Tianjin

A Day in Tianjin

  

  
The buildings of Tianjin, a dynamic and modern city, reflect an assortment of foreign styles. Although just over an hour away by train from Beijing, during my first four years in Beijing I never once visited Tianjin.Things just always seemed to crop up. This spring I finally got the opportunity to go and this time no last minute alterations got in the way.

It was a fine day. My friend and I set out at 9:00am from BaBao Shan Subway station and arrived at Beijing Railway station forty minutes later. We bought two tickets for the T535 to Tianjin, leaving at 10:14.

At aound 11am Tianjin train station square loomed before us. As in any other northern cities rushing crowds, buses, large scale hotels and huge advertising posters made up the vista. To complete the feeling of sameness there was a KFC dominating one corner of the square and it was this which wiped away any feeling of being in a strange city.

After lunch (in the KFC) we went to Binjiang Street. It is paved in marble and much wider than the narrow streets we had seen on the way.I was pleased to find the same brand names that one sees in Beijing nowadays. Yet we came here not for clothes but for a taste of something different. This obviously wasn’t going to come from the shops so we had to settle for some eighteenth street Mahua made of twisted dough (and very yummy) instead.

The Xikai Catholic Church  is located at the west end of Binjiang Street. It was the first time I had entered a church in my life and I was struck by the solemn atmosphere, the sacredness, the high ceiling and the silence. Tiptoeing around the church we saw a young man murmuring on his knees with crossed hands outstretched.

Afterwards we took a taxi to Machang Street, the southernmost of the famous Five Major Streets. The Five Major Streets are five parallel streets in Tianjin, where western style architecture and former residences of renowned figures abound. We took lots of pictures of those fascinating buildings.

Bus 951 took us back to Tianjin railway station. Before getting on the train back to Beijing, we bought half a kilo of another famous Tianjin speciality, Goubili Baozi (a kind of steamed bun stuffed with pork or seafood) at a restaurant near the ticket hall. At 64 yuan a kilo it wasn’t cheap, but definitely worth it.

Tianjin has both great architecture and great shopping opportunities and is well worth a day trip from Beijing.