With Apologies to Tianjin: II

In recent years, China has developed a renewed pride in its cultural heritage. Tianjin is no exception. Although the old city has been ruthlessly demolished to make way for the new, vestiges of old Tianjin remain and are being lavishly restored in recent years.

The Ancient Culture Street adjacent to the river, just east of the old city, is the most famous Tianjinese effort. The street features shops with traditional facades, a second storey tea house in which Beijing Opera is performed, and, somewhat incongruously, escalators. The complex was constructed by Mayor Li Ruihuan after the earthquake of 1976. Here tourists, and many Chinese, swarm in search of traditional crafts and toys. Ni ren, jade, musical instruments, traditional weapons, calligraphy, tea sets and delicate silk embroideries vie for the visitors’ attention, along with small plastic pouches guaranteed to generate healing warmth, snack foods, and herbal remedies.

The very old Tianhou (Heavenly Empress) temple, much of which was restored after a destructive encounter with Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution, stands within the complex. Between it and the river is another temple site where the restored Yuhuan Pavilion stands, all that remains of a temple once containing eight structures.

To the west of the Ancient Culture Street, across the Dongma lu (east horse road) where the old city wall once stood, are a few surviving structures of the old city. Here a Confucian Temple built in 1436 still stands, but it was under construction and closed whenever I attempted to visit. Near the center of the old city (the monumental drum tower there now is clearly shiny and new) is a fine example of a Chinese guild hall complete with courtyards. Built in 1903 by the Cantonese merchants of Tianjin, it houses a stage where Beijing Opera is now performed. It is the only surviving guildhall where the city’s prosperous out–of-town merchants once gathered to exploit their hometown ties in mutually advantageous business partnerships.

Across the river stands the Buddhist Dabai yuan or Temple of Great Compassion founded in the 1670s. Some of it appears quite old, but it is now undergoing reconstruction (in preparation for Olympic tourists?) and it may soon be difficult to tell what is old from what has been completely rebuilt with new materials and paint. This part of the city also contains a fine Muslim mosque founded in 1703.

Tianjin’s community of architects, however, has devoted most of its attention to the city’s 19^th and 20^th century architecture. As a major treaty port, Tianjin is rich in westernized structures reflecting styles popular half way around the world. There are Romanesque and Gothic churches, Italianate, Spanish Revival and Arts & Crafts dwellings, classical banks and even a deco sports center where the Italian community once indulged in gambling. These buildings are carefully marked with shiny plaques which declare them to be under ‘state protection.’

A recent, important and very successful example of restoration efforts is the Jing Yuan (Garden of Serenity), Pu Yi’s last home in Tianjin. It was here that this last Qing emperor agreed to the Japanese proposal to make him the puppet ruler of Manchukuo or Manchuria. The dwelling has been carefully restored and boasts a good orientation video with English subtitles.

Pu Yi’s Spanish revival villa is located in the old Japanese concession area of Tianjin—one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Before its restoration, the house had been split into 10 or so official apartments, each of which had been illegally subdivided into another three or four dwellings—30 to 40 families were living where only one had originally dwelt. Comparable crowding is still visible in the nearby streets. (The Japanese presence in China has been deeply resented; in Tianjin, it was the Japanese who demolished the Qing imperial palace beside the Hai He river.)

The city’s cultural life has also been recently strengthened with several fine museums. The Tianjin Museum is housed in a recent, stunning building intended to resemble a swan. It contains a fine exhibit of the city’s history from prehistoric to contemporary times—with only a few jabs at the foreigners who

occupied the concessions. There is also a sophisticated museum memorializing Zhou en lai who attended a Tianjin high school and later Nankai University, just down the road from Tianjin Normal’s Balitai campus. Zhou is well respected, here as elsewhere, for his formidable diplomatic skills which helped to promote the interests and security of the fledgling People’s Republic of China in the world community.

The city hosts numerous concerts in its several major concert halls. I saw a strange Japanese/Chinese performance featuring an entire orchestra of traditional 2 stringed Chinese ‘violins’ in the People’s Gymnasium, as well as performances of western classics by the London Mozart Philharmonia Society, the Athens Symphony Orchestra, and the Chinese National Symphony Orchestra . I attended, by accident, the opening of a rather sophisticated photography show in a small gallery on Machang Dao, as well as an outdoor concert of traditional Chinese choral music, again by accident. (Getting news of these events was not easy—posters appear only at the last moment—and I suspect, as in other matters, much is informally communicated through networks of acquaintances. )

There is ‘low brow’ culture too. A sports lottery does very well; major soccer, badminton, and tennis tournaments are held in the city’s brand new stadiums. Karoke bars (KTV) are very popular. Here young people get together and rent a small room equipped with electronic equipment and a TV monitor.

There’s a new affluence in this city which is enhancing its cultural life, a process that is likely to be replicated by more Chinese cities as they develop. I saw little of Tianjin’s politics, but many commentators now believe the restrictions on the press are generally more relaxed. Some are optimistic too that efforts to establish a more independent legal system and judiciary will succeed. No one, however, seems to believe a multi-party polity is imminent. Some believe popular pressure to establish more representative forms of government has been diverted by the new pleasures of shopping and the enormous rise in standards of living most Chinese now enjoy.