Tianjin

Tianjin 天津
Municipality
天津市 · Municipality of Tianjin
Clockwise from top: Jinwan Square, Tianjin Financial Center and Hai River, Xikai Church, Panorama of downtown Tianjin, Tianjin Railroad Station, Tianjin Eye
Location of Tianjin Municipality within China
Coordinates: 39°08′N 117°11′E
Country	People's Republic of China
Settled	ca. 340 BC
Divisions  - County-level  - Township- level	13 districts, three counties 240 towns and villages
Government
• Type	Municipality
• CPC Secretary	Sun Chunlan
• Mayor	Huang Xingguo
• Congress Chairman	Xiao Huaiyuan
• Conference Chairman	He Lifeng
Area
• Municipality	11,760 km2 (4,540 sq mi)
• Urban	174.9 km2 (67.5 sq mi)
• Metro	5,606.9 km2 (2,164.8 sq mi)
Population  (2010 census)
• Municipality	12,938,224
• Density	1,100/km2 (2,800/sq mi)
• Urban	4,342,770
• Urban density	25,000/km2 (64,000/sq mi)
• Metro	10,290,987
• Metro density	1,800/km2 (4,800/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Tianjinese Tianjiner
Time zone	UTC+8 (China Standard)
Postal code	300000 – 301900
Area code	22
GDP	2011
- Total	CNY1119.0 billion (USD177.6 billion) (20th)
- Per capita	CNY 84,337 (USD 13,058) (1st)
HDI (2008)	0.875 (3rd) – high
Licence plate prefixes	津A, B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M 津E (taxis)
City flower	Chinese rose
Website	www.tj.gov.cn (in Chinese) www.tj.gov.cn/english (in English)

Tianjin (Chinese: 天津) is a city in northern China. It has a population of 11,760,000. It has an area of 11,917.3 square kilometres (4,601.3 square miles). Built in 1403, Tianjin has been named by Yongle Emperor in memory of his success in occupying Ming capital Beijing through the harbor of Tianjin. It locates on the banks of the Hai River, west of Bohai Sea, south of Yanshan Mountains, east of Beijing. The distance between Tianjin and Beijing is 137 kilometers and it’ll take you only half an hour to go from Tianjin to Beijing by the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway.

Tianjin is the birthplace of China’s modern mechanical industry and textile industry. Since the beginning of the Open Door Policy, Tianjin has been built more than a dozen industrial zones, creating a lot Chinese famous brand like Flying Pigeon bicycles, Seagull brand watches. Now Tianjin gradually forms 6 industries of electronic information, automobile, metallurgical, chemical, biotechnology and modern medicine, new energy and environmental protection. Among Fortune 500 companies, more than 106 have invested in Tianjin. From 1994 to 2008, Tianjin's GDP rate increased 12.5% on average, entered the ranks of China's rapid development area.

Tianjin is the birthplace of the first university in China. In 1895, some officials established the first modern university in China – Peiyang University, the predecessor of Tianjin University. Nankai University in Tianjin is a famous university in China. The first Premier of the People's Republic of China Zhou Enlai graduates from Nankai University. Tianjin has 37 universities and has nearly 20 million students. Tianjin is one of the first nine-year compulsory education regions. The quality of workers is high. Tianjin has nearly one thousand scientific and technological research institutions, together with more than 600 thousand professionals in different fields. It has a large number of famous experts and scholars.

Tianjin is not far away from sea, so a lot of Tianjin cuisine is seafood. One of the most famous cuisine in Tianjin is The Four Great Stews, which refers actually to a very large number of stews, including chicken, duck, seafood, beef, and mutton. Tianjin also has several famous snack items. Goubuli is a traditional brand of Baozi (steamed buns with filling) that is famous throughout China. Guifaxiang is a traditional brand of mahua(twisted dough sticks). Erduoyan is a traditional brand of fried rice cakes.