Tianjin

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Municipality of Tianjin
天津市
Tiānjīn Shì
A view of Hedong District
A view of Hedong District
Location within China
Location within China
Coordinates: 39°8′N 117°11′E / 39.133, 117.183
Country Flag of the People's Republic of China People's Republic of China
County-level divisions 18
Township divisions 240
Settled ca. 340 BC
Government
 - CPC Municipal Secretary Zhang Gaoli
 - Mayor Huang Xingguo
Area (ranked 30th)
 - Total 11,760 km² (4,540.6 sq mi)
Population (2006)
 - Total 10,240,000
 - Density 870.7/km² (2,255.2/sq mi)
 - Ranks in China Population: 27th; Density:12th
 - Major nationalities Han - 97%
Hui - 2%
Manchu - 0.6%
Time zone China Standard Time (UTC+8)
Postal code 300000 - 301900
Area code(s) 22
License plate prefixes 津A, B, C, D, F, G, H
津E (taxis)
ISO 3166-2 CN-12
GDP (2007) CNY 501.4 billion (20th)
 - per capita CNY 47,972 (3rd)
HDI (2005) 0.855 (3rd) — high
City flower Chinese rose
(Rosa chinensis)
Website: (Chinese) www.tj.gov.cn
(English) www.tj.gov.cn/english

Tianjin  (Chinese: 天津; pinyin: Tiānjīn; Postal map spelling: Tientsin) is one of the four municipalities of China that are directly under the central government and have provincial-level status. Its urban area is the third largest in China, after Shanghai and Beijing.

Tianjin's urban area is located along the Hai He River. Its ports, some distance away, are located on Bohai Gulf in the Pacific Ocean. Tianjin Municipality borders Hebei province to the north, south, and west; the municipality of Beijing is to the northwest, and Bohai Gulf to the east.

Contents

[edit] History

See also: Concessions in Tianjin

The land where Tianjin lies today was created in historical times by sedimentation of various rivers entering the sea at Bohai Bay(渤海灣), 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" (直沽), or "Straight Port". In that year, the Emperor Yongle renamed the city Tianjin, literally "Heavenly Ford", to indicate 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" (simplified Chinese: 天津卫; traditional Chinese: 天津衛; pinyin: Tiānjīnwèi), 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 (大沽砲臺) 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.

An Engraving depicting Tianjin in 1887.
An Engraving depicting Tianjin in 1887.

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 (天津教案). In June 1870, Wanghailou Church (T: 望海樓教堂 / S: 望海楼教堂) in Tianjin, built by French missionaries one year earlier, was implicated in the kidnapping, death by neglect, and improper burial of Chinese children. It was said in the Chinese population that nuns were making preserves of children's eyes (it seems that the confusion came from jars of pickled small onions seen in the kitchen). 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 heading 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.

In July of 1900, the Eight Nation United Army attacked and occupied Tianjin. They soon established the Tianjin Provisional Government, composed of representatives from each of the occupying forces (Russian, British, Japanese, German, French, American, Austro-Hungarian, and Italian). Tianjin was governed by this council until August 15, 1902 when the city was returned to Qing control. Eminent Qing General Yuan Shikai headed efforts to remake Tianjin into a modern city, establishing the first modern Chinese police force here.

Tianjin was established as a municipality of China(直轄市) in 1927.

Western nations were permitted to garrison the area to ensure open access to Peking. The British maintained a brigade of two battalions there, and the Italians, French, Japanese, Germans, Russians, and Austro-Hungarians maintained understrength regiments; the United States did not initially participate. During World War I, the German and Austro-Hungarian garrisons were captured and held as Prisoners of War while the Bolshevik government withdrew the Russian garrison in 1918. In 1920, the remaining participating nations asked the United States to join them, and the US then sent the 15th Infantry Regiment, less one battalion, to Tientsin from the Philippines.

Garrison duty was highly regarded by the troops. General George C Marshall, the "architect of victory" in the Second World War when he was the United States Army Chief of Staff, served at Tientsin in the 1920's as Executive Officer of the 15th Infantry. The US withdrew this unit in early 1941 and a US presence was maintained only by the dispatch of a small US Marine Corps contigent from the Embassy Guard at Peking.

