As a historical and cultural city in China, Tianjin boasts a wide variety of cultural and artistic heritages: 33 national intangible cultural heritages (Yangliuqing woodblock New Year paintings, ”Clay Figurine Zhang” colored sculptures, etc.) as well as Matzu culture, opera and other folk arts. In recent years, Tianjin focused on improving public cultural services and organized a group of activities to benefit its residents. Art consumption has become an integral part of their daily life.

The city promotes international cultural exchanges through “Exploring Tianjin” and exhibitions like “Jews in Tianjin”, “Eric Liddell and Tianjin”, “France and Tianjin”, and “Yangliuqing Woodblock New Year Paintings”. Tianjin’s cultural and artistic delegations performed in the US, Costa Rica and Panama and hosted “Happy Chinese New Year 2018”, which promoted the Spring Festival culture with Chinese characteristics to the world.

In recent years, Tianjin has been devoted to promoting the development and prosperity of culture and launched 353 projects in 6 batches, including an animation industry park, a creative industry zone, a Matzu culture park and a tourism complex featuring the Great Wall, with an investment of 148.6 billion CNY. It has formed a system featuring 8 categories — culture & creativity, radio & film and television, publication & distribution, performance & entertainment, cultural tourism, digital content & animation, and so on. There were over 20,000 cultural enterprises and more than 400,000 employees in the industry by the end of 2017.

Tianjin offers preferential cards for cultural consumption

In March 2015, Tianjin issued the preferential cards that enable residents to get both subsidy and discount for performances such as opera, folk arts, concerts and dance shows, as well as stage plays. It was the first city to issue such cards in China.

In 2017, 3,815 shows were staged, benefiting 1.06 million residents in Tianjin,up 51.02% year on year. In 2018, Tianjin will host over 4,000 performances and provide communication platforms for audiences and performers.

Competitive Sports

Tianjin made many achievements in competitive sports events last year. Athletes from Tianjin won 47 gold medals at home and abroad in 2017. Zhu Xueying took the gold in women’s trampoline competition at the FIG Trampoline World Cup Competition in Spain. In July, Peng Shuai won her second champion in women’s singles at WTA. The Women’s Volleyball Team of Tianjin won the 11th champion title in the Chinese Women’s Volleyball League. Quanjian Football Club won the championship at Chinese Football Association China League, then finished third in the Chinese Super League and was qualified to take part in the qualifying session of Asian Champions League. Tianjin built the first national training base for rowing and canoeing in North China.

As the host of the 13th National Games, Tianjin delegation won a total of 63 medals, including 19 golds, 17 silvers and 27 bronzes, hitting a record high in the number of golds and total.

Volleyball Academy of China launched in Tianjin

The Volleyball Academy of China was unveiled in the Tianjin University of Sports Tuanbohu campus on Nov. 10, 2017. It aims to develop into a high-level academy integrating personnel training, research, teaching, competition, physical training, exchange and cultural communication, promote the volleyball game, and facilitate the sustainable development of the sport. Lang Ping, currently vice-president of the Chinese Volleyball Association and head coach of the Chinese Women National Volleyball Team, serves as its president.

Citizen’s Sports

Fitness-for-All has been a highlight of the popular sports in Tianjin. The city is actively promoting a public service system for the Fitness-for-All program. In 2017, it set up 100 demonstration communities, fitness clubs for urban and rural residents, 200 fitness centers. There are 20,000 sports venues, boasting an average of 2.15 sq m sports ground for each person, which is 40% higher than the national average. Tianjin has more than 5,000 sports organizations and 30,000 instructors. 42% of the population are fitness enthusiasts and 93% passed the national physical fitness test.

Tianjin increased more sports and fitness facilities. 100 football fields and 800 fitness centers were built. A Fitness-for-All demonstration park were built in the newly built residential communities of the National Games Village. An intelligent fitness trail was opened in the Water Park and the bases for sports in mountainous areas were improved and renovated.

It hosted various fitness events for residents, such as promoting the third version of aerobics, competitions of football, basketball, volleyball, table tennis, badminton and tennis, and 100 fitness contests with 2 million participants.

Tianjin subsidizes residents’fitness spending

In July 2017, Tianjin issued 50,000 preferential cards that enable residents to receive government subsidy for their consumption in 63 sports venues, fitness clubs and outdoor campsites. It was part of the city’s Healthy Tianjin campaign and aims to improve people’s livelihood.

National Games promotes healthy lifestyle in Tianjin

The 13th National Games held in Tianjin in 2017 promoted the awareness of Fitness-for-All with its theme—National Games benefiting people and Healthy China. 19 amateur sports items were added, which was the most prominent feature of the event. In these sports items, Tianjin delegation won 5 golds, 3 silvers and 9 bronzes.