Tianjin Museum

The Tianjin Museum, located at the southern side of the scheduled Tianjin Municipal Administrative and Cultural Center at Hexi District, covers an area of 5.02 hectares with the total building space of 31,400 square meters. The Museum, a shell structure, is designed in the shape of a giant swan.

The museum houses the collections of the former Tianjin Art Museum and the Tianjin Historical Museum, with both Chinese ancient fine arts and Tianjin’s history represented in a collection of 200,000 items that inlcude calligraphy, paintings, bronzeware, ceramics, jadeware, seals, inkstone, coins, historic documents and local folk art.

Hours of Operation:

The museum is open Tuesday - Sunday from 9:00 —16:30 ( free tickets are available before 4:00 p.m. Bring ID with you to get free tickets) Closed Mondays (Except for some important holidays)

Location in English : 31 Youyi Lu, Hexi District, Tianjin

Location in Chinese：天津市河西区友谊路31号

Phone：022-58793000

Website：www.tjbwg.com

Tianjin Eye

The Tianjin Eye is a ferris wheel built over the Hai River. The wheel is between the lanes on the Chihai bridge, with access on a deck below. Opened in 2009, the wheel has quickly become one of the city's biggest attractions. The highest point is 120m above the ground, the same height as a 35-story building. With 48 transparent cabins that can seat eight passengers each, up to 384 people can ride the Tianjin Eye at a time. Each rotation takes 30 minutes.

Price: 50 RMB for an adult ticket, 25 RMB for a Children ticket and disabled people. 300 RMB for one cabin ticket(at most 5 people)

Time : Daytime 9:00 to 21:00; closed on Mondays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon.

Address: In front of Da Bei Yuan, over Yongle Bridge, Hebei District

By Bus: You can take the following buses and get off at “Jingang Qiao” stop

1路、观光2路、4路、12路、18路、34路、609路、610路、611路、619路、632路、641路、646路、659路、670路、671路、818路、878路、904路。

Great Wall at Huangya Guan (huang2ya2 guan1)

Although technically part of Tianjin, it's about as far away from the city center as you can get and still be in Tianjin. You need to take a bus to Ji4xian4, which is the town closest to the wall, and from there take another bus to Huangya Guan. This part of the Great Wall is far less known to tourists than Badaling in Beijing. As a result, you don't have to deal with as many hecklers, which is always a plus. Once you get to the area of the wall, there are two sections open to you. The Western half of the wall, which is probably the one you'll arrive at, is fairly short and not too intensive from what I could tell. There will probably be some Taxi drivers, however, who will offer to take you up to the Eastern section of the wall. If you go with them they'll drive you to the top of a mountain and from there you'll take the wall all the way back to where you started. Although you're going downhill, it still provides a really good workout as well as some breathtaking views. Highly recommended if you're looking to try the wall somewhere a little off the beaten path.

How to get there: There are a few trains that go to Jixian every day, taking about 3 hours and costing 8 yuan. There are also buses that leave from the North Bus station which can take you to Jixian for around 25-30 yuan, I believe. Once you arrive in Jixian, you'll need to get a taxi to the Great Wall. Expect that to cost around 30-35 yuan. They'll probably offer to take you up to the Eastern Half of the wall for another 40-50 yuan. I suggest you take that, as the eastern half is by far the superior side of the wall.
Cost:Tickets to actually enter the wall area itself are 40 yuan.

Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao Memorial Museum

This museum is dedicated to Zhou Enlai, the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, and his wife Deng Yingchao. Zhou Enlai was well-regarded for his tireless and dedicated work ethic, and his unusual charm and poise in public.

On display throughout the exhibition are Zhou and Deng’s works, private collections and other objects and photos related to their lives.

Address in Chinese: 天津市南开区水上公园北路1号

English: Nankai District, Shui Shang Bei Lu No. 1

Phone: 022-23592257 / 23591821

Ticket: free (bring ID with you)

Open Time: 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (free tickets available before 4:00 p.m.)

Website http://www.mzhoudeng.com/main/index.html

Tianjin Amusement Park (天津乐园Tian1jin1 Le4yuan2)

This has now closed (Oct 2009) due to the development of a new cultural quarter for the city.

