100 Sparkling Points of Tianjin >>>

Foreword

Tianjin, a famous city of history and culture, is one of the four municipalities of China and the biggest coastal opening-up and port city in North China. Situated in the north-east of North China Plain, it occupies the lower reach of the Haihe River and is located at the center of the Bohai Bay, covering an area of 11,760 square kilometers and enjoying a coastline of 153.3 kilometers, from which it has derived the names of “Lower Tip of Nine Rivers” and “Communications Center of Rivers and the Sea”. Six hundred years of history has nurtured a rich culture of the city and its special geographic situation has created a unique natural environment. The city is located east to the Bohai Sea and north to the Yanshan Mountain. The 72-kilometer Haihe River flows across the city like a jade belt. In the new century, Tianjin, blessed by its vantage spirit, is right on track to modernization.

At the new stage of the new century, based on the holistic socio-economical developing blueprint of China, the Central Government of China and the State Council have made important strategic planning to push forward the development and opening-up of Tianjin Binhai New Area. The area is also entrusted with important tasks of being a growth engine to drive up the economical development of the area of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province and the circum-Bohai Sea region, promoting the interaction between China and the West and the balanced economical development of the whole country. Tianjin has become crucial in the economy of China and is emerging as a sparkling point in the global economy.

The Tianjin people are greatly motivated by the sense of responsibility generated by the era. With the Binhai New Area serving as the growth engine, the downtown area of the city is developing fast and the surrounding districts and counties are following suit. These three tiers of development are well coordinated and connected. United and full of energy, Tianjin residents are aiming for the best, and they are determined to have better performance. Tianjin is emerging as a rising star along the Bohai Sea Coast. Developing

Binhai Hot Area In the 1980s, Shenzhen City was the focus of attention. In the 1990s, Pudong Area was in the spotlight. It is Tianjin’s show time in the 21 Century. Proposals of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China have changed from “further exerting the force of special economic zones and Shanghai Pudong New Area, pushing forward the development and opening-up of advantageous areas such as Tianjin Binhai New Area” to “…better exerting the important force of special economic zones, Shanghai Pudong New Area and Tianjin Binhai New Area in the Reform and Open-up and the independent innovation campaign”; and from “…expediting the development and opening-up of Tianjin Binhai New Area has become a crucial step in the development of areas around Bohai Sea and the whole country” to “…should correctly define its function, perfect the systems, highlight the developing direction and make full use of Binhai New Area in leading the fast and healthy socio-economic development of the (Tianjin) city, making it the pioneer in implementing scientific development perspective”.

These proposals, reflecting the forward-thinking and long-sightedness of the Government and the State Council, have set a high expectation and made clear orientation for the New Area. Since then, the Area has become the focus of people’s attention.

A number of high-end projects are now in full swing, including the Airbus A320 project, the ethylene cracker with one-million-ton capacity, the oil refinery of 10-million-ton capacity, the new generation carrier rocket, the Sino-Singapore eco-city, so on and so forth. Apart from these, the Bohai Bank was put into operation as the first national joint-equity commercial bank in the past decade. The Bohai Industrial Fund has been established in Tianjin, taking the lead in the nation’s development campaign of private equity. The integrated and comprehensive reform and experimental plan of the Area has been approved by the State, which includes pioneering moves such as venture capital, international factoring business, financial lease, foreign exchange reform and comprehensive operating pilot points. The system and mechanism innovation has become a powerful tool in the development of this area.

The Area has shown its strength in the projectconcentrating zones, the development of industry clusters, the efficient use of resources and integrated function development. Besides, modern manufacturing industries are driving forward fast, including electronic information, space flight and aviation, petrol chemistry, equipment manufacturing and so on so forth. Furthermore, modern service industries, including finance, logistics, convention and exhibition and outsourcing, are growing rapidly. At present, the Binhai New Area embodies the best development area of China, the biggest international logistics center in North China, the largest bonded area with the most favorable preferential policies and a comprehensive port. The Tianjin harbor is a comprehensive port with a capacity ranking the sixth in the world. The Binhai New Area has many advantageous resources, adopting a clear developing structure of “one axis, one zone, three ecological urban areas and eight functional areas”.

Gradually step by step, the Binhai New Area has entered a stage of full development and opening-up.Tianjin residents are seizing the second in building the New Area into a window of North China to the world, a high-end hub for modern manufacturing industry and a base for research and development, and the international shipping and logistics center of North China. The Area will gradually develop into an economically prosperous, socially harmonious and environmentally friendly new eco-city suitable for human habitation.

Building a Leading Industrial Position with InnovationIn the spirit of high-end orientation, high-quality orientation and high-technology orientation, Tianjin energetically develops high and new technology industry and consolidates the advantages of its electronic information industry, expanding scales of modern pharmacy industry and the like, accelerating the industrialization of new energy sources and materials as well as environmental protection industry, reinvigorating traditional industries such as equipment manufacturing industry and light industry and textile industry, promoting newly emerging industries like spaceflight and aviation, pushing up the industrial chains to an high-end position. “Made by Tianjin” is expected to change into “Created by Tianjin”.

