Tianjin 天津

1

A quarter of celebrity mansions in Tianjin's former concession areas; over 2,000 buildings in British, French, Italian, German and Spanish styles have earned it the title "Exhibition of World Architecture".

2

A giant Ferris wheel mounted on Yongle Bridge over the Hai River, 120 m in diameter; the world's only observation wheel built on a bridge, it stands astride the river as a Tianjin landmark.

3

An old street of Tianjin folk flavor lined with buildings in Qing-dynasty folk style; beneath the "Jinmen Guli" archway stands Tianhou Palace — imperially commissioned in 1326 during the Yuan dynasty's Taiding reign. As the saying goes, "first there was Tianhou Palace, then Tianjin"; it was the northern center of Mazu worship in the grain-transport era, and its halls still burn incense today.

4

Asia's only fully preserved Italian concession (opened in 1902), with Italian villas, columns and round arches forming contiguous streets

5

The classic way to tour the Haihe at night; round trips of about 1h depart from Tianjin Railway Station Pier or Ancient Culture Street Pier, linking landmarks on both banks such as Jiefang Bridge, Jinwan Plaza, the Jinmen and Jinta towers, and Dagu Bridge

6

A French-style architectural complex on a bend of the Haihe River, where red-roofed, cream-walled European buildings enclose a theater-like plaza facing the modern skyline across the water — Tianjin's most photogenic urban pairing

7

A millennium commemorative clock on the plaza in front of Tianjin Railway Station, completed in 2000; a European-style clock body with gears and zodiac reliefs, its hands turning day and night — a photo landmark by the Haihe River

8

Its most celebrated treasures include the Taibao Ding of the Western Zhou dynasty, Northern Song painter Fan Kuan's "Snowy Cold Forest Landscape", the Qing dynasty jadeite cabbage with a katydid, and "Myriad Tablets Facing Heaven"; painting, calligraphy and artifact collections are all comprehensive

9

A memorial museum dedicated to Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao

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A themed memorial hall for the concluding campaign of the three major campaigns, with complete displays of campaign decisions, siege routes and artifacts, plus real tanks and artillery arrayed in the square

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Inheriting the legacy collections of the Beijiang Museum — one of China's earliest natural history museums, founded in 1914 by French missionary Émile Licent — its paleontology and animal ecology exhibits rank among the nation's best

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A long-established science venue where interactive exhibits and a dome-screen theater suit primary and middle school students; the hands-on experiment area draws the biggest crowds

13

A Lingnan guild hall built in 1907 during the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty; Tianjin's best-preserved guild hall of Guangdong merchants, now home to the Tianjin Theatre Museum

14

"Screen of Tianjin" — the battlefield site of the three Battles of Dagukou in 1858, 1859 and 1900, where the "Weizhen Haimengao" battery survives along with several excavated iron cannons

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The Catholic Church of Our Lady of Victory, built in 1869, its Gothic facade standing beside Shizilin Bridge on the Haihe River

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Built in 1863 as 'modern China's first foreign-owned hotel', it has operated for over 160 years — truly a museum you can check into

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The 'Wall Street of the East' of the late Qing and early Republic era, with rows of former bank buildings — HSBC, Citibank, Chartered Bank and other Chinese and foreign banks — Roman columns and domes lining the street, most buildings well preserved and still used for finance

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The largest park in urban Tianjin, long known as the 'West Lake of the North'; three lakes and five islands are linked by bridges and causeways, with summer lotuses and autumn willows each offering their own scenery

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Nankai was founded in 1919 by Yan Xiu and Zhang Boling, and Zhou Enlai's famous words 'I love Nankai' live on today; Boling Building and the banks of Xinkai Lake remain as plain and leafy as ever

20

The 'First Mountain East of Beijing'; Emperor Qianlong's praise — 'Had I known of Panshan, why would I have traveled south of the Yangtze?' — made it famous nationwide. Remains of 72 temples and monasteries are layered among five peaks and eight rocks, and the trails to Guayue Peak and Yunzhao Temple brim with ancient charm

21

A perilous section of the Ming Great Wall's Ji Garrison, built under the supervision of Qi Jiguang as garrison commander; its most ingenious part is the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) fortress of Huangyazheng Pass — streets inside are laid out along the Eight Trigrams directions, so visitors easily lose their bearings, a unique example of Great Wall defensive design

22

The 'Eye of Binhai' — an internet-famous library opened in 2017; the spherical multipurpose hall in its atrium gazes at the mountain of books like an eye, and the terraced bookshelves rising layer upon layer earned it a place on lists of the world's most beautiful libraries.

23

A large military theme park built around the retired Soviet aircraft carrier Kiev; board the ship to tour the flight deck, hangars and combat stations, with intuitive displays of real weapons and equipment.

24

A man-made beach on the shores of Bohai Bay, billed as 'the nearest sea to Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei'; a long stretch of fine sand where summer swimming, clam digging and shell picking, and sailing experiences are concentrated.

25

The 'Palace Museum of the Sea' — a national first-class museum opened in 2019 presenting three sections side by side: marine nature, maritime culture and navigation technology; exhibits span from ancient marine fossils to displays on China's maritime civilization, with rich whale specimens and ancient seafaring technology.

26

The undisputed holy land of Tianjin breakfasts — long queues already form outside the alleyway breakfast shops before daybreak: gabacai (mung bean pancake soup), tofu pudding, fried cakes and rolled fritters perfume the streets; add a bowl of freshly ground soy milk and you have the complete Tianjin 'Four Unique Breakfasts' experience.

27

A Chinese castle-style food city built in the 1980s, where dozens of time-honored Tianjin brands and snack stalls gather — the Goubuli flagship store, Erduoyan fried cakes and Shibajie mahua (fried dough twists) can all be tasted in one stop.