Concession Area Horse And Buggy Tours

I just kind of stumbled accross this the other day while wandering around looking to find the Richmond Restaurant. Their main "base" seems to located around the old Min Yuan Stadium (minyuan tiyuchang) over on Hebei Lu, near the Earthquake Memorial and the Richmond Restaurant. For 20 yuan per person, (although you may need a certain amount of people with you), they'll take you on a horse-drawn tour of the nearby British concession areas. The horses looked like they could have been groomed better, but overall, this might be something interesting worth checking out. They operate the tours anytime from 9:00am to 8:00pm. They also mentioned some other rates in addition to the 20 RMB/person, but my Chinese wasn't good enough to figure out everything they said. Perhaps they were talking about group rates, or rates for longer tours, or minimum total amounts, I'm not sure. Anyways, if anyone decides to try this, please let us know how it went. Contributed by NateM.

Tianjin Water Park (水上公园 Shui3shang4 gong1yuan2)

The Water Park is located near Nankai University, and is probably the most well-known park in Tianjin. As the name suggests, it's a park dominated by water features, but there is still plenty of opportunity for long walks on the shore of the lake, with bridges linking together several islands. The entrance fee was scrapped in 2009 when the park reopened following an extensive makeover. This has led to a predictable surge in the number of visitors, with the park now very busy on good-weather weekends. If peace and quiet is what you are looking for, midweek or winter would be the time to go.

Open: 7:00 a.m – 9:00 p.m.

Tianjin TV Tower, (天塔tian1ta2)

This is one thing everyone who visits Tianjin has to check out. Perhaps the most recognizeable feature of Tianjin, the TV tower, (on a clear day), can provide you with some breathtaking views of the city. That clear day part is key, without it, you're bound to feel a bit cheated. It could use some cleaning and basic maintnance, as well. The times I've been there, the windows needed some cleaning. Which is why it's generally recommended to go to the outside observatory for an unobstructed view. The times I've went, though, the view was great, and I had a good time. It's located near Nankai University, just south of Wujiayao Dajie, and most drivers should know exactly where you're talking about when you say Dianshi ta. The nice thing about it is that, even if they can't understand your Chinese, it's tall enough that you can probably just point to it from most places in the city and that'll get you there eventually. Cost of admission is 50 RMB, although some days they also offer lunch or dinner on their revolving restaurant on the top floor, which is another 15 RMB or so. If there's no dinner on the day you're there, you can still order drinks and small snacks and stuff in their revolving lounge, (different from the restaurant).

Hai River Seaside Park (Hai2he1 Wai4tan1 Gong1yuan2)

Located in Tanggu, about half an hour to 45 minutes from Tianjin city proper. The best way to get there from Tianjin is to go to the light rail station closest to you (Qing1gui2 zhan4), and take that to yanghuoshichang station, (or, if you aren't close enough to the light rail line, there are also always buses at the Train station willing to take you, and I think there are regular trains that go there, as well). From there you can catch a taxi to the park. Most taxi drivers in Tanggu should know what you're talking about if you say "Haihe Gongyuan". It shouldn't be more than 8 yuan if you go by the meter, and I've had students with me bargain them down to 5 before. This is a big, sprawling boardwalk along the Hai river in Tanggu, and is a pretty good place to go spend an afternoon. It's distinguishing features are 3 big white structures that I'm told are supposed to symbolize the ancient Chinese Sun god riding dragons, but which look kinda like waves made of white railroad ties, and an old cruise ship called the Orient Princess which is now permanently stationed there and serves as an expensive KTV bar. From here you can walk along their boardwalk, take your picture with statues of naked babies (no, I'm not kidding), ride bumper cars or play videogames in their big underground arcade, take boat trips or ride jet skis on the river, and sometimes do a weird, miniature, Chinese version of bungee-jumping. There's quite a bit to do here, and if you get bored there is a big shopping street just a block or so away. Entrance to the park is free, but doing anything there is going to cost you money, of course. Probably the best thing to see in Tanggu, that I'm aware of.

