Tianjin tourist information

The land where Tianjin lies today was created in historical times by sedimentation of various rivers entering the sea at Bohai Bay, including the Yellow River, which entered the sea in this area at one point.

The opening of the Grand Canal of China during the Sui Dynasty prompted the development of Tianjin into a trading center. Until 1404 Tianjin was called "Zhigu", or "Straight Port". In that year, the Emperor Yongle renamed the city "Tianjin", literally "Heaven Ford", to mean that the emperor (son of heaven) forded the river at that point. This is because he had indeed forded the river at Tianjin while on a campaign to wrest the throne from his nephew. A fort was established at Tianjin, known as "Tianjin Wei", meaning "Fort Tianjin".

Tianjin was promoted to a prefecture in 1725. Tianjin County was established under the prefecture in 1731.

In 1856 Chinese soldiers boarded The Arrow, a Chinese-owned ship registered in Hong Kong flying the British flag and suspected of piracy, smuggling and of being engaged in the opium trade. They captured 12 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 Treaties of Tianjin were signed, which opened Tianjin to foreign trade. The treaties were ratified by the Emperor of China in 1860, and Tianjin was formally opened to the outside world. Between 1895 and 1900 Britain and France were joined by the empires of Japan, Germany and Russia, and even by countries without other 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.

The presence of foreign influence in Tianjin was not always peaceful; one of the most serious violent incidents to take place was the Tianjin Church Incident. In June 1870, Wanghailou Church in Tianjin, built by French missionaries one year earlier, was implicated in the kidnapping, death by neglect, and improper burial of Chinese children. On June 21, the magistrate of Tianjin County initiated a showdown at the church that developed into violent clashes between the church's Christian supporters and non-Christian Tianjin residents. The furious protestors eventually burned down Wanghailou Church and the nearby French consulate. After the incident, France and six other Western nations complained to the Qing government, which was forced to pay compensation for the incident.

In June 1900, the Boxers were able to seize control of much of Tianjin. On June 26 belligerent European forces headed towards Beijing were stopped by Boxers at nearby Langfang, and were defeated and forced to turn back to Tianjin. The foreign concessions also came under siege for several weeks.

Tianjin was established as a municipality of China in 1927.

On July 30, 1937, Tianjin fell to Japan, as part of the Second Sino-Japanese War, but not entirely occupied, respecting non-foe foreign concessions. During the occupation Tianjin was ruled by the North China Executive Committee, a puppet state based in Beijing. Japanese occupation lasted until August 15, 1945, the surrender of Japan marking the end of World War II.

After 1945, Tianjin became base to American forces. In December 1946, the rape of a Beiping (now Beijing) female university student by an American soldier, together with a series of rapes that had previously occurred in Tianjin, sparked protests in Tianjin that culminated in a demonstration on January 1, 1947 involving thousands of students. American troops pulled out of Tianjin in June 1947.

Communist forces took Tianjin on January 15, 1949, following a 29-hour long battle. After communist takeover, Tianjin remained a municipality of China, except between 1958 and 1967, when it was reduced to be a part of and the capital of Hebei province. The Tangshan earthquake of 1976 killed 23,938 people in Tianjin and did heavy damage.

After China began to open up in the late 1970s, Tianjin has seen rapid development, though it is now lagging behind other important cities like Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. The city's current mayor is Dai Xianglong.

Airport
Tianjin Binhai International Airport (ZBTJ) is located to the east of the urban area, in Dongli District, Tianjin.

Public Transport
The Tianjin bus network was created in 1904, and was the first city to have its own city-wide bus system in China. There were 402 bus lines in the city as of 2004.

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 is 7.4 kilometers. The metro service was suspended on October 9, 2001 and is currently being rebuilt. This new metro will be called "Tianjin Metro Line 1". It is scheduled to be finished in the later half of 2005. The track will be extended to 26.188 kilometers and there will be a total of 22 stations. Previously, there were 8 stations. Several new metro lines are planned. Construction work on Line 2 and Line 3 will begin in late 2004.

There is also a light railway line in the city, the LRT Binhai Line. The line runs between downtown Tianjin and TEDA (Tianjin Economic Development Area) in the seaside region. The eastern part of the line began service on March 28, 2004. The western part of the line is scheduled to be completed in 2006.

Rail
There are several railway stations in the city, Tianjin Railway Station being the principal one. It was built in 1888, initially, the station was located at Wangdaozhuang. The station was later moved to Laolongtou on the banks of the Hai He River in 1892, so the station was renamed Laolongtou Railway Station. The station was rebuilt from scatch in 1988. The rebuilding work began on April 15, 1987 and was finished on October 1, 1988. The Tianjin Railway Station is also locally called the 'East Station', due to its geographical position.

Tianjin West Railway Station and Tianjin North Railway Station are also major railway stations in Tianjin. There is also Tanggu Railway Station is located in the important port area of Tanggu District, and TEDA Railway Station located in TEDA, to the north of Tanggu. There are several other railway stations in the city.

Construction on a Beijing-Tianjin high-speed rail began on July 4, 2005, and is scheduled to be completed in 2007.

The following railways of China go through Tianjin:

* Jingshan Railway, from Beijing to Shanhai Pass * Jinpu Railway, from Tianjin to Pukou District, Nanjing * Jinji Railway, from Tianjin urban area to Ji County, Tianjin * Jinba Railway, from Tianjin to Bazhou, Hebei

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Roads and Expressways
Some spots in Tianjin, including roads and bridges, have names from Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's Three Principles of the People (for example, Minquan Gate on Zhonghuan Road). Names harkening back to the era of the Republic of China on the mainland also appear (e.g. Beiyang Road). Many roads in Tianjin are named after a Chinese province or city. Also, Tianjin is unlike Beijing, in that very few roads run parallel to the major four compass directions.

Tianjin has three ring roads. Unlike Beijing, the Inner and Middle Ring Roads are not closed, traffic-controlled roadways and some often have traffic light intersections. The Outer Ring Road is the closest thing to a highway-level ring road, although traffic is often chaotic and sometimes more than chaotic.

* Inner Ring Road (neihuan) * Middle Ring Road (zhonghuan) * Outer Ring Road (waihuan)

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