We were up early for a 7 a.m. departure from our port to the city of Tianjin. It is the 4th largest city in China with a population of 11 million. We were delighted for a sunny day with much less smog and slightly warmer temperature.
We had to go through the town of Xingang where we were yesterday. Our guide told us that yesterday was a holiday – the Festival of the Clear and Bright. It is like the beginning of spring, and people like to be outside to see new plant life, farmers begin to grow their crops, and people pay their respect to their ancestors. However, there were so many people in the Friendship Store, we didn’t think they were seeing much of the new spring outside!
We also learned that the port area where our ship is docked was built by the Japanese while they occupied this area of China in the 1930s.
In the area between the Xingang and Tianjin, 10% of China’s sea salt is produced there. The sea is close and the weather is good for this production. The area where the Friendship Store is used to be salt fields 20 years ago.
Somehow asked our guide if some of the plants we were looking at were nuclear ones. He said that were coal power plants and they were not enough for China’s need for this source of energy, so they have to import as well. He did agree that they have a serious air pollution problem.
As we drove into the city of Tianjin, we were amazed at how large it was – and a combination of old and new buildings. It seemed clean, and had small park areas around the city to break up the “concrete” feeling. The large river Hai runs through the town and there are park areas on both sides of it.
Our first stop was supposed to be the Confucius Temple, but it was undergoing restoration, so instead we went to the Temple of Great Mercy. Behind this Temple complex, we could barely make out the city Ferris wheel. Seemed a bit out of place!
The temple was a huge complex with many small temples inside. There were many Buddhists praying in front of the temples. We were only allowed in a couple of them. Here is part of the main one.
This is the alter in the main temple. Here is the gilded 24 Armed Goddess of Mercy. She holds something in each of her hands.
The next stop was the Ancient Culture Street, which was like a glorified China Town. It had great shops, and we could have spent more than the allotted hour they gave us. It was just as nice as the one in Shanghai, only smaller.
Next was the Tianjin Museum which only opened in 2005. It was a very modern building, and while smaller than the one in Shanghai, the items were displayed as nicely. We only had time to go through the “best” exhibit, according to our guide. It was the Treasure Hall which held the museum’s most valuable items. It had an old scrolled painting that was about 240 feet long (most of it was still rolled up.) It was of the Yangzee River and what you would see all along it. We also liked the Buddhist scripture book that had gold Chinese writing on thin panels. There were many beautiful things to see, and we wish we had had more time there as well.
By this time, we were all very hungry, so were pleased that the next stop was lunch. It was at the Kaiser Palace and restaurant and was the traditional Chinese lunch on the lazy Susan with all kinds of varieties of meats, fish, and veggies. It was even better tasting than the last lunch we had on a previous tour.
Our last stop was about 40 miles out of Tianjin. It was the Shi Family Mansion. It was started in 1875 and completed in the early 20th century. The mansion is over 30,000 sq. feet and has 12 courtyards, each with specific functions for its owner.
There is a school overlooking one of the beautiful gardens as well as its own theater that performed its own operas. Its brick, stone and wood carvings are some of the best in N. China. It is now a museum.
We read and slept on the two hour drive back to the ship because we went the same way we had come. We arrived at the dock at 4:30 exactly, the time we had to be back on board. We had to go through the Chinese immigration again, and later learned from passengers who were back on the ship at 2 p.m. the ordeal they experienced with the immigration people. It seems that everyone had to get off the ship at the same time, go into the terminal, and no one was processed until every passenger was off the ship. They even had to take out a poor old guy in his robe! It apparently took over two hours or so for this process to be completed. It frustrated the passengers and our captain so much, everyone was given free wine with dinner!!
After dinner, we went to the entertainment which was a singer from Scotland. She was good, but not great. I finished my book before turning out the light. We were sailing away from our last port in China – which we will be rather sad to leave. We both really like the places we’ve been in China.
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