwen Jiaozi ( zh, s=猫不闻饺子, hp=māo bù wén jiǎozi, links=no). Known foods include Caoji donkey meat, Bazhen sheep-leg mutton of Guanshengyuan, Luji Tangmian Zhagao, Baiji Shuijiao, Gaogan of Zhilanzhai, Guobacai of Dafulai, Subao of Shitoumenkan and Xiaobao chestnut. These snacks are available in Nanshi Food Street, which has food from Tianjin.


Transport

The transportation system in Tianjin is considered to be relatively effective, inclusive and
sustainable Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...
. The city received the Sustainable Transport Award for 2024 due to its efforts to improve and expand non motorized and
public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...
, as well as to make it accessible. The policy of the city had an impact on policies at the regional and country level and received support from the World Bank (transportation in Tianjin is its biggest investment in this domain). According to a statement of the Institute for Transportation & Development about policy that resulted in the award, "Thus, the city's recent investments into sustainable mobility policy and infrastructure have the potential to serve as a model for the rest of China, as the nation works towards achieving carbon neutrality before 2060."


Airport

Tianjin Binhai International Airport is located in Dongli District and is roughly away from the city's downtown area. Tianjin is also served by the new Beijing Daxing International Airport in
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
.


Port of Tianjin

The
Port of Tianjin The Port of Tianjin (''Tianjin Gang'', zh, s=天津港, p=tiānjīn gǎng}), formerly known as the Port of Tanggu, is the largest port in Northern China and the main maritime gateway to Beijing. The name "Tianjin Xingang" ( zh, s=天津新港, ...
is China's largest artificial deep water harbor; its throughput capacity is the fifth largest in the world. Located in the Binhai Economic Zone, a national new economic zone of China, Tianjin Harbor is a port for international cruises visiting the wider area, including
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
.


Trams

Tianjin's harbor area of Binhai/TEDA has a modern, high-speed rubber-tired tram system; it is the first of its kind in China and Asia. Constructed in 2006, the system marked a return of the tram to Tianjin, which once had a standard steel-wheeled tramway network. The original Tianjin tram network was constructed by a Belgian company in 1904 and opened in 1906. It was the first citywide tramway system in China. It closed in 1972.


Metro

The
Tianjin Metro The Tianjin Metro or Tianjin Rail Transit is the rapid transit system in the city of Tianjin, which was the second city in mainland China after Beijing to operate a subway system (the Beijing Subway opened in 1971). First opened in 1984, the ...
was formerly operated by two companies, Tianjin Metro General Corporation and Tianjin Binhai Mass Transit Development Company. However, in 2017, the two companies merged to form the Tianjin Rail Transit Group Corporation. It is currently under expansion to create five to nine lines. A total of six lines are currently operating in the city and the Binhai area. As of April 2019, the entire network of
Tianjin Metro The Tianjin Metro or Tianjin Rail Transit is the rapid transit system in the city of Tianjin, which was the second city in mainland China after Beijing to operate a subway system (the Beijing Subway opened in 1971). First opened in 1984, the ...
has 155 stations and 6 lines. Construction work on the Tianjin Metro started on July 4, 1970. It was the second metro to be built in China and commenced service in 1984. The total length of track was . The metro service was suspended on October 9, 2001, for reconstruction. The original line is now part of Line 1 of the new metro system. It was reopened to the public in June 2006. The track was extended to ; there is now a total of 22 stations. Construction work on Line 2 and Line 3 was completed in 2012; the two lines are now in operation. Several new metro lines have been planned. The two rapid transit operators in Tianjin are responsible for the service as follows: * Tianjin Metro General Corporation operates Lines 1, 2, 3 and 6. * Tianjin Binhai Mass Transit Development Company. operates Lines 5 and 9


