Tianjin is the sixth largest city by population in China and lies directly southeast of Beijing, only half an hour away by high speed rail. We have an aunt and uncle who live in Tianjin and we plan to visit them during a day trip for Beijing. The city was an important port city and served as a guard city for Beijing. Consequently it served as western access to Beijing. As a result of the Opium Wars in the late 19th century and the Boxer Rebellion during the early 1900s, Tianjin became the home to foreign concessions (Austro-Hungarian, Belgian, British, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and American). Land was ceded to each of the colonial powers where Western diplomats, merchants, traders and entrepreneurs could reside full-time and colonial authority presided over these territories. As a result of these concessions, the city has many late 19th century Western colonial style buildings such as mansions, clubs, banks, churches and hotels.

I expect we’ll be doing some sightseeing but the main purpose of the visit is to meet our relatives. I’m looking forward to sharing a large meal with all of our relatives. Tianjin cuisine is known for its seafood and river fish and shrimp. The Hia He (海河 or Sea River) connects the Yellow Sea to Tianjin and Beijing.

One dish that I would like to try is a dumpling known as Goubuli (狗不理) baozi for which Tianjin is renowned and is a steamed, pork stuffed bun. The name literally means “dogs don’t pay attention” and is derived from the nickname of its founder Gao Gui You (高贵友) who became so successful that he had no time to converse with his customers.

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