Formerly known as Tientsin, Tinajin is one of China's most commercially important and strategically located cities, and has been for many
centuries.

The port city that supplies Beijing, it is also the terminus of the Grand Canal and the communications and transport gateway to the Manchurian provinces, Mongolia and most of northern China.

Through the long course of Chinese civilization this port has always been a key regional center, and the city's own history is thus one of the most extensive and colorful anywhere in the country.

A city of some four million, Tianjin is an especially progressive community even by today's PRC standards, with a current economic growth rivaling that of Shanghai.

Tianjin is usually thought of as a business centre rather than a holiday destination, and this in itself makes it a good place to visit. A nearby section of the Great Wall for instance, is much less crowded and commercialized than the section near Beijing.

Visitors are also attracted by the city's famous carpet industry. Other notable handicrafts involve kites, and-painted posters and woodblock prints. Gourmets will be impressed by the local dumplings and the region's famous apples and pears.

Tianjin is very much a northern city, with warm summer months (up to 26℃,) and winters with temperatures well below zero.