Tianjin is a good choice as a travel destination. With its cool sea breezeand fresh sea air you will definitely feel refreshed. Historical relics, naturalscenery, temples, churches, assembly halls and commemorative sites of theChinese revolution will illuminate Tianjin's past, present and future. Tianjinis honored as 'Building Museum' as it was occupied by nine imperial powersbefore the founding of the new China, leaving behind many buildings withextraordinary and exotic architectural styles, a real feast for the eye! In thefollowing text let me give you a brief introduction to the Jinmen Shijing (topten scenic attractions in Tianjin).
Huangyaguan Great Wall :
Located in the mountainous area of Tianjin's northern Ji County, theHuangyaguan Great Wall was first built during the Northern Qi Dynasty (550 -557) and repaired in large scale with bricks during the Ming Dynasty (1368 -1644). When appointed as the chief commanding officer in the Ji Garrison (one ofthe eleven garrisons of the Ming Dynasty), Qi Jiguang added watch towers andother defensive works.
The Huangyaguan Great Wall comes out first in the ten most-visited sites inTianjin. It is considered to be a miniature of the Great Wall. The entiresection is built on an abrupt mountain ridge. Being endowed with both naturalbeauty and cultural interest, it has become famous as a natural beauty spot anda summer resort. The major scenic area is composed of Huangyaguan Pass andTaiping Mountain stronghold.
Huangyaguan Pass: In 1984, the people of Tianjin spent three yearsrepairing 3,308 yards of the main wall from Banlagang Mountain in the east toWangmaoding Mountain in the west. They restored 20 terraces, the HuangyaguanWater Gate, and the Bagua Castle (the Eight Diagrams Castle). The defensivesystem of the wall is complete. Watch towers, frontier cities, drain holes,emplacements, barracks and other indispensable military facilities are arrangedorderly along the wall. Besides, the stele forests of the Great Wall, BeijiTemple, the exhibition hall of famous couplets, the Great Wall Museum (the firstmuseum along the Great Wall) and the Phoenix Fortress have been newly builtwithin the area.
Taipingzhai Great Wall :
Six miles southeast of Huangyaguan Pass is the Taipingzhai Great Wall,another important mountain stronghold of the wall during the Ming Dynasty (1368- 1644). It is also called Taipinganzhai, meaning "a village of peace andprosperity". Starting from Banlagang Mountain in the east and arriving at GuafuTower (Widow Tower) in the west, it winds through the precipitous mountains forabout 955 yards.
The wall is an important component of Huangyaguan Great Wall. There are sixwatch towers, one battlement, and one shortcut leading to the wall. Thearchitectural styles of the military towers vary considerably. There are square,round, solid and hollow towers, with some inside and others outside the de the shortcut, there is a small citadel where an 8.5-meter statue of QiJiguang, the chief commanding officer of Ji Garrison (one of the elevengarrisons in the Ming Dynasty) is located. The local people built this statue inorder to commemorate his great contribution to frontier peace and stability inthat period. To the west of the citadel, a section of the wall extends 33 yardsout to where a sentry post was situated.
At the western end of the wall is a square stone tower called Guafu Tower,"Widow Tower" in English, built by twelve wives whose husbands died during theconstruction of the wall in the Ming Dynasty. The widows erected this tower tocommemorate their husbands' notable exploits. The tower has two levels andmeasures 13-meters (14-yards) high. Arched arrow windows are on the four sidesof the tower.
Besides these cultural points of interest, Taipingzhai Great Wall is alsofamous for its amazingly impressive scenery. Zigzagging along the mountain ridgefor over 984 yards, the wall looks very much like a giant dragon flying throughclouds.
Mt. Panshan Scenic Area :
Covering an area of 106 square kilometers (about 26193 acres), Mt. PanshanScenic Area is located in Jixian County, 110 kilometers (68.4 miles) away fromTianjin, 88 kilometers (54.7 miles) away from Beijing. As the name suggests, thescenic area is mainly Mt Panshan–oriented. Endowed with natural beauty and ahistorical heritage, Mt Panshan is known as 'The First Mountain East of Beijing'and is listed as one of the top fifteen mountains in China.
The mountain acquired its present name, early in the Eastern Han (25-220)ong , the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), was prodigal of hispraise of its scenery on his chance visit when he led the army in a nty-two temples, thirteen pagodas and numerous Xanadus and towers were builton the mountain in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the Qing Dynasty(1644-1911). Qianlong, a brilliant and wise Qing Dynasty emperor was soimpressed that he made thirty or so visits and wrote 1366 poems to express hisadmiration of the area. In the first half of the twentieth century, the wholeresort all fell to ruin due to hostilities and neglect. It has undergone aprocess of restoration since the 1990s and is now regaining its fame.