On July 30, 1937, Tianjin fell to Japan, as part of the Second Sino-Japanese War, but not entirely occupied, as the Japanese for the most part respected foreign concessions until 1941, when the American and British concessions were occupied. In the summer of 1939, there occurred a major crisis in Anglo-Japanese relations with the Tientsin Incident. On June 14, 1939, the Imperial Japanese Army surrounded and blockaded the British concession over the refusal of the British authorities to hand over to the Japanese six Chinese who had assassinated a locally prominent Japanese collaborator, and had taken refuge in the British concession. For a time, the 1939 crisis appeared likely to cause an Anglo-Japanese war, especially when reports of the maltreatment by the Japanese Army of British subjects wishing to leave or enter the concession appeared in the British press. The crisis ended when the 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 sent the main British battle fleet to Far Eastern waters, and that given the current crisis in Europe that it would be inappropriate to send the British fleet out of European waters, thus leading the British to finally turning over the six Chinese, who were executed by the Japanese. During the 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 this could be accomplished, the Japanese attacked the United States. The American Marine detachment was defeated and surrendered to the Japanese on December 8, 1941. Only the Italian and French concessions (the local French officials were loyal to Vichy) were allowed to continue by the Japanese. Japanese occupation lasted until August 15, 1945, the surrender of Japan marking the end of World War II.

Gate monument (paifang) extolling Confucius
Gate monument (paifang) extolling Confucius

After 1945, Tianjin became base to American forces. In December 1946, the rape of a Beiping (北平)(now Beijing(北京)) 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 became part of Hebei province and its capital. The Tangshan earthquake of 1976 killed 23,938 people in Tianjin and wrought heavy damage on the city.

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. Tianjin is now home to the Binhai New Area, a Pudong-like special economic zone that is supposed to balance out Shanghai's obvious commercial superiority.

Commercial area
Commercial area

[edit] Geography

Tianjin is at the northern end of the Grand Canal of China(大運河), which connects with the Huang He (黃河)and Yangtze (長江)rivers.

Tianjin Municipality is generally flat, and swampy near the coast, but hilly in the far north, where the Yanshan Mountains (燕山)pass through the tip of northern Tianjin. The highest point in Tianjin is Jiushanding Peak on the northern border with Hebei, at an altitude of 1078 m.

The Hai He River(海河) forms within Tianjin Municipality at the confluence of the Ziya River(子牙河), Daqing River(大清河), Yongding River(永定河), North Grand Canal, and South Grand Canal; and enters the Pacific Ocean at Tianjin Municipality as well, in Dagu District. Major reservoirs include the Beidagang Reservoir in the extreme south (in Dagang District) and the Yuqiao Reservoir in the extreme north (in Ji County).

The urban area of Tianjin is found in the south-central part of the Municipality. In addition to the main urban area of Tianjin proper, the coast along the Bohai is lined with a series of port towns, including Tanggu (塘沽)and Hangu(漢沽).

Tianjin's climate is a monsoon-influenced humid continental climate (Koppen climate classification Dwa) characterized by hot, humid summers, due to the monsoon, and dry, cold winters, due to the Siberian anticyclone. Average highs in January and July are 2 °C (36 °F) and 31 °C (87 °F) respectively). Spring is windy but dry, and most of the precipitation takes place in July and August. Tianjin also experiences occasional spring sandstorms which blow in from the Gobi Desert and may last for several days.

[edit] Administrative divisions

Modern buildings in Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area (TEDA)
Modern buildings in Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area (TEDA)
A view of Hai He in Tianjin.
A view of Hai He in Tianjin.
See also: List of administrative divisions of Tianjin

Tianjin is divided into 18 county-level divisions, including 15 districts and 3 counties. Six of the districts govern the urban area of Tianjin:

Three of the districts govern towns and harbours along the seacoast:

Four of the districts govern satellite towns and rural areas close to the urban center:

Two of the districts as well as the three counties govern towns and rural areas further away from the urban center:

In addition, the Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area (TEDA) is not a formal level of administration, but nevertheless enjoys rights similar to a regular district.

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

[edit] Politics

Main article: Politics of Tianjin

The politics of Tianjin is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in the mainland China.

The Mayor of Tianjin is the highest ranking official in the People's Government of Tianjin. Since Tianjin is a centrally administered municipality, the mayor occupies the same level in the order of precedence as provincial governors. However, in the city's dual party-government governing system, the mayor has less power than the Tianjin Communist Party of China Municipal Committee Secretary, colloquially termed the "Tianjin CPC Party chief".

[edit] Economy

The nominal GDP for Tianjin was 433.8 billion yuan (US$54.4 billion) in 2006, a year-on-year increase of 14.4%. [2]

In 2006, per capita GDP was 40,961 yuan. The manufacturing sector was the largest (53.2%) and fastest-growing (19.8%) sector of Tianjin's economy. Urban disposable income per capita was 14,283 yuan, a real increase of 13% from the previous year. Rural pure income per capita was 7,942 yuan, a real increase of 13% from the previous year.

Farmland takes up about 40% of Tianjin Municipality's total area. Wheat, rice, and maize are the most important crops. Fishing is important along the coast. Tianjin is also an important industrial base. Major industries include petrochemical industries, textiles, car manufacturing, mechanical industries, and metalworking.

Tianjin Municipality also has deposits of about 1 billion tonnes of petroleum, with Dagang District containing important oilfields. Salt production is also important, with Changlu Yanqu being one of China's most important 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.

