After finishing up midterms on Friday, we decided it was time for a break. Just 1 1/2 hours southeast of Beijing is a city called Tianjin, also nicknamed the “Shanghai of the North”. Though Tianjin is nowhere near as popular as Shanghai, they are similar in that both are big port cities and both have unique European architecture from its early days as a foreign concession. A day and a half spent in Tianjin was more than enough time to see everything and proved to be a great choice for a short weekend trip.
Enjoying Tianjin’s Ancient Culture Street (Guwenhua Jie):
Wow! Art you can eat! This sweet, old man melts sugar in his sauce pan to create works of art like this delicate fish that you can eat!
Ancient Culture Street is lined with stores selling all sorts of Chinese specialties like tea sets, chops, paintings, rocks, calligraphy brushes, and other interesting items.
Birds are popular pets in China. This little boy looks for the bird inside a beautiful wood cage:
Ancient Culture Street is conveniently connected to Guwan Shichang, the popular Antique Market. All along the streets, blankets are spread out and trinkets displayed.
Our travel book, Lonely Planet, explains that “according to the locals, much of what is displayed was seized during the Cultural Revolution and warehoused; the government is now slowly selling the stuff off to vendors who, in turn, resell it in Tianjin. These goods supposedly come from all over China. Many of the items carry stickers on the back indicating when, where and from whom the goods were seized.” Most of what we found included old jade and silver pieces, stamps, clocks, porcelain and Mao iconography.
This snack was a popular hit so we decided to try it. It’s made from ground up rice that is heated in little wooded cups which are stacked on a stove. The cups whistle and steam when they are ready and you can add any flavor topping you like!
Leaving Ancient Culture Street and the Antique Market we had no trouble finding taxi drivers waiting for business. I think one of my absolute favorite things about Tianjin was the people, especially the talkative taxi drivers. Tianjin drivers are the most friendly, chipper, and the loudest people I’ve ever met. There’s actually a term called the “Tianjin Mouth” which describes people from Tianjin as “eloquent, humorous and open.”