It is famous for jade pine trees, strange and astonishing peaks, clearwaters, grotesquely shaped rocks and clusters of ancient temples. On themountaintop, numerous pines hide the sky from view and block out the ed rocks in a variety of shapes, some of which resemble a toad, a general ora boa, will greet you in the middle of the mountain. At its foot, clear watersplashes on the rocks. The mountain consists of five peaks, with the main one,Guayue (Moon Hanging) Peak. Although Guayue Peak is only 857 meters (2811.7feet) above sea level, to the north it is possible to see a section of the GreatWall while to the west Mt Taihang can be seen.
From the Wei State during the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280) onwards,emperors enthusiastically commissioned the building of temples, towers andXanadus resulting in over 160 such sites. There are four main temples: TianchengTemple (God Proposing Temple), Yunzhao Temple (Cloud-Hiding Temple), WanfoTemple (Ten Thousand-Buddha Temple) and Wansong Temple (Ten Thousand-PineTemple). Tiancheng Temple built in the Tang Dynasty, was enlarged and repairedin the Ming and the Qing dynasties. To the east of this temple stands theAncient Dagoba. As the biggest tower in this mountain, it has thirteen roof of the Yunzhao Temple was a golden yellow, a color that normally wasonly allowed to be used on imperial buildings. By granting permission for this,Emperor Qianlong demonstrated his approval and admiration of the mountain. WanfoTemple (Ten Thousand-Buddha Temple) has 10,960 small Buddhas statues.
Tianjin Ancient Culture Street with 600 years history, standing in the areaof key section in upstream of the Haihe River, is located in Nankai district ofTianjin. Covering an area of 224,200 sq meters, it used to be one of earliestwater transport docklands in Tianjin where is one of the busiest cities ofcommerce and trade in history. As a cultural precinct, Tianjin Ancient CultureStreet is well known by the local and overseas tourists. The two attractions,Yuan Huang Ge and Tian Hou Temple are two historic cultural relics in the listof city level ones reversed.
Tianjin Ancient Cultural Street rebuilt in 1980's is one of the greatsuccesses in the renovation and redevelopment. The whole block is stillconserved the existing urban pattern and tissue of traditional Chinese lanes and houses in the Street are almost preserved in a good condition withTianjin local feathers. In past time, whenever the day of 23th of March in lunarcalendar was coming, a great ceremony would be held here, which it is said thatit is the birthday of heaven Mother. On the ceremony, many Chinese traditionalperformances would be seen, such as Shiziwu (dancing play as a lion),Huahanchuan (dancing with a ship 杔ike dressing), Caigaoqiao (dancing standing ona high stick) and so on.
As the result of expanding Tian Hou Temple, renovating Yu Huang Ge buildingand renewing the Haihe Lou, this street with fine landscape and distinctivearchitectural style has been a flourish, cultural and tourist area. The newplanning and design for the Street had paid more attention to the waterfront andconnecting with surrounding around, especially the Old City in the west.
Good morning, ome to this beautiful coastal city-Tianjin. Myname is Li Shimin. You can call me Xiao Li. It’s a great honor to be your tourguide today. On behalf of the Tianjin China International Travel Service and mycolleagues, I am very glad to extend my warm welcome to all of you here. This isour driver, Mr. Wang. He has more than 10 years of driving experience, so youcan be assured that your time on the bus will be safe and comfortable. Duringthe whole days’ travel, Mr. Wang and I will be with you to tour the beautifulsights of Tianjin Ancient Cultural Street.
Now I'd like to introduce this famous street to you. This street is locatedin the Nankai District of Tianjin and was formally opened in 1986. Althoughoriginally started a business street, it has become one of the main touristattractions in Tianjin and attracts a great number of tourists every year.
Walk along the street, and you will be particularly impressed by thesplendid classical architecture in the folk style of the Qing Dynasty as well asthe hundreds of stores selling a wide variety of Chinese traditional folkhandicrafts, among which Yang Liuqing New Year Paintings and Niren Zhang PaintedSculptures are the most famous. You can buy whatever you want and taste thedelicious local Tianjin snacks.
Now you have one hour free time to enjoy yourself. I hope you will have agood time here.
Time goes by so quickly and your trip in Tianjin Ancient Cultural Stree isdrawing to a close. It’s really my pleasure to spend a pleasant andunforgettable day with all of you. On behalf of my Chinese colleagues presenthere, I wish to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt thanks to all ofyou. We thank you for your patience and friendliness, which has made our workeasier and has also enabled us to learn many things about your country andpeople. We also appreciate your cooperation and understanding, which has madethe trip a pleasure and success. Here I also express my heartfelt thanks to ourdriver, Mr. Wang for his skilled driving.
If we were unable to meet some of your expectations, we do apologize forthat. Please know that we did our best to keep all of you happy all thetime.
There goes a Chinese saying, “A friend from afar brings one boundless joy.”I hope you’ll take back happy memories of your travel in Tianjin. If you want totravel in Tianjin someday in the future I hope to be your guide again. I’ll takeyou around more tourist sites in Tianjin.
I wish you a pleasant trip to your next destination and smooth journey backto your country.
thank you.