Hebin Park (He2bin1 gong1yuan2)

This is Tanggu's other big park, and is actually located fairly close to the boardwalk. The best way to get there from Tianjin is to go to the light rail station closest to you (Qing1gui2 zhan4), and take that to yanghuoshichang station, (or, if you aren't close enough to the light rail line, there are also always buses at the Train station willing to take you, and I think there are regular trains that go there, as well). From there you can catch a taxi to the park. There's an old Chinese temple here, a lake, some carnival games, and a zoo, (and maybe a small water park with some waterslides, although I didn't investigate too closely). Most of the carnival rides were closed down when I was there. They're probably waiting for it to get closer to summer. On part of the lake there appeared to be a swimming beach, although again I didn't investigate it too closely because it's was too cold for swimming. The zoo only costs 5 RMB to enter, and if you look around it you can see why. It's in a pretty sorry state of neglect right now, and it made me kind of sad to see it. They do have some decent sized animals, including a double-humped camel, ostriches, and a tiger.

Tianjin Green House (Lu Se Shi Dai 绿色时代):

Unfortunately, I don't know the exact location. It's immediately next to the ringroad, roughly to the west of Tianjin city centre, I guess. This is a fairly big indoor botanical garden complete with Desert Hall and Rainforest Hall. There is also a sculpture of chairman Mao surrounded by kids and fountains. The most hillarious things are the mechanically animated rubber sculptures, among them a lifesize ape, a python and a bunch of singing and dancing (no kidding!!!) dinosaurs. Kids will love it! Entrance fee is fairly steep at 50 RMB. Next to the green house is a flower market where you can buy all sorts of plants and flowers. Contributed by Matthias Bauer.

Tianjin Leisure Port/ Aircraft Carrier Park (Chinese name?):

This one is located roughly halfway between Tanggu and Hangu at the shore of the Bohai Sea. To get there take a bus/light rail to Tanggu and then a taxi (15 - 20 minutes ride). Alternatively, go to Hangu by bus and take a taxi there. Centrepiece of this new amusement park is the former soviet-russian aircraft carrier 'Kiev'. The ship is accessible and you can wander through the different rooms of the ship, such as the radar and control room, the aircraft hangar and so on. The interior, however, is mostly renovated and you don't get a real feeling of how it used to look like in Communist times. You can also access the deck where the aircrafts used to start and land. They have a collection of old MiG-Aircrafts there. Some of the weaponry is also on display. When I was there (last year) some more attractions were under construction in the surrounding area, for example a swimming pool with salt water and a mud bath and something like a restaurant and bar street. Should be finished by now.

Entrance fee is fairly steep at 100 RMB per person. I haven't heard of this one since last year - maybe it is bancrupt already? Any idea? Contributed by Matthias Bauer.

Yangliuqing

This is a small town to the west of Tianjin. To get there take a taxi and negotiate a lump-sum price - shouldn't cost more than 30 RMB. There should be buses too somewhere.

The main draw here is the Old Mansion of a rich merchant family (Shi's family mansion). There are a number of courtyards, small alleyways with red lanterns, a theatre stage and a small garden. It is heavily renovated but still gives a good picture of the living conditions in the late Qing dynasty.

There is a second mansion right behind the first one. To get there you have to walk past the first mansion along the side street and then turn to get to the entrance gate - it is really directly behind the first big mansion. This mansion is smaller but equally attractive with some nice courtyards and interesting exhibitions. There are some interesting displays of household items and western-style furniture.

The newly designed waterfront promenade in front of the two mansions is relatively pleasant for strolling. You can also rent boats here. Around the two mansions they have erected a number of new traditional-style buildings with shops selling Chinese crafts, in particular the famous Yangliuqing New Year pictures (mostly fat babies, big fish or a combination of both). Business doesn't seem to be thriving though.

On the other side of the river there is a small tower (Wing Ta?) hidden between the Hutongs. Apparently this one is several hundred years old.

In the modern town centre of Yangliuqing is a huge square with a red steel sculpture surrounded by pleasant water features. Fun in summer! Contributed by Matthias Bauer.