Tianjin

Ferris Wheel over the Haihe River

Another highlight of this China trip was a visit to Tianjin – and a powerful reminder of just how much China has changed over the past two decades. I left my hotel near Beida and took the new subway (cost: 2 yuan, or 30 cents) to the new Beijing South railway station, and there hopped on the new high-speed rail connection to Tianjin – and arrived just a half an hour later. The beautiful (& comfortable) bullet trains travel at 200 mph through the countryside, and were certainly the equal of anything I’ve traveled on in Europe or Japan. (Hopefully, we’ll get some soon in the US!) I had never been to Tianjin before, and expected to see a grimy industrial/port city – but the walkways along the Haihe River were beautiful, the preserved foreign sector with its restaurants & nightclubs was quite charming, & the architecture impressive. There was a 110 meter diameter Ferris wheel on a bridge above the river (the only one in the world like that) which takes visitors up as high as a 35 story building at the top – even taller than London’s version.

Century Clock

The landmark Century Clock at the railway station represents the fact that China’s modern industrial development began here. And, of course, you can’t go to Tianjin without stopping in at the Goubuli restaurant for some of their steamed stuffed buns! A great visit, and many, many thanks to Ms. Yuan Fang (formerly of NDRC, now with Shell Oil) for arranging it.