Tianjin in 3 days

Guwenhua Jie (Ancient Culture Street — the 687-metre pedestrianised street in the Nankai district of Tianjin on the west bank of the Haihe River; the street was constructed in 1986 in the architectural style of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912) Tianjin streetscape (the grey-brick buildings with the upturned eaves, the painted wooden shopfronts and the red lanterns); the Tianhou Palace (the Temple of the Heavenly Empress — the oldest surviving building in Tianjin, built in 1326 during the Yuan dynasty and dedicated to Mazu (the sea goddess venerated by Chinese sailors and fishing communities throughout East and Southeast Asia; the most widely worshipped deity in coastal China; the Tianjin Tianhou Palace is one of the three most important Mazu temples in China (alongside the Meizhou Island original temple in Fujian and the Mazu Temple in Tainan)); the Tianjin Folk Custom Museum (the exhibition of traditional Tianjin folk crafts: the Yangliuqing New Year woodblock prints (the most famous folk art of Tianjin — the colourful woodblock-printed New Year pictures produced in the Yangliuqing town 40 km west of Tianjin; produced since the Song dynasty and at their commercial peak in the Qing dynasty); the clay figurines of Zhang Mingshan (the clay modelling tradition of Zhang's Folk Art Studio).

Tianjin Museum (the largest museum in Tianjin — the collection spans prehistoric artefacts through the modern period; the most historically significant section documents the Tianjin Treaty period (the 1858 Treaty of Tianjin (the second Opium War treaty that forced China to open 11 more treaty ports and allow foreign diplomats to reside in Beijing; the treaty was signed aboard the British flagship at the Dagu Forts at the mouth of the Hai River; the Dagu Forts (Dagu Paotai — 60 km east of Tianjin at the mouth of the Hai River; the most significant military site in modern Chinese history: the series of forts built in the Ming dynasty (1522 CE) and massively fortified in the 1840s-1880s to defend the river approach to Tianjin and Beijing; the forts were attacked and captured four times by foreign powers: by the Anglo-French forces in 1858 and 1860 (the Second Opium War), by the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900 (the Boxer Rebellion), and finally demolished by the terms of the 1901 Boxer Protocol; the Dagu Forts Site Museum (the excavated remains of the original fort batteries with the original cannon, the earthwork ramparts and the museum exhibition on the Opium War and the foreign aggression against China)).

Tianjin University (China's oldest modern university — founded 1895 as the Beiyang University by the Qing reformer Li Hongzhang; the first modern Chinese university based on the Western academic curriculum (engineering, natural sciences, law and commerce — the curriculum designed to train the technical modernisers that China needed to resist Western and Japanese colonial pressure); the university campus (the 1950s Soviet-influenced campus architecture on the west side of Tianjin — the red-brick faculty buildings, the broad avenues and the academic city within the city that characterises Chinese university campuses of the Maoist period)); the Binhai New Area (the Tianjin Binhai New Area (滨海新区) — the coastal special economic zone 45 km east of Tianjin city centre (30 min by metro); the most rapidly developed urban zone in northern China since 2006 (the zone was given national strategic status by the State Council in 2006); the Yujiapu Financial District (the Tianjin Binhai New CBD — the ambitious financial district designed to be the "Wall Street of northern China" with 45 skyscrapers over 100 m, though many remain partially occupied); the Binhai Library (the 1.25 million-book library designed by MVRDV (the Rotterdam firm) — the spherical atrium with the book-covered terraced seating (the "Eye" of the library) is the most photographed interior architecture space in China after the Shanghai Museum)).

Nanshi Food Street (南市食品街 — the Tianjin food street in the Hebei district; the most concentrated traditional Tianjin food market in the city; the two-storey covered market with 100+ food stalls and restaurants; the Goubuli flagship restaurant (the original Goubuli steamed bun restaurant on the food street — the brand established in 1858 by Gao Guiyou is now a state-owned enterprise; the Goubuli baozi (the thin-skinned 18-pleated pork steamed bun (the meat-to-fat ratio is 7:3 — the 30% fat content gives the bun the characteristically juicy mouthfeel; the 18 folds (the most folds of any northern steamed bun) are a quality mark indicating the hand-crafted artisan tradition)); the Tianjin imperial cuisine (the dishes developed to serve the Qing dynasty court visitors and the foreign concession diplomats: the clear soups, the braised meats and the delicate pastries that represent the northern Chinese court culinary tradition); the mahua (the twisted fried dough — Tianjin's most iconic sweet snack (the Guitfa Mahua brand from Eighteen Street (Shiba Jie) is the most famous (established 1927) with 24 layers of twisted dough)).

