20: 天津／Tianjin

Tianjin is not a very well known city to the average American. It is often overshadowed by Beijing to the west. However, Tianjin actually is a sizeable city, with a population of almost 13 million people and its own municipality (Beijing and Shanghai are the only two other cities to have their own municipality). As we boarded the bullet train, I was not really expecting anything special. Since Tianjin is merely 30 minutes by bullet train, I visualized Tianjin as just a smaller Beijing. When we got off, I realized it was anything but. The buildings were all very European, with Grecian columns everywhere. After getting so used to the Chinese wall, it was a bit of a shock to see my culture’s columns everywhere. Also, the streets were cobbled like an ancient European city would be. At first, I thought it was just because we were in a historical foreign district, but as we walked around more, I realized that this was the real Tianjin.

We visited a circle (seriously, how much more European can this city get?), where people go to matchmake their sons and daughters. The entire circle has notices advertising people of different ages and jobs. There are some professional matchmakers who sit there waiting all day, advertising their people for a commission. Laurence and I chatted with some of them, and they turned out to be very sweet. Some joked that they should recommend me to some girls! Afterwards, we walked down some more European-looking streets to get some lunch. I realized that Tianjin still had the hutong culture so prevalent in China, but the buildings were all very Western style. We also walked along the river, where we saw more European style buildings and bridges. And we ended the day at an Italian restaurant, in a glass room on the roof. The top part of the room had Egyptian hieroglyph wallpaper, and we were all absolutely confused. The food was so-so, but we had some really great red wine.

On the ride back, I remarked to Laurence, “Why did I think that Tianjin was just going to be another Chinese city? Of course it surprised me. That’s what China does to you.” And I think this is the best way to describe Tianjin. It was a surprise. It was foolish of me to expect that Tianjin would be just the same, just like Huayin City was absolutely different from my initial image. I love how Tianjin can’t be pinned down to one culture. There was a European style circle, but it was reclaimed by Chinese culture. There were hutongs, but they were European style buildings. If I may get a bit cheesy here, I saw a bit of myself in Tianjin, in that I’m a hybrid of two cultures of Deafness and hearing people.

I really did enjoy Tianjin. It was a shame that it was raining, but I’ll definitely consider going again. What’s more, all my friends studying abroad in Europe had the week off last week, and were going around and visiting all these European cities. Their Facebook statuses were making me seethe with jealousy and wanderlust, but that was all quenched when I visited Tianjin. I really even wouldn’t mind living in Tianjin. I feel like I would fit right in with the clash between two cultures.