{"id":13170,"date":"2017-03-30T08:00:55","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T12:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=13170"},"modified":"2017-03-29T12:46:12","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T16:46:12","slug":"better-know-a-municipality-tianjin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/better-know-a-municipality-tianjin\/","title":{"rendered":"Better Know a… Municipality (Tianjin)"},"content":{"rendered":"

China is a massive country composed of provinces, autonomous regions, Special Administrative Regions, and municipalities. If that sounds confusing, that’s because it is. We’ve been working our way around the country one area at a time here, introducing each and every single one. There are four municipalities in China, and we’ve already covered the two biggest ones – Beijing<\/a> and Shanghai<\/a>. Next up, we head a little south of the capital to Tianjin<\/strong> (\u5929\u6d25 – ti\u0101n j\u012bn).<\/p>\n

History<\/h2>\n
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Image by Alex Keene from flickr.com.<\/p><\/div>\n

In ancient times, the area that is now Tianjin was open sea. The land was created by the sedimentation of rivers entering the sea at the Bohai Gulf. During the Sui Dynasty, the opening\u00a0of the Grand Canal<\/strong> (\u5927\u8fd0\u6cb3 – d\u00e0 y\u00f9n h\u00e9) turned the area into a center of trade. It was known as Zhigu<\/strong> (\u76f4\u6cbd – zh\u00ed g\u016b) – “Straight Port” – until it was renamed Tianjin in 1404 by the Yongle Emperor. The name means “Heavenly Ford,” to indicate that it was he who forded the river. It was promoted to a prefecture in 1725 and Tianjin County was established a few years later in 1731.<\/p>\n

During the Second Opium War, the British and French sent ships to Tianjin in response to the capture and imprisonment of men aboard a ship called The Arrow. They prevailed, which led to the signing of the Treaty of Tianjin<\/strong> (\u5929\u6d25\u6761\u7ea6 – ti\u0101n j\u012bn ti\u00e1o yu\u0113) in 1858. This very unequal treaty opened Chinese ports, including Tianjin, to foreign trade. They each established concessions in the city, and would eventually be joined by several other countries.<\/p>\n

During the Boxer Rebellion<\/strong> (\u4e49\u548c\u56e2\u8fd0\u52a8 – y\u00ec h\u00e9 tu\u00e1n y\u00f9n d\u00f2ng), the rebels seized control of much of Tianjin. The Eight-Nation Alliance was able to recapture the city, and they established a provisional government. This governed the city for a few years until control was returned to the Qing Dynasty.<\/p>\n

Tianjin grew rapidly thanks to industry, commerce, and finance and was established as a municipality in 1927. Ten years later, the city fell to Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War. At first, the Japanese respected foreign concessions. This changed with the Tianjin Incident<\/strong> (\u5929\u6d25\u4e8b\u4ef6 – ti\u0101n j\u012bn sh\u00ec ji\u00e0n) when they surrounded and blockaded the British concession due to their refusal to hand over six Chinese people who had assassinated a Japanese collaborator. The British eventually gave them up, and they were all executed. Japanese occupation lasted right up until the end of WWII after their surrender.<\/p>\n

More recently, Tianjin was in the news for a huge explosion that rocked the city in 2015. A series of explosions hit a storage container station, killing 173 and wounding several hundred others.<\/p>\n

Geography<\/h2>\n
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Tianjin on the map.<\/p><\/div>\n

Tianjin is located in northern China on the west coast of the Bohai Gulf. It’s bordered by Beijing to the northwest and is surrounded by Hebei province. It’s at the northern end of the Grand Canal, which connects the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers.\u00a0Tianjin is mostly flat, but it does get hilly\u00a0in the north with the Yan Mountains<\/strong> (\u71d5\u5c71 – y\u00e0n sh\u0101n). The Hai River<\/strong> (\u6d77\u6cb3- h\u01cei h\u00e9) is formed here by the confluence of five other rivers and it connects the city to Beijing. It’s divided into 16 county-level divisions, which are all districts.<\/p>\n

Climate<\/h2>\n

Tianjin has four distinct seasons. Winters are cold, windy, and dry, while summers are hot and humid. Spring is also dry and windy, with the fun addition of sandstorms. Tianjin doesn’t get a lot of rain, with most of it coming in July and August. As with many massive metropolises in China, Tianjin is plagued by air pollution problems.<\/p>\n

Population<\/h2>\n
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Image by Ken Marshall from flickr.com.<\/p><\/div>\n

As of 2015, the population of Tianjin was estimated at just over 15 million. It has grown quite rapidly, with the population doubling since the mid ’80s. It’s the largest coastal city in the country, and its urban population is fourth behind Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. While Tianjin is around 97% Han, many of the country’s ethnic minority groups are represented here. The biggest is the Hui, of which there are over 170,000 calling the city home.<\/p>\n