EADS Airbus will be opening an assembly plant for its A320 series airliners, to be operational in 2009. AVIC I and AVIC II will be EADS' local partners for the site, to which subassemblies will be sent from plants around the world.[1]

[edit] Demographics

At the end of 2004, the population of Tianjin Municipality was 10.24 million, of which 9.33 million were holders of Tianjin hukou (permanent residence). Among Tianjin permanent residents, 5.56 million were urban, and 3.76 million were rural. [3]

The majority of Tianjin residents are Han Chinese. Minorities include Hui, Koreans, Manchus, and Mongols.

Drum tower
Drum tower
Ethnic groups in Tianjin, 2000 census
Nationality Population Percentage
Han 9,581,775 97.29%
Hui 172,357 1.75%
Manchu 56,548 0.57%
Mongol 11,331 0.12%
Korean 11,041 0.11%
Zhuang 4055 0.041%
Tujia 3677 0.037%

Excludes members of the People's Liberation Army in active service.
Source: Department of Population, Social, Science and Technology Statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics of China (國家統計局人口和社會科技統計司) and Department of Economic Development of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission of China (國家民族事務委員會經濟發展司), eds. Tabulation on Nationalities of 2000 Population Census of China (《2000年人口普查中國民族人口資料》). 2 vols. Beijing: Nationalities Publishing House (民族出版社), 2003. (ISBN )

[edit] Media

Tianjin People's Broadcasting Station is the major radio station in Tianjin. Broadcasting in nine channels, it serves most of North China, part of East and Northeast China, reaching an audience of over 100 million.[4] (Chinese) Tianjin Television, the local television station, broadcasts in nine channels. It also boasts a paid digital channel, featuring home improvement programs.[5] (Chinese) Both the radio and television stations are now branches of the Tianjin Film, Radio and Television Group, established in October of 2002.[6] (Chinese)

Major local newspapers include the Tianjin Daily and Jin Wan Bao(literally, tonight newspaper), which are the flagship papers of Tianjin Daily Newspaper Group and Jinwan Mass Media Group, respectively.

[edit] Culture

Street of Tianjin
Street of Tianjin

People from urban Tianjin speak Tianjin dialect, which comes under the Mandarin subdivision of spoken Chinese. Despite its proximity to Beijing, Tianjin dialect sounds quite different from Beijing dialect, which provides the basis for Putonghua, official spoken language of the People's Republic of China.

Tianjin cuisine places a heavy focus on seafood, due to Tianjin's proximity to the sea. Prominent menus include the Eight Great Bowls (八大碗), a combination of eight mainly meat dishes. It can be further classified into several varieties, including the rough (粗), smooth (S: 细 / T: 細), and high (高). The Four Great Stews (四大扒) refers actually to a very large number of stews, including chicken, duck, seafood, beef, and mutton.

Tianjin also has several famous snack items. Goubuli (狗不理包子) is a traditional brand of baozi(包子) (steamed buns with filling) that is famous throughout China. Guifaxiang (S: 桂发祥麻花 / T: 桂發祥麻花) is a traditional brand of mahua (麻花)(twisted dough sticks). Erduoyan (耳朵眼炸糕) is a traditional brand of fried rice cakes.

Tianjin is a respected home base of Beijing opera, one of the most prestigious forms of Chinese opera.

Ma Sanli (馬三立)(1914 - 2003), an ethnic Hui and longtime resident of Tianjin, is paramountly respected in China for his xiangsheng(相聲), a hugely popular form of Chinese entertainment similar to stand-up comedy. Ma Sanli delivered some of his xiangsheng in the Tianjin dialect(天津話).

Yangliuqing (Green Willows), a town about 15 km west of Tianjin's urban area and the seat of Tianjin's Xiqing District, is famous for its popular Chinese New Year-themed, traditional-style, colourful wash paintings (楊柳青年畫). Tianjin is also famous for Zhang's clay figurines (S: 泥人张 / T: 泥人張) which are a type of colourful figurine depicting a variety of vivid characters, and Tianjin's Wei's kites (S: 风筝魏 / T: 風箏魏), which can be folded to a fraction of their full sizes, are noted for portability.

[edit] Stereotypes

People from Tianjin are stereotyped to be eloquent, humorous, open, and unfettered. There is a term for the stereotype of the always-eloquent and sometimes-humorous Tianjin native: wèizuǐzi (S: 卫嘴子 / T: 衛嘴子), which translates roughly as "the Tianjin mouth". This stereotype is perhaps partially the result of Ma Sanli's reputation (see "Culture" section above).