Rail

There are several railway stations in the city, Tianjin railway station being one of them. It was built in 1888. The station was initially located at Wangdaozhuang ( zh, s=旺道庄, t=旺道莊, hp=Wàngdàozhuāng, links=no). The station was later moved to Laolongtou ( zh, s=老龙头, t=老龍頭, hp=Lǎolóngtóu, links=no) on the banks of the
Hai He The Hai River (海河, lit. "Sea River"), Postal Map Romanization, also known as the Peiho, ("White River"), or Hai Ho, is a Chinese rivers of China, river connecting Beijing to Tianjin and the Bohai Sea. During the Song dynasty, the main st ...
River in 1892; as a result, the station was renamed as Laolongtou Railway Station. The station was completely rebuilt in 1988. The rebuilding work began on April 15, 1987, and was finished on October 1, 1988. The Tianjin Railway Station is also locally known as the 'East Station', due to its geographic position. In January 2007, the station began another long-term restructuring project to modernize the facility as part of the larger Tianjin transport hub project, which involves
Tianjin Metro The Tianjin Metro or Tianjin Rail Transit is the rapid transit system in the city of Tianjin, which was the second city in mainland China after Beijing to operate a subway system (the Beijing Subway opened in 1971). First opened in 1984, the ...
lines 2, 3, and 9, as well as the Tianjin-Beijing High-Speed Rail. Tianjin West railway station and Tianjin North railway station are also railway stations in Tianjin. Tanggu railway station is located in the port area of
Tanggu District Tanggu District () was a district in the Tianjin municipality, now part of the Binhai New Area. It is on the Hai River where it enters the Bohai Sea, and is a port for Tianjin, which is about upriver. The Tianjin Economic-Technological De ...
; Binhai railway station and Binhai North railway station are located to the north of Tanggu in TEDA. There are several other railway stations in the city that do not handle passenger traffic. Construction on a Beijing-Tianjin high-speed railway began on July 4, 2005, and was completed during August 2008. The following rail lines go through Tianjin: * Jingshan Railway (travels from Beijing to
Shanhai Pass The Shanhai Pass () is a major fortified gateway at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China and one of its most crucial fortifications, as the pass commands the narrowest choke point in the strategic Liaoxi Corridor, an elongated coasta ...
) * Jinpu Railway (travels from Tianjin to Pukou District,
Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...
) * Jinji Railway (travels from the urban area of Tianjin to Ji County, Tianjin) * Jinba Railway (travels from Tianjin to Bazhou, Hebei) The inter-city trains between Beijing and Tianjin will adopt a new numbering system using the letter C (C stands for InterCity) followed by four numbers. The train numbers range between C2001 and C2298. The number ranges are divided into three different groups, which provide information about where a train will go: * C2001–C2198: Directly from Beijing South Station to Tianjin * C2201–C2268: From Beijing South Station to Tianjin, with stops at Wuqing Station (武清站) * C2271–C2298: From Beijing South Station to Yujiapu Railway Station in Tianjin The new C trains take 30 minutes to travel between Beijing and Tianjin; the trains make the journey with half the time used by the previous D trains. The ticket price, as of Aug 15, 2008, is 69 RMB for first-class seating and 58 RMB for second-class seating.


Bus

There were over 900 bus lines in the city .


