Tianjin Things to Do

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The Confucian Temple, obviously by virtue of its name, is dedicated to the life of Confucius, one of China's greatest sages. Pagodas frame a goldfish pond blanketed with water lilies creating the quintessential Chinese setting usually found in travel brochures and complimentary airline magazines. When I visited in March 2009 the temple was undergoing refurbishment.

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This church, built in the early 20th Century, in Neo-Romanesque style and located about 1km west of the Friendship Guesthouse, is the largest in Tianjin. Its three aisles are decorated with frescos and its ground plan is in the form of the Cross of Lorraine.

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The Temple of Great Mercy in the north of the town is one of the best-preserved temples to be found in Tianjin or in the surrounding countryside. It was restored following the 1976 earthquake.
The older part, rebuilt in 1669, houses hundreds of old bronze, iron, wooden and stone statues, a few of which date back as far as the 3rd C. The new section, built in 1949, is the headquarters of the local Buddhist's Art Museum.

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Wooden shops fronted with prominent balconies and red and green painted columns canyon the street, creating a replicated 19th century market setting. Trinkets, carved jade figurines, calligraphy, teapots, and fine handmade porcelain pack the stores. Judicial souvenir seekers can also snare famous Yangliuqing New Year's prints at the Tianjin Yangliuqing Gallery and authentic clay figurines at Nirenzhang Clay Figurine Store. Shopping, however, does not need to be the main motivation for entering for this is one of Tianjin's "Do Not Miss" attractions.

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Once on a sunday morning I took a hike,walk along the river.Very soon I ran into a beautiful,lovely little park with sculptures of different classic composers.On sunday you can watch a lot of people(mainly with bikes)meeting there.I was amazed to find the sculpture of Franz Liszt!!!It is a lovely,peaceful,small park next to the river.There is no adress for this park on a map.
Follow the river from the railwaystation to the entrance,crossover to the Golden street.Instead of crossing the bridge continue walking right side from the river -direction Ancient Culture street.Very soon you see the small park with all the sculptures.Beethoven,Mozart....even Haydn and Liszt!!Lovely!!!!Enjoyed it a lot!Very peaceful and relaxed atmosphere there on weekend.And Strauss!!!!!I love this music!!!!Felt very,very homesick there.....

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Numerous activities,lots of souveneer shops .But also a glimpse of chinese tradition and culture.The temple is awesome(new but still worth a visit)At the center of the area you can watch chinese theater ,opera.From the culture street you can continue to walk to the tourism center and to Theater museum and even to Lvzutang temple.Doing this you pass a lot of small street shops which offer all sorts of useful and fancy stuff.Enjoyed to stroll around this area and bargain on this small shops.

I found a Post Office (China Post) which is also a bank at the end of Binjiang Pedestrian Steet at the junction of He Ping Road.

There was a philatelic center that sold stamps and postcards.

Bought the Tianjin Ancient Culture Street postcard with a preprinted 4.50 postage for all countries. Happy to say that the postal service in China is very reliable. This postcard found its way home. See photo of postcard.

This is the famous French Roman Catholic Church, Wanghailou Church was built around 1870.

It is also the site of the Tianjin incident or Tianjin massacre depending who call it what.

The Tianjin incident was a breakdown in trust between the local authorithy and French missionary. Tension broke up resulted in the killing of local converts and Western foreigners..