Tientsin Travel Guide, China

Tientsin is the one of the largest cities in the northern coastal region of China.  It is commonly referred to as Tianjin and is located on the Hai He River.  It is considered a provincial-level municipality, and as such reports directly to China’s central government.  The urban area in and around Tientsin is the third largest in all of China, with only Shanghai and Beijing being larger.

Farmland occupies almost 40% of the Tianjin municipality.  Rice, wheat, and maize are the more important crops.  Fishing is very prevalent around the coast, but Tianjin is also a major industrial base.  Textiles, metalworking, petrochemical industries, and car manufacturing are the major industries. The Tianjin Municipality has almost one billion tones of petroleum.  One of the outlying areas of Tianjin, Changlu Yanqu is China’s most important area for salt production.  Boron and manganese located under Tianjin were the first deposits found in China.  An assembly plant for EADS Airbus should be up and running by 2009.  This city is a mecca for industrial growth.

Tianjin food has a heavy emphasis on seafood.  Eight Great Bowls and Four Great stews refer to combinations of meat and meat stew dishes that will often contain seafood, beef, chicken and mutton.  Snack items include the famous baozi, which is a steamed bun with filling.  Mahua is a twisted dough stick, while Erduovan is a type of fried rice cakes.

One of the most prestigious and popular forms of the Chinese opera, the Beijing opera has its home base in Tianjin.

The common stereotype of the Tianjin people is that of eloquence and humor, as well as being very open.  It is said this comes from the humor of Ma Sanli, one of Tianjin’s stand up comics.]This great Chinese city has something to offer everyone.  Rich in culture and history, it is worth a trip to take in the sights and sound of Tianjin.