Roads and expressways

Some roads and bridges, such as Minquan Gate and Beiyang Road, have retained names given to them while the
Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
(1912–1949) was in power. As in other cities in China, some roads in Tianjin are named after Chinese provinces and cities. Unlike Beijing, Tianjin has few roads that run parallel to the four
cardinal direction The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are the four main compass directions: north (N), south (S), east (E), and west (W). The corresponding azimuths ( clockwise horizontal angle from north) are 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°. The ...
s. Tianjin has three ring roads. The Inner and Middle Ring Roads are not closed, traffic-controlled roadways and some often have traffic light intersections. The Outer Ring Road is similar to a highway-level ring road. The road experiences traffic. * Inner Ring Road ''(neihuan)'' * Middle Ring Road ''(zhonghuan)'' * Outer Ring Road ''(waihuan)'' Tianjin's roads often finish in ''dao'' ( zh, s=道, l=avenue, links=no) and ''xian'' ( zh, s=线, t=線, l=line, links=no). These suffixes are most often used for highways and through routes. The terms ''lu'' ( zh, s=路, l=road, links=no) and j''ie'' ( zh, s=街, l=street, links=no) are not generally used. As Tianjin's roads are tend to not be in cardinal directions, ''jing'' ( zh, s=经, t=經, l=avenue, links=no) roads and ''wei'' ( zh, s=纬, t=緯, l=avenue, links=no) roads appear; these roads attempt to run more directly north–south and east–west, respectively. The following seven expressways of China run in or through Tianjin: * Jingjintang Expressway (travels from Beijing, through Tianjin's urban area, to
Tanggu District Tanggu District () was a district in the Tianjin municipality, now part of the Binhai New Area. It is on the Hai River where it enters the Bohai Sea, and is a port for Tianjin, which is about upriver. The Tianjin Economic-Technological De ...
/ TEDA) * Jinghu Expressway (travels from Jinjing Gonglu Bridge to Shanghai; similarly to Jingjintang Expressway, this expressway travels from Beijing to Shanghai) * Jingshen Expressway (travels through
Baodi District Baodi District () is a district of the municipality of Tianjin, People's Republic of China. Transport Rail Station * Baodi * Baodi South * Dakoutun * jingjinxincheng Railway * Tianjin–Jizhou railway * Beijing–Tangshan intercity ...
on its way from Beijing to
Shenyang Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...
) * Tangjin Expressway (travels from
Tanggu District Tanggu District () was a district in the Tianjin municipality, now part of the Binhai New Area. It is on the Hai River where it enters the Bohai Sea, and is a port for Tianjin, which is about upriver. The Tianjin Economic-Technological De ...
, Tianjin, to
Tangshan Tangshan ( zh, c=唐山 , p=Tángshān) is a coastal, industrial prefecture-level city in the northeast of Hebei province. It is located in the eastern part of Hebei Province and the northeastern part of the North China Plain. It is located in t ...
, Hebei''—''known as the Jintang Expressway in Tianjin) * Baojin Expressway (travels from Beichen District, Tianjin, to
Baoding Baoding is a prefecture-level city in central Hebei province, approximately southwest of Beijing. As of the 2020 census, Baoding City had 11,544,036 inhabitants, of which 2,549,787 lived in the metropolitan area made of 4 out of 5 urban distri ...
, Hebei''—''known as the Jinbao Expressway in Tianjin) *
Jinbin Expressway The Jinbin Expressway is a direct expressway link from central Tianjin to Tanggu and TEDA, China. It is 33.54 km in length, 28.54 of which exists as an expressway, and 5 km as a city express road. Route The Jingjintang Expressway run ...
(travels from Zhangguizhuang Bridge to Hujiayuan Bridge; both bridges are in Tianjin) * Jinji Expressway (travels from central Tianjin to Jixian County) The following six China National Highways pass through Tianjin: * China National Highway 102 (travels through
Ji County, Tianjin Jizhou District (), formerly a county known as Ji County, is a district in the far north of the municipality of Tianjin, People's Republic of China, holding cultural and historical significance (''e.g''., the Buddhist Temple of Solitary Joy). O ...
on its way from Beijing to
Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...
* China National Highway 103 (travels from Beijing, through Tianjin's urban area, to
Tanggu District Tanggu District () was a district in the Tianjin municipality, now part of the Binhai New Area. It is on the Hai River where it enters the Bohai Sea, and is a port for Tianjin, which is about upriver. The Tianjin Economic-Technological De ...
) * China National Highway 104 (travels from Beijing, through Tianjin Municipality, to
Fuzhou Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River (Fujian), Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Eastern Min, Mindong linguistic and cultural regi ...
) * China National Highway 105 (travels from Beijing, through Tianjin Municipality, to
Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...
) * China National Highway 112 (a circular highway around Beijing; passes through Tianjin Municipality) * China National Highway 205 (travels from Shanhaiguan, Hebei, through Tianjin Municipality, to
Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...
)


