2,000 European Villas from 9 Colonial Concessions, Goubuli Baozi from 1858, the Tianjin Eye Ferris Wheel & 30-Minute G-Train to the Forbidden City
📍 Tianjin, China📅 3-day itinerary
China's fourth-largest city has the densest concentration of colonial European architecture in the country — 9 foreign concession territories (British, French, American, German, Japanese, Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Italian, Belgian) each with its own architecture and legal system created the 2,000-villa Wudadao district in the former British Concession, while the Ancient Culture Street preserves the Qing dynasty marketplace where Goubuli baozi (the steamed bun established by a teenage cook in 1858 whose brand now operates internationally) and Tianjin jianbing (the egg-and-sauce griddle flatbread now sold in New York and London) were born, and where a 30-minute G-train ride at 350 km/h leads to the Forbidden City.
The Building Covered in 400 Million Antique Chinese Ceramic Shards by a Single Collector Over 10 Years — Fragment of Song Dynasty Celadon Next to Ming Blue-and-White Next to Qing Famille Rose — and the Only Ferris Wheel in China Built Directly on a Bridge Over a River
The Temple Built in 1326 for the Sea Goddess Whose Blessing the Ming Fleet Sought Before Zheng He's Voyages — and the Street Where a Teenager Named Gao Guiyou Opened a Steamed Bun Shop in 1858 That Was So Popular He Ignored His Customers (Like a Dog Eating Ignores People), Giving the Brand Its Name
The 30-Minute 350 km/h G-Train to the Palace of 24 Emperors (the World's Largest Palace Complex at 980 Buildings on 720,000 m²) — and the Circular Altar Where the Chinese Emperor, as the Sole Intermediary Between Heaven and Humanity, Performed the Winter Solstice Sacrifice in Absolute Silence Each Year for 500 Years