Unmanned aircraft, spacecrafts manufacturing, digital video motoring chip, optical communication, film photovoltaic cell and wind farm transmission and other new projects are forming new sources of economic growth. With high-quality projects backing up its scientific development, Tianjin’s industrial structure has been successfully optimized. The city boasts top mobile phone output capacity of the nation; it owns the industry base of national modern Chinese medicine technology; it has the biggest sea-water desalinization factory in Asia; it also has the State-level new energy industry base, Dawning High-Performance computer industry base, wind-generating facility manufacture base, civil aviation technology industry base and last but not least hollow membrane industry base.

Bio-Pharmaceutical International Innovation Park and other State-level scientific and technological innovation platforms, metallurgy, chemical technology, automobile as well as a lot of industrial technology development centers speed up their construction. With privileges of knowledge- and intellectintensive Beijing and Tianjin technology cycle, the city is making the best use of the venture-capital investment- fund leverage, gathering dynamic innovative elements, and translating frontline science and research findings into practice and injecting innovative essentials to enterprises. This place is not only a linking site and distributing center to introduce, digest and absorb the advanced technology, but also an original place and industry base of undergoing high-technology, and a spot that solidifies the groundwork of an innovation oriented city.

An Open Window to the WorldTianjin is the joint of the economic zone around Bohai Sea and the City Cluster of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province. It is connected to areas of Northeast China, North China and North-west China, and North-east Asia, communicating different areas both domestically and internationally. It is also the nearest east starting point of Eurasia Continental Bridge, an important port for adjacent inland countries. Generally speaking, it is an important window of China to take part in the global and regional economic integration.

Beijing-Tianjin Inter-city Express Railway has shortened the trip between the two cities to only half of one hour, making them a closer economic zone. The 250,000-ton deep channel sea-route has been finished at Tianjin Port, being the biggest man-made deep port in the world. Furthermore, electronic port and logistic information platform have been put into operation, and “water-free ports” are established in cities such as Shijiazhuang and Baotou by Tianjin International Trading and Shipping Service Center. The water transport center in the past has become a city connected to rivers, seas and roads, integrating highways, railways, airlines and river transport, all of which add to the city’s great appeal.

As one of the earliest coastal cities of China open to the world, Tianjin has had trades with more than 180 countries and regions, established friendly-city relation with 23 cities and friendship-and-cooperationcity relation with 44 cities. The annual China International Private Equity Forum is said to be the feast for international financing. Many of the world Top 500 businesses have attended the fair and gained great returns. All results of human civilization, such as top ideas, advanced technologies and equipment, shall thrive in this open city and become the driving force for its development.

A Livable City with Cultural and Historical EssenceIt is said that place of natural beauty brings talent. The favorable geographic location at the joint point of rives and the sea and the long history of the city have made it a livable and habitation-friendly place. This is a city enriched by long history and diversified cultures. During the Ming Dynasty, after fording the river at Tianjin (then named Zhigu) and wresting the throne, the Emperor Yongle (Zhu Di) renamed it “Tianjin”, literally “Heavenly Ford” to indicate that the Emperor (Son of Heaven) forded the river at that point. During the Qing Dynasty, the Emperor Qianlong had visited Panshan Mountain twentyeight times, leaving the praise “if I had known about Panshan Mountain, why should I have ever visited Jiangnan (South of the Yangtze River)?” A lot of famous politicians also gathered here and observed some of the most important events of the country in the past century. Many places of historical interests and former residences of famous people have given rise to its fame as “Tianjin-stories in the past century”. If a tourist wants to know more about the last century of Chinese history, he or she can’t afford to miss the chance of touring Tianjin. Thirty-seven national and municipal protected units of cultural relics show the richness of its cultural heritage, which include the western-style building cluster famous as “International Architecture Museum”, Tianhou Temple, Temple of Culture, Dabei Buddhist Temple and Dagukou Ford, just to name a few.

This is a city where people uphold art and culture. Tianjin is said to be the big wharf of Peking Opera, town of Northern folk art forms, cradle of singers and birthplace of China’s drama. Famous local folk handicrafts include Yangliuqing Spring Festival Paintings, Zhang’s clay figurines and so on so forth. The first higher education institution in modern China was founded here and so was the vocational education reform trial area. This is a city of great educational appeal and academic charm.

This is a city advocating harmony. Leading a harmonious life has become the most popular concept among the people. The social security system has created a good service network to benefit low-income groups, with housing system gradually sophisticated, medical insurance reaching full coverage and the security of society well protected.

This is also a city which respects ecology. The city’s environment is improving every single day with more green grass land spreading and flowers blossoming around. It sets the pace for the country in energy-efficiency as a water-efficient city, a model city in environmental-protection and in all, a habitation friendly and livable city.

People are expecting that Tianjin, standing on a new starting point and having a grandeur blueprint, will make further achievements.

At the new development stage, in the light of the important requirement of “two national front ranks” and “one pioneer”, Tianjin will focus on transforming the developing pattern and perfecting socialist market economic system, forging ahead the economic, political, cultural and social development and sparing no effort in promoting the scientific development and harmonious development as the priority, building the society into a prosperous, civilized international port city, economical center of North China and eco-city with advanced technology and education, good facility and beautiful environment.

Tianjin, a coastal city with open mind, an international metropolis with versatile elements, is opening a new page of its history and building a bright future.\