Religion

Some residents of Tianjin participate in indigenous religious practices, such as the worship of
Mazu Mazu or Matsu is a sea goddess in Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. She is also known by several other names and titles. Mazu is the deified form of Lin Moniang (), a shamaness from Fujian who is said to ...
, a sea goddess. Tianjin also contains the Temple of Great Compassion (a
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
temple), St. Joseph's Cathedral (a
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
cathedral also known as Laoxikai Church), and Our Lady of Victory Church (a Catholic church also known as Wanghailou Church). A Roman Catholic Diocese of Tianjin exists. According to the Chinese General Social Survey of 2009, Christians constitute 1.51% of the city's population.China General Social Survey (CGSS) 2009. Report by
Xiuhua Wang (2015, p. 15)
Tianjin has been described as a historically "strong center" of
Islam in China Islam has been practiced in China since the 7th century CE.. There are an estimated 17–25 million Muslims in China, less than 2 percent of the total population. Though Hui people, Hui Muslims are the most numerous group, the greatest concentr ...
. Northwestern Tianjin has traditionally been the location of the Muslim quarter of the city, where Muslims have lived for centuries; the area is near the city's Great Mosque, ''Qingzhen si'', which was founded in 1703. The city also contains the Dahuoxiang Mosque.


Sports

Sports teams based in Tianjin include the following: * Tianjin Jinmen Tiger FC (in the Chinese Super League of professional football) * Tianjin Lions (in the China Baseball League) * Tianjin Pioneers (in the
Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier men's professional basketball league in China. The league is commonly known by fans as the CBA, and this acronym is even used in Chinese on a regular basis ...
) * Tianjin Bohai Bank women's volleyball team (in the Chinese Volleyball League) The 1995 World Table Tennis Championships, the 2013 East Asian Games, and the
2017 National Games of China The 13th National Games of China were held in Tianjin and Luoyang, Henan, from August to September 2017. Host bidding In the 13th National Games bidding process, Shaanxi, Tianjin, Zhejiang and Hubei were the candidates. Tianjin was announced as ...
were hosted by the city. Tianjin was scheduled to be one of the host cities for the expanded
FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...
in
2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
before its cancellation due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. It was also scheduled to be one of the host cities for the
2023 AFC Asian Cup The 2023 AFC Asian Cup was the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It involved 24 national teams after its expansion in 20 ...
before China's withdrawal as the host. Since 2014, a WTA international
tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
tournament has taken place in Tianjin every year at the Tuanbo International Tennis Center.


Martial arts

For some centuries, Tianjin and Beijing had been considered centers for traditional Chinese martial arts. Formerly and currently practiced martial arts including '' bajiquan'', '' piguazhang'', ''
xingyiquan 形意拳, Xingyiquan , or Xingyi, is a style of internal Chinese martial arts. The word approximately translates to "Form-Intention Fist", or "Shape-Will Fist". The style is characterized by aggressive, seemingly linear movements, and expl ...
'', and ''
baguazhang ''Baguazhang'' () is one of the three main Chinese martial arts of the '' Wudang'' school, the other two being tai chi and '' xingyiquan''. It is more broadly grouped as an internal practice (or ''neijia''). ''Baguazhang'' literally means "eigh ...
'' have been practiced in the city. The martial arts that the city is known most for are Hong Qiao and Nankai. Martial artists practice in public green spaces such as Xigu Park and the Tianjin Water Park.