Beijing day trip by high-speed rail (the G-train from Tianjin Station (天津站) or Tianjin West Station to Beijing South Station (北京南站) or Beijing Station — 30 minutes on the CRH G-train (the fastest train connection between any two cities in northern China: the 137-km distance at 350 km/h (the operating speed of the Jinghu High-Speed Railway between Beijing and Tianjin — the world's first commercially operated 350 km/h railway, opened 2008); ticket price CNY 54.50 (2nd class); trains depart every 15-30 minutes during peak hours; the Tianjin to Beijing connection is faster than any city-to-city connection of comparable distance in Europe (the 137 km Paris-Lille TGV journey takes 1h, the 137 km London-Birmingham HS2 journey will take 45 min when complete; the Tianjin-Beijing G-train does it in 30 min)); the Beijing South Station (the largest high-speed rail station in Asia — designed by Terry Farrell and Partners in the elliptical form of the traditional Chinese sun calendar disc; the station handles 50 million passengers annually).

Forbidden City (Zijin Cheng — the Imperial Palace of China; built 1406-1420 by the Yongle Emperor (the third emperor of the Ming dynasty) and the home of 24 emperors (14 Ming and 10 Qing) until the abdication of Emperor Puyi in 1912; the world's largest palace complex (the 720,000 m² area contains 980 buildings with 8,886 rooms (the traditional count of 9,999 rooms (just short of the 10,000 rooms of heaven) is not the modern archaeological count but the traditional symbolic number representing the near-celestial but not divine status of the emperor)); the entrance (the Meridian Gate (Wu Men) — the southern entrance to the Forbidden City; the five arched openings (the central gate was reserved exclusively for the emperor, the empress and the top examination scholars); the Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihedian — the largest surviving wooden building in China; the throne hall where the emperor conducted the major state ceremonies (the New Year ceremonies, the winter solstice ceremonies and the announcement of the examination results); the Jiulong Bi (the Nine Dragon Screen — the glazed tile screen wall with the nine dragons in relief)).

Temple of Heaven (Tiantan — the imperial ritual complex in southeastern Beijing, built 1406-1420 alongside the Forbidden City; the site where the Ming and Qing emperors performed the annual winter solstice sacrifice ceremony (the most important state ritual in the Chinese imperial calendar — the ceremony in which the emperor, as the "Son of Heaven" (Tianzi), communicated with Heaven to pray for a good harvest for the coming year; the emperor performed this ceremony alone, as the sole intermediary between Heaven and humanity, in a ritual that had to be conducted in absolute silence (any sound during the ceremony was considered an omen of disaster for the harvest)); the architecture: the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (Qiniandian — the triple-eaved circular blue-tiled hall on the circular white marble platform (the three tiers representing Heaven, Earth and Man)); the Circular Mound Altar (Huanqiutan — the circular altar of white marble where the actual sacrifice was performed; the echo phenomena (speaking at the centre of the lowest terrace, the voice is reflected back from the surrounding marble balustrade in a distinctive way that Chinese pilgrims call "the echo of Heaven")); the Tiantan park (the park surrounding the complex — the most popular morning exercise park in Beijing).

Return to Tianjin by G-train (30 min) and the Haihe River evening walk (the Haihe Riverfront at night is the most atmospheric urban experience in Tianjin: the former concession buildings illuminated on both banks of the river, the Tianjin Eye Ferris wheel rotating slowly above the Yongle Bridge, the river cruise boats (the Haihe River cruise (CNY 80, 1 hour) departs from the Jiefang Bridge pier and passes the Italian Concession waterfront, the French Concession buildings, the Tianjin Eye and the historic port area — the cruise gives the finest overview of the concession architecture from the water (the architecture was designed to be seen from the river — the show facades all face the Haihe)); the Jiefang Bridge (Liberation Bridge — the 97-metre steel swing bridge built in 1927 by the French Concession administration; the last surviving swing bridge in China that is still operational (the bridge rotates to allow river traffic to pass — a 5-minute operation that stops the bridge traffic in both directions); the bridge illumination at night (the white LED rope-lights on the steel arch girders reflected on the Haihe River).