Tianjin, China's third largest municipality-level city after international superstar Shanghai and nearby Beijing , tends to get lost in the shuffle. It's not perceived as archetypal of China's present warp-speed rush to modernize like Shanghai, nor is it widely known for its historical significance like Beijing. It's too bad, because this often overlooked city has much to offer: an eclectic stock of colonial-era, European-style buildings to rival Shanghai's famous Bund , excellent examples of classical Chinese architecture such as the Monastery of Deep Compassion and Tianhou Temple , great shopping at the Antiques Market and in modern malls, a dynamic local culture featuring a delicious seafood-based cuisine, and, in the northern reaches of the municipality well beyond the urban core, the Huangyaguan stretch of the Great Wall . The best of Tianjin isn't served up on a pre-arranged package-tour platter, but with a little effort it's a rewarding and fascinating destination.

History

Tianjin's name reflects its historical status as something of an in-between place. Translating roughly to "Emperor's Ford" (from the characters for "heaven"-the emperor is the "Son of Heaven"-and "river ford"), Tianjin received its name from the great Ming Emperor Yongle (1402-1424 AD), who crossed the Hai River on his way to take the imperial throne in Beijing from his nephew. In 1404, the city formerly known as Zhigu ("Straight Port") was renamed in honor of Yongle's passage.

Tianjin had already been a trading center from the time of the Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD) thanks to its proximity to Beijing, Bohai Bay, the Yellow River and the Grand Canal , which delivered huge quantities of goods, including imperial tribute rice from much of China, to Tianjin before continuing on to Beijing. When the European colonial powers began to expand into China in the nineteenth century, Tianjin was caught between European imperial ambition and the struggles of the weakening Qing Dynasty (1614-1911). In 1856, Qing troops boarded a merchant vessel in Tianjin flying the British flag and took a dozen prisoners on charges of piracy and opium smuggling. This provided the British and French with a pretext to send in gunboats, which overpowered Chinese defenses with relative ease. The 1858 Treaty of Tianjin granted colonial powers broad concessions in the city, and it was not long before Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Belgium and Japan all established their own self-enclosed trading bases outside the old Chinese city. Today, visitors can still see fine examples of this troubled period's architectural heritage, from imposing bank buildings and administrative centers to spacious, ornate villas.

Anti-foreigner sentiment was understandably strong in the area and eventually led to an eruption of violence in the so-called Tianjin Incident of 1870, during which local Chinese, convinced that a French orphanage was a front for kidnapping and cannibalism, attacked and burned the Wanghailou Church and French consulate, killing a number of nuns and priests in the process. This led to demands for reparations, which the Qing were obliged to pay. Later, in 1900, the Boxers rose in Tianjin, only to be defeated by an eight-nation expeditionary force. In 1937, Tianjin again suffered imperialist aggression when the Japanese seized the city, occupying it until their final 1945 defeat and the end of World War II. The Japanese occupation was followed by a brief American military presence that ended in 1947 after mass demonstrations erupted throughout the city, protesting a series of rapes by US service members.

The Communists took Tianjin in 1949, along with the rest of mainland China. The tumultuous period of the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976, a year that saw both the death of Mao Zedong and a massive earthquake that killed nearly 24,000 people in Tianjin. Since the opening of China's economy in 1980, Tianjin has grown with the rest of industrial China. One of China's four municipalities, along with Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing , Tianjin has the same administrative status as the country's much larger provinces-a testament to the city's importance. Today, like so many Chinese cities, Tianjin is experiencing growing pains as much of the old-including a number of the old European colonial buildings-gives way to huge development projects.

Climate

The best times to visit Tianjin are spring (April and May are nicest) and fall (September and October). Tianjin experiences cold, dry and windy winters, with average low January temperatures falling to 2°C (36°F). By July, the city's average highs reach a steamy 31°C (87°F) as Southeast Asia's monsoon system pushes hot and humid air northward, bringing with it regular rains. Spring and summer also see occasional sandstorms as sand and dust from the Gobi Desert blow into the city.