Education


Colleges and universities

The following universities are under the jurisdiction of the national Ministry of Education: * Tianjin University (founded in 1895; the first modern university in China) * Nankai University (founded in 1919) The following are under the jurisdiction of the municipal government: * Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts * Tianjin Agricultural College * Tianjin Chengjian University * Tianjin Conservatory of Music * Tianjin Foreign Studies University * Tianjin Institute of Physical Education * Tianjin Medical University * Tianjin Normal University * Tianjin Polytechnic University * Tianjin University of Commerce * Tianjin University of Finance & Economics * Tianjin University of Science & Technology * Tianjin University of Technology * Tianjin University of Technology and Education * Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine The following are under the jurisdiction of the national Civil Aviation Authority of China: * Civil Aviation University of China The following are under the Hebei Provincial People's Government: * Hebei University of Technology (founded 1903, the earliest institute of technology in China) The following are foreign institutions: * The Florida International University Tianjin Center (opened in 2006 as a cooperative venture between the municipal government and the Miami-based university) * The Great Wall MBA Program of the Oklahoma City University's Meinders School of Business (established in 1986 on the campus of the Tianjin University of Finance & Economics) * Raffles Design Institute Tianjin is a joint-project between the Tianjin University of Commerce, Boustead College and the Raffles Design Institute in Singapore. * The Tianjin Juilliard School is a branch of the
Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...
located in Binhai, Tianjin, China. The following is a private institution: * Boustead College Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed above.


High schools

* Tianjin Nankai High School () * Tianjin No. 1 High School () * Tianjin Yaohua Middle School () was founded in 1927. It was previously known as Tianjin Gongxue by Lefeng Zhuang; it was renamed as Tianjin Yaohua Middle School in 1934. * Tianjin Xinhua High School () * Tianjin Experimental High School () * Tianjin No. 21 High School () (formerly Fahan College— zh, labels=no, t=法漢學堂, l=College), was founded in 1895. The French ambassador to China and consul general in Tianjin called it the French academy. It was renamed "" in 1902, before moving to its current address in 1916, when it was renamed Fahan College (); in French, it is still known as "Ecole Municipale Francaise". The school is located in an area with political and cultural education in Heping district and is adjacent to the largest Catholic church in northern China; thus, the main building of the school has retained its church-like appearance. The school covers an area of 10.1 mu (6.7 km2); the building's floor has an area of 10,300 square meters. * Tianjin Tianjin High School () * Tianjin Fuxing High School () * Tianjin Ruijing High School () * The Foreign Languages School Affiliated with the Tianjin Foreign Studies University (TFLS; ) * Tianjin No. 20 High School () * Tianjin No. 4 High School () * Tianjin Yangcun No. 1 High School () * Tianjin Ji No. 1 High School () * Tianjin Dagang No. 1 High School () * Tianjin Second Nankai High School () * Tianjin Tanggu No. 1 High School () * Tianjin No. 42 High School () * Tianjin Baodi No. 1 High School () * Tianjin Dagang Oilfield Experimental High School () * Tianjin No. 47 High School () * Tianjin No. 7 High School () * Tianjin Jinghai No. 1 High School () * Tianjin Haihe High School () * Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area No. 1 High School () * Tianjin No. 55 High School () * Tianjin High School Affiliated with Beijing Normal University () * Tianjin No. 21 High School () * Tianjin Xianshuigu No. 1 High School () * The High School Affiliated with Nankai University () * Tianjin No. 41 High School () * Tianjin Lutai No. 1 High School () * Tianjin No. 2 High School () * Tianjin No. 3 High School () * Tianjin Huiwen High School () * Tianjin Chonghua High School () * Tianjin No. 100 High School () * Tianjin Hangu No. 1 High School () * Tianjin Ziyun High School () * Tianjin No. 102 High School () * Tianjin No. 45 High School () * Tianjin No. 25 High School () * The High School Affiliated with Tianjin University () * Tianjin No. 5 High School () * Tianjin Yangliuqing No. 1 High School () * Tianjin No. 14 High School () * Tianjin National High School () * Tianjin No. 54 High School () * Tianjin No. 43 High School () * Tianjin Ironworks No. 2 High School () * Tianjin No. 9 High School () * Tianjin No. 57 High School () * Tianjin No. 51 High School () * Tianjin Fulun High School () * Tianjin Bohai Petroleum No. 1 High School ()


