A one-day-tour of Tianjin

I have studied in Beijing for about 2 years and visited lots of places there. Beijing is notable in most westerners' eyes, yet Tianjin was also one that can offer you something to explore. In my imagination, Tianjin was a beautiful coastal city. As an ancient city with thousands of year's history and a heavy industry city for more than a century in China, Tianjin has deep culture root. Together with the local dialect and world famous "Goubuli", it held a special attraction for me.

I picked one weekend and paid a one day tour to Tianjin together with my friends. As planned, our first stop was Ancient Culture Street. To get to know one place, one should first understand its culture. More than a hundred stores stood on the 580-metre-long Ancient Culture Street. Curios, jade articles, jewels, statutes, calligraphies, paintings as well as all kinds of folk crafts were too many to be fully appreciated. What attracted me most was the live show of the folk artists making sugar-coated figurine.

Next to Ancient Culture Street was the mother river of Tianjin, Haihe. And Tianjinnanshi Food Street was a stone's throw from Haihe. Tianjin cannabis, Tianjin Goubuli steamed stuffed buns as well as Tianjin Erduoyan Fried Cake were the top there food and popular among tourists home and aboard. In most cases, visitors must queue to buy them. We went to eat Goubuli at lunch time. Lots of eaters and it was hard to get a table. The steamed stuffed buns were delicately made and looked like crafts rather than food. Anyway, they did not worth the price.

We bought local specialty before we went on for the next stop: Tianjin Wudadao Sightseeing Street. Located at the southern part of Tianjin, Wudadao District contends five main avenues from east to west named after five famous cities in southwest China. They are Chengdudao, Chongqingdao, Dalidao, Munandao as well as Machangdao. There are over 2.000 garden-style villas built in 1920s and 30s by different countries and more than 300 sites of scenery buildings and famous people. Most of the buildings are not tall, just three to four floors. Yet it was recognized globally as the Exposition of Neoteric Architectures. Wudadao gives an expression to contemporary and modern Tianjin. It incorporates the famous people and their residences, anecdotes and foreign buildings. By that, it becomes a unique tour site that can tell the changes over the past hundred years in China.

Heping Road is the proud of Tianjin People, so we took a stroll there. It is not only the commercial district in northern China but also an ideal place for shopping and leisure. Heping Road is called as "Golden Street". As the top one commercial street in Tianjin, it presents the business and culture development of Tianjin over the last century.

It was late after our stroll on the Golden Street so we returned to Tanggu. Although Tianjin is far less notable than its neighbor brother Beijing, it is a great city with unique culture, and delicate food. Moreover, kind and caring Tianjin people speak pleasant local dialect. Consider a side tour to Tianjin if you are now exploring Beijing.