Colorful Tianjin

The striking color of new area in Tianjin, China.

Skyscrapers

Compare to other metropolitans in China, Tianjin started development a little later. But the city is booming in recent years, the government started rapid development, the city is under-construction. In the picture, you can see the skysrappers rising to the sky.

watchtower

A watchtower that overlooks Dongli Lake in Tianjin, China.

Qufudao

Qufudao, in the middle of Jiefangbeilu, Xiaobailou and Nanjing Road, is one of the main street in Tianjin. Many landmarks in Tianjin sit on this street. Because it cross the Hai River, so part of the road is Daguangming Bridge. The Modern Chinese style building at the back is Hyatt Hotel, Tianjin.

Tianjin Eye

Tianjin Eye is a ferris wheel built over Hai River. The ferris wheel is between the two way lanes on Chihai bridge. Holiday Inn is on one side of the river.

Tianjin Railway Station at night

The giant building in the picture is the Tianjin Railway Station at night. It is the principal railway station in Tianjin, China. It was built in 1888 and was rebuilt from scratch in 1987-1988.

Kong Gang Wu Liu

Tianjin Kong Gang Wu Liu New Building.

Tianjin Metro Station

China is a country with billions of people, in such a gigantic country, moving people around rapidly is not an easy job.

As a Chinese grown up in a big city in China, I experience the madness of the traffic everyday. Not just the lack of infrastructure, but the people’s mentality, the only way to describe the traffic scene is ‘No rules apply’.

The government installed more traffic police stations, but the way people behave is not changing that much. So the government started to think alternative solutions. Rapid Transit System has to be made available in many big cities to tackle the worsening traffic and pollution.

Tianjin Metro

Tianjin, as the third largest city in China, started the rapid transit construction almost 40 years ago. Construction started on July 4, 1970, the first phase 3.6 km and 4 stations had been completed in February 1976. After the expansion, by December 28, 1984, the total length was 7.4 km, 8 stations.

However the metro service was suspended on October 9, 2001 in order to modernize the line. Tianjin Metro Line 1 (Liuyuan-Shuanglin) is 26.188 km long. It reopened on June 12, 2006.

The long term plan of the metro system includes 8 metro lines and one light rail line (line 9). Lines 1, 2 and 3 are designated as the backbone of the rapid transit system.

Not many folks get used to the Metro, most working class people still prefer riding the bike or to take a bus, because the cost is cheaper. Upper class are fascinated by the American culture and want to own private car. Most people who choose to take the train are middle class.

If the fare can’t drop, the Metro system may have to take years to be profitable. But nevertheless, this is a good start to pave the way for the future.

Postmodern Architecture in Tianjin

Walking on the street in the inner city of Tianjin, you would have a strong feel of postmodernism. Architect in China developed an eclectic approach to design buildings. Architects in China draw individual elements like color, shape from a variety of sources, systems and styles inside and outside of China. Like the building in the picture, the color theme is mainly coped with the old town’s color but rejects the notion of a ‘pure’ form or traditional Chinese architectonic detail.

Sculpture in Tianjin, China

Modern sculpture in Tianjin is different from the ones made in the past. In the past, sculptures always had strong political message in them, a specific war hero, a great communist leader had their statues worshiped like idols. With the political zeal cooling down, modern artists are allowed to experiment with new and open ideas, still within the level of social and political tolerance. Even with this openness, the underlying message is still always political.

The site-specific art in the photo was taken at the heart of Tianjin Airport Industrial Park, more than half of the fortune 500 companies will be investing in this industrial park. Not to say local and national cooperations. This ‘Twisted Rope’ symbolizes unity and social harmony which is the current political propaganda.

Modern propagandas are more pragmatic than the ones in the past. Economy is a nation’s jugular, and the Party’s economic reform is a thumping success. Before 1949, China’s political turmoil and upheaval made business hard to grow, investment couldn’t be made in a politically unstable country. Modern China, though has tight political control, but this allows economy to grow at rapid speed.