Middle schools

* Tianjin No. 7 Middle School


Notable people from Tianjin

* Hou Baolin (19171993; xiangsheng performer) * Xia Baolong (1952; Chinese politician and member of the National People's Congress Environment Protection and Resources Conservation Committee) * Zhang Boli (1948;
traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...
practitioner) * Qin Gang (1966; former Chinese Ambassador to the United States and current Chinese foreign minister) * Yu Genwei (1974; professional football midfielder; manager) * Wang Hao (1992; diver who is a world champion) * Liu Huan (1963; modern singer and songwriter; professor of western music at the Beijing University of International Business and Economics) * Li Ruihuan (1934; Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1993 to 2003) *
Wen Jiabao Wen Jiabao ( zh, s=温家宝, p=Wēn Jiābǎo; born 15 September 1942) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the 6th premier of China from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behin ...
(1942;
premier of China The premier of China, officially the Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, is the head of government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and leader of the State Council. This post was established in 1911 near the e ...
from 2003 to 2013) * Hao Jingfang (1987; science-fiction writer) * Harry Kingman (18921982; the only major league baseball player born in China) * Robert Ya Fu Lee (1913–1986; actor) * Ching Chun Li (1912–2003); human geneticist *
Eric Liddell Eric Henry Liddell (; 16 January 1902 – 21 February 1945) was a Scottish sprint (running), sprinter, Rugby union, rugby player and Christian missionary. Born in Qing dynasty, Tianjin, China to Scottish missionary parents, he attended bo ...
(19021945; Olympic gold medalist) *
Gao Lingwei Gao Lingwei (; Hepburn: Kō Ryōi); (1870–1940) was a Chinese politician during the late Qing dynasty and the early Republic of China. A Tianjin native, he was appointed to Hubei where he held many offices relating to finance and education i ...
(18701940; former premier of the Republic of China 1923–1924) *
Gao Lingwen Gao Lingwen (1862–1945) was a scholar and writer from the city of Tianjin (Tientsin), China. He was the founder and principal of the first modern high school of Tianjin, the ''Bell Tower Middle School'' (铃铛阁中学), and the elder brother of ...
(1862–1945; founder of Tianjin's first public school) * Adeline Yen Mah (1937; Chinese-born American author of ''Falling Leaves'' and ''Chinese Cinderella: The Secret Story of an Unwanted Daughter'') * Zhang Meng (1988; actress) * Yu Min (19262019; nuclear physicist who is referred to as "the father of Chinese Hydrogen Bomb") * Zhang Pengxiang (1980; chess grandmaster) * Liu Ping (1984;
Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...
gold medalist sprinter) * Chang Po-ling (18761951; founder of Nankai University) * Wang Qiang (1992; Chinese professional female tennis player) * Zhou Ruchang (19182012; Chinese Redologist and calligrapher) * Shao Fang Sheng (1917–2009; Chinese artist) *
Peng Shuai Peng Shuai (; ; born 8 January 1986) is a Chinese former professional tennis player. In February 2014, she was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 doubles player by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA ...
(1986; Chinese professional female tennis player) *
Zhang Shuai Zhang Shuai ( zh , s = 张帅 , p = Zhāng Shuài ; ; born 21 January 1989) is a Chinese professional tennis player. She has a career-high doubles WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 2, achieved in July 2022 and a singles ranking of No. 22 re ...
(1989; Chinese professional female tennis player) * Lubert Stryer (19382024; American professor of biochemistry) *
Lam Suet Lam Suet (; born 1964), or Lin Xue, is a Hong Kong film actor. Life and career Lam was born in Tianjin, and came to Hong Kong as a youth in 1979 to receive inheritance money left by his grandfather. Soon after, all the money had been squander ...
(1964; actor from Hong Kong) * Hu Xianxu (2000; Chinese actor) * Fung Wang-yuen (Wu Ma) (19422014; actor, director, producer, and writer for movies) * Tan Xue (1984; Olympic and world champion fencer) * Zhao Yanming (1981; professional football goalkeeper) * Sun Yaoting (19021992; last surviving imperial
eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...
from China) * Shang Yi (1979; professional football midfielder and sports commentator) * Yang Yi (1919–2023; translated ''
Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is the only novel by the English author Emily Brontë, initially published in 1847 under her pen name "Ellis Bell". It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the ...
'' into Chinese) *
Chen Yibing Chen Yibing (; born 19 December 1984) is a Chinese gymnastics, gymnast, a four-time world champion on still rings. Chen was part of the Chinese team that won the gold medal in the team event at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in 2006 ...
(1984; world champion and Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast) * Xu Yifan (1988; professional tennis player) * Yu Ying-shih (19302021; historian and Sinology, Sinologist) * Duan Yingying (1989; Chinese professional female tennis player) * Cui Yongyuan (1963; television personality) * Ed Young (illustrator), Ed Tse-chun Young (19312023; award-winning Chinese-American children's book writer and illustrator) * Huo Yuanjia (18681910; Chinese martial artist and co-founder of the Chin Woo Athletic Association) * Zhang Yuxuan (1994; professional female tennis player) * An Zhongxin (1971; Olympic silver medalist for softball) * Juliana Young Koo (19052017; Chinese-American diplomat worked in the UN Protocol Department, widow of Wellington Koo) * Niohuru X (drag performer, fashion designer, and make-up artist)


