Tianjin

Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. 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. Its metropolitan area, 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 and Rio de Janeiro) and 11th-most populous city proper.
Tianjin is governed as one of the four municipalities (alongside Beijing, Shanghai, and Chongqing) under the direct administration of the State Council of China. The city borders Hebei Province and Beijing Municipality, bounded to the east by the Bohai Gulf portion of the Yellow Sea. 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 city was the seat of the Tianjin Provisional Government. Under the Qing dynasty 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; however, it has been recovering since the 1990s. Tianjin is classified as the largest type of port city, a Large-Port Megacity, 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, which connects to the Yellow and Yangtze 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 companies have operated in buildings located in Binhai. Since 2010, Tianjin's Yujiapu Financial District has become known as China's Manhattan and the city is considered to be one of the world's top 100 cities, including in the Global Financial Centres Index. 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 Nankai, Tianjin Normal, Tianjin Medical, Tianjin Foreign Studies, Tiangong, Tianjin University of Science & Technology, Tianjin University of Technology, and Hebei University of Technology.
Tianjin is the pinyin spelling of the Chinese characters 天津. 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 Qu Yuan, whose "Li Sao" includes the verse "... departing from the Ford of Heaven at dawn ..." (朝發軔於天津兮; zhāo fārèn yú Tiānjīn xī). Another says that it honors the former name of the Girl, 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 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 Tientsin in the Chinese postal romanization. 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.
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 helped the future development of Tianjin, as the canal ran from Hangzhou to the Beijing 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 and gained importance during the Yuan dynasty. 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; it was a center of commerce by the 17th century.
During the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), the Tianjin Prefecture, or Zhou (州), was established in 1725, and Tianjin County was established within the prefecture in 1731. Later, it became an urban prefecture or Fu (府), before becoming a relay station (駐地) under the command of the Viceroy of Zhili.
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 in June of the same year, the British and French prevailed, and the Treaty of Tientsin 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, and some countries without Chinese concessions, such as Austria-Hungary, Italy and Belgium, 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 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 (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 as part of its curriculum. Among its alumni were Wang Yingkai 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; 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 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, the German and Austro-Hungarian garrisons were captured as prisoners of war 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 of China in 1927. From 1930 to 1935, Tianjin was the provincial capital of Hebei; 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, 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.
On July 30, 1937, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, 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 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 was advised by the Royal Navy 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 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 with the Allies in September 1943, Japanese troops took the Italian concession, following a battle with its garrison, and the Italian Social Republic formally ceded the concession to Wang Jingwei's Japan-controlled puppet state. Japanese occupation of the city lasted until August 15, 1945, with the surrender of Japan marking the end of 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 (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, 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 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 zones 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, 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 (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 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 warehouse in Tianjin Port, causing 173 deaths, hundreds of injuries, and property losses. The first two explosions at the facility, which is located in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin, happened within 30 seconds of each other; the second explosion was larger and involved the detonation of approximately 800 tons of ammonium nitrate (equivalent to about 256 tons of TNT). Fires caused by the initial explosions continued to burn uncontrollably throughout the weekend, resulting in eight additional explosions on August 15. The buildings of seven more surrounding logistics companies were destroyed. 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 is located on the west coast of the Bohai Gulf; the provinces of Shandong and Liaoning are located across those waters. The city is bordered by Beijing, which is 120 kilometers (75 mi) to the northwest. Tianjin is surrounded on all sides by Hebei, with the exception of its eastern border, which is the Bohai Sea. 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 11,860.63 square kilometers (4,579.41 sq mi).
The city has 153 km (95 mi) of coastline and 1,137.48 kilometers (706.80 mi) of land border. It is located at the northern end of the Grand Canal of China, which connects with the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers. The municipality is generally flat and is swampy near the coast; however, it has hills in the north, where the Yan Mountains enter Tianjin. Tidal flats occur on the coastal plain adjacent to the city. The highest point in the municipality is Jiuding Peak (九顶山) in Ji County on the northern border with Hebei; the mountain has an altitude of 1,078.5 m (3,538 ft).
In the Tianjin Municipality, the Hai River forms at the confluence of the Ziya River (子牙河), Daqing River (大清河), Yongding River, North Grand Canal, and South Grand Canal; it enters the Pacific Ocean within the municipality as well as in Tanggu District. Reservoirs include the Beidagang Reservoir in the south (in Dagang District) and the Yuqiao Reservoir in the north in Ji County.
Tianjin has a semi-arid climate (using the Köppen 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-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, which are capable of lasting for several days. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −2.8 °C (27.0 °F) in January to 27.2 °C (81.0 °F) in July, with an annual mean of 13.3 °C (55.9 °F). Extreme temperatures in the city have ranged from −22.9 °C (−9 °F) to 40.6 °C (105 °F). 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 521 millimeters (20.5 in), with nearly three-fifths of it occurring in July and August alone, the city lies within the semi-arid climate zone, although parts of the municipality are humid continental (Köppen BSk/Dwa, respectively).
See or edit raw graph data.
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".
Tianjin is divided into 16 county-level divisions, which are all districts.
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 million.[3]
As of December 31, 2004, these districts and counties have been further subdivided into 240 township-level divisions, including 120 towns, 18 townships, 2 ethnic townships and 100 subdistricts.
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. The CCP Tianjin Municipal Committee acts as the top policy-formulation body, and has control over the Tianjin Municipal People's Government.
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 industries, textiles, car manufacturing, mechanical industries, and metalworking. EADS 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.
As one of the first state-level economic and technological development zones, the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (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.
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 2.54 km (0.98 sq mi). The area developed in the first phase is 1 square meter (11 sq ft) wide. A permanent wall is built to separate the export processing and non-export processing zones.
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.