[edit] Transportation

Translohr in Padua,Italy
Translohr in Padua,Italy
Tianjin North Railway Station
Tianjin North Railway Station
Main article: Transportation in Tianjin

[edit] Metro

The Tianjin Metro is currently under heavy expansion from 3 lines to 9 lines. 3 lines are currently operating both in the city and the Binhai

[edit] 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 (S: 旺道庄 / T: 旺道莊). The station was later moved to Laolongtou (S: 老龙头 / T: 老龍頭) on the banks of the Hai He River in 1892, so the station was renamed Laolongtou Railway Station. The station was rebuilt from scratch 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. In January 2007 the station began another long-term restructuring project to modernize the facility and as part of the larger Tianjin transportation hub project involving 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 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 that do not handle passenger traffic.

Construction on a Beijing-Tianjin high-speed rail began on July 4, 2005, and is scheduled to be completed by August 2008.

The following rail lines go through Tianjin:

[edit] 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.

Tianjin's roads often finish in dao (道 avenue), xian (S: 线 / T: 線) line, more used for highways and through routes) and lu (路 road). Jie (街 street) is rare. As Tianjin's roads are rarely in a cardinal compass direction, jing (S: 经 / T: 經) roads and wei (S: 纬 / T: 緯) roads often appear, which 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:

The expressways are sometimes closed due to dense fog particularly in the Autumn and Spring.

[edit] Air

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

[edit] Public transit

The Tianjin tram network was awarded to a Belgian company in 1904 and opened in 1906. It was the first city-wide tramway system in China. There were 402 bus lines in the city as of 2004. [7](Chinese)

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 Binhai Mass Transit 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.

[edit] Tourism

A Mazu Temple in Tianjin
A Mazu Temple in Tianjin
Gulou Shopping Street and Drum Tower
Gulou Shopping Street and Drum Tower
Entrance to Ancient Culture Street
Entrance to Ancient Culture Street

Sights within the Tianjin urban area include:

Sights outside the Tianjin urban area, but within the municipality, include:

[edit] Sports teams

Sports teams based in Tianjin include:

Chinese Football Association Super League

China Baseball Association

[edit] Education

[edit] Colleges and universities

Under the national Ministry of Education:

Under the national Civil Aviation Authority:

Tianjin Foreign Language University
Tianjin Foreign Language University

Under the government of Hebei Province:

Under the municipal government:

Foreign institutions:

Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed.

[edit] High schools

Tianjin No. 42 High School, part of the Hexi District
Tianjin No. 42 High School, part of the Hexi District

[edit] Sister cities

City Country Sister city since:
Kobe Japan June 24, 1973
Philadelphia United States February 10, 1980
Greenville United States
Flag of Israel Rishon LeZion Israel
Melbourne Australia May 5, 1980
Yokkaichi Japan October 28, 1980
Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina May 28, 1981
Nord-Pas de Calais France October 10, 1984
Milan Italy May 9, 1985
Groningen Netherlands September 12, 1985
Chiba Japan May 7, 1986
Kutaisi Georgia
Plovdiv Region Bulgaria October 15, 1989
İzmir Turkey September 23, 1991
Abidjan Côte d'Ivoire September 26, 1992
Ulaanbaatar Mongolia September 27, 1992
Kharkiv Ukraine June 14, 1993
Jönköping Sweden September 23, 1993
Incheon South Korea December 7, 1993
Łódź Poland October 1, 1994
Rio de Janeiro State Brazil April 18, 1995
Amazonas State Brazil October 20, 1997
Haiphong Vietnam January 8, 1999
Turku Finland August 17, 2000
Nampo North Korea August 11, 2002
Clarence United States November 10, 2001

[edit] Astronomical phenomena

At 39°07.5′N, 117°11.7′E, the previous total solar eclipse was solar eclipse of 1277-Oct-28 occurred on October 28, 1277, the next total solar eclipse will be solar eclipse of 2187-Jul-06 occurring on July 6, 2187.

Total solar eclipses from 1001 to 3000 are:

  • 1277-Oct-28 13:21 CST
  • 2187-Jul-06 17:13 CST
  • 2415-Apr-10 10:49 CST
  • 2636-May-27 05:09 CST
  • 2762-Aug-12 09:43 CST

Annular solar eclipses from 1001 to 3000 are:

  • 1189-Feb-17 11:37 CST
  • 1292-Jan-21 13:30 CST
  • 1665-Jan-16 16:42 CST
  • 1802-Aug-28 15:48 CST
  • 2118-Mar-22 15:33 CST
  • 2439-Jun-12 07:52 CST
  • 2686-Sep-10 07:12 CST
  • 2739-Apr-30 08:41 CST
  • 2894-Dec-18 14:38 CST

Wikisource has an article about solar eclipses as seen from Tianjin from 2001 to 3000.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

  • Ruth Rogaski. Hygienic Modernity: Meanings of Health and Disease in Treaty-Port China. University of California Press, 2004.

[edit] External links

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