Twin towns and sister cities

* Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan * Chiba (city), Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, Japan * Incheon, South Korea * Mobile, Alabama, United States * Fitchburg, Massachusetts, United States * Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States * Melbourne, Victoria, Australia * Bangkok, Thailand * Phnom Penh, Cambodia * Pyongyang, North Korea * Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina * Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire * Groningen, the Netherlands (since 1985) * Rishon LeZion, Israel * İzmir, Turkey * Haiphong, Vietnam (since 1997) * * Mar del Plata, Argentina (since 2001) * Larnaca, Republic of Cyprus (since 2007) * Jönköping, Sweden (since 1993) * Thessaloniki, Greece (since 2002) * Cali, Cali, Colombia (since 2022)


See also

* Tianjin is also the name of an Asterism (astronomy), asterism in the Chinese constellation of Girl (Chinese constellation), Girl mansion.


Notes


References


Citations


Sources

* ''Miscellaneous series, Issues 7–11''. United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, 1912. * Walravens, Hartmut. "German Influence on the Press in China". In: ''Newspapers in International Librarianship: Papers Presented by the Newspaper Section at IFLA General Conferences''. Walter de Gruyter, January 1, 2003. , . *
Also available at
the website of the Queens Library – This version does not include the footnotes visible in the Walter de Gruyter version ** Also available in Walravens, Hartmut and Edmund King. ''Newspapers in international librarianship: papers presented by the newspapers section at IFLA General Conferences''. K.G. Saur, 2003. , 9783598218378.


Further reading

* Mathieu Gotteland, ''Les forces de l'ordre japonaises à Tientsin, 1914–1940 : Un point de vue français'' , Éditions universitaires européennes, 2015. * * * Maurizio Marinelli, Giovanni Andornino, ''Italy's Encounter with Modern China: Imperial dreams, strategic ambitions'', New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. * Maurizio Marinelli
"The Triumph of the Uncanny: Italians and Italian Architecture in Tianjin"
In ''Cultural Studies Review'', Vol. 19, 2, 2013, 70–98. * Maurizio Marinelli,
The Genesis of the Italian Concession in Tianjin: A Combination of Wishful Thinking and Realpolitik
. ''Journal of Modern Italian Studies'', 15 (4), 2010: 536–556.


External links


Tianjin Government websiteChina (Tianjin) Pilot Free Trade Zone


at Hong Kong Trade Development Council, HKTDC
Official Tianjin Media Gateway

Historic US Army map of Tianjin, 1945

Official promotional video of Tianjin City
* {{Authority control Tianjin, Metropolitan areas of China Municipalities of China North China Plain Populated coastal places in China Populated places with period of establishment missing Province-level divisions of China National Famous Historical and Cultural City