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 30 km (19 mi) from Tianjin city proper, less than 1 km (0.62 mi) away from the wharf, and 38 km (24 mi) away from Tianjin Binhai International Airport.
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.
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. The total planned area of Nangang Industrial Zone is 200 km (77 sq mi), of which the terrestrial area is 162 km (63 sq mi).
Farmland takes up about 40% of Tianjin Municipality's total area. Wheat, rice, and maize are the most economically important crops.
Tianjin Municipality has deposits of about 1 billion tonnes of petroleum, with Dagang District containing oilfields. Salt production is also one of the city's industries, with Changlu Yanqu being one of China's salt production areas. Geothermal energy is another resource of Tianjin. Deposits of manganese and boron under Tianjin were the first to be found in China.
Tianjin Electric Power Utility constructs, delivers and maintains electrical power services.
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.
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 (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 was estimated by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) to have, as of 2010, a population of 15.4 million.
The majority of Tianjin residents are Han Chinese. People from 51 out of the 55 minor Chinese ethnic groups live in Tianjin. Minorities with higher populations in the city include Hui, Korean, Manchu, and Mongol people.
The graph above excludes members of the People's Liberation Army in active service.
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 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 channel, which features home improvement 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 (transl. Tonight Newspaper), 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.
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.
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,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). Newspapers from Beijing 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 to Tianjin and changed its name to the Deutsch-Chinesische Nachrichten.
China's leading Internet information providers (which are usually located in Beijing), including social networks Sina Weibo and Douban, as well as the online video website Sohu, 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.
The city's streetscapes incorporate nineteenth and early twentieth-century European architecture, 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, were self-contained European communities; the French built châteaux 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 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.
Sights outside the old city urban core area, but within the municipality (including Binhai/TEDA), consist of the following:
People from Tianjin speak the Tianjin dialect of Mandarin, from which it is derived. Despite its proximity to Beijing, the Tianjin dialect sounds different from the Beijing dialect, 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.
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 (transl. Green Willows), a town about 15 km (9.3 mi) west of Tianjin's urban area and the seat of Xiqing District, is known for its Chinese New Year-themed, traditional, and colorful wash paintings (杨柳青年画). 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 in Manhattan, New York City 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 program. The visit was the institution's first full-scale foray outside the United States .
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 (Chinese: 粗; pinyin: cū), smooth (simplified Chinese: 细; traditional Chinese: 細; pinyin: xì), and high (Chinese: 高; pinyin: gāo) cuisine. Menu options include the Eight Great Bowls (Chinese: 八大碗; pinyin: Bādà wǎn), a combination of eight main meat dishes, and the Four Great Stews (Chinese: 四大扒; pinyin: sì dà bā), 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, Guifaxiang Shibajie Mahua (Chinese: 十八街麻花; pinyin: shíbā jiē máhuā), Erduoyan Zhagao (Chinese: 耳朵眼炸糕; pinyin: erduoyǎn zhà gāo) and Maobuwen Jiaozi (Chinese: 猫不闻饺子; pinyin: māo bù wén jiǎozi). 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.
The transportation system in Tianjin is considered to be relatively effective, inclusive and sustainable. The city received the Sustainable Transport Award for 2024 due to its efforts to improve and expand non motorized and public transport, 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."
Tianjin Binhai International Airport is located in Dongli District and is roughly 13 km (8 mi) away from the city's downtown area. Tianjin is also served by the new Beijing Daxing International Airport in Beijing.
The Port of Tianjin 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.
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.
The Tianjin Metro 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 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 7.4 kilometers (5 mi). 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 26.2 km (16.280 mi); 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:
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 (simplified Chinese: 旺道庄; traditional Chinese: 旺道莊; pinyin: Wàngdàozhuāng). The station was later moved to Laolongtou (simplified Chinese: 老龙头; traditional Chinese: 老龍頭; pinyin: Lǎolóngtóu) on the banks of the Hai He 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 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; 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:
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:
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.
There were over 900 bus lines in the city as of 2005.
Some roads and bridges, such as Minquan Gate and Beiyang Road, have retained names given to them while the Republic of China (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 directions.
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.
Tianjin's roads often finish in dao (Chinese: 道; lit. 'avenue') and xian (simplified Chinese: 线; traditional Chinese: 線; lit. 'line'). These suffixes are most often used for highways and through routes. The terms lu (Chinese: 路; lit. 'road') and jie (Chinese: 街; lit. 'street') are not generally used. As Tianjin's roads are tend to not be in cardinal directions, jing (simplified Chinese: 经; traditional Chinese: 經; lit. 'avenue') roads and wei (simplified Chinese: 纬; traditional Chinese: 緯; lit. 'avenue') 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:
The following six China National Highways pass through Tianjin:
Some residents of Tianjin participate in indigenous religious practices, such as the worship of Mazu, a sea goddess. Tianjin also contains the Temple of Great Compassion (a Buddhist temple), St. Joseph's Cathedral (a Catholic 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. Tianjin has been described as a historically "strong center" of Islam in China. 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 teams based in Tianjin include the following:
The 1995 World Table Tennis Championships, the 2013 East Asian Games, and the 2017 National Games of China were hosted by the city. Tianjin was scheduled to be one of the host cities for the expanded FIFA Club World Cup in 2021 before its cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also scheduled to be one of the host cities for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup before China's withdrawal as the host.
Since 2014, a WTA international tennis tournament has taken place in Tianjin every year at the Tuanbo International Tennis Center.
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, and baguazhang 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.
The following universities are under the jurisdiction of the national Ministry of Education:
The following are under the jurisdiction of the municipal government:
The following are under the jurisdiction of the national Civil Aviation Authority of China:
The following are under the Hebei Provincial People's Government:
The following are foreign institutions:
The following is a private institution:
Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed above.