Jottings from the Granite Studio

Southwest Airlines ran a series of commercials this past summer advertising their service from Boston to Philadelphia. In the ads, Philadelphians gave their opinions about what made Philly so special, the joke being that everyone said the same two things: cheese steak and the Liberty Bell. The spot ends with a local yokel proclaiming that Philly indeed “has a lot of culture…like a baby New York.” Frankly, if I was from Philly, I’d be upset, but such is. With neither the glamour of New York nor the power of Washington, Philadelphia must be content to sit in an awkward geographic perineum betwixt the two.

Similarly sandwiched, if not so much geographically, between Beijing and Shanghai, Tianjin shares Philly’s fate. Both are port cities known for a movie pugilist (Rocky Balboa/Huo Yuanjia 霍元甲) and a famous snack (Cheese Steak/Goubuli baozi 狗不理包子) and neither city gets the respect that they truly deserve.

What of Tianjin? Once one of the most important strategic cities in the empire, Tianjin is now referred to by its own residents as the world’s largest 农村 nongcun.

This self-perception issue is reflected by the tourist office which recently rejected several slogans for their “Visit Tianjin” campaign:

1. “Tianjin: The World’s 20th largest city. No, really, it’s true. We’re not making that up.”
2. “Tianjin: Who needs prosperity?”
3. “If you get lost on the way to the Olympics, why not stay awhile?”

And finally…

4. “The Beijing-Tianjin Railway: A 60 mile trip twenty years into the past…”

As you can see, there might be a little image problem here.

Tianjin is definitely grungier than its neighbor Beijing but I’m not sure that’s really a bad thing. At least in my little neighborhood, there aren’t too many foreign faces and lao wai are still a bit of a novelty here unlike in The ‘Jing or Shanghai. The people in Tianjin are also definitely friendlier. (Though it’s possible I’m just saying that because I’m soon to be related to a few dozen of the local neighborhood.) Hanging out in Tianjin reminds me of my experiences with people from Philly. There’s a definite unpretentious quality to Tianjin residents—both Chinese and foreign–that’s leaking away from Beijing faster than you can say “Does the capital of China really need another bagel shop?”

That jovial friendiness just barely covers a certain resentment at having been totally screwed over during the Jiang Zemin era. Despite being one of the original “Municipalities,” it’s only been in the last few years that Tianjin has received the kind of attention (and investment) from the central government that its size and proximity to the capital warrant. Residents complain that part of the problem too was that local officials in the 1990s spent what funds were made available on big infrastructure projects at the expense of improving city services. Whether or not increased attention from the Zhongnanhai and new city management here will improve the situation remains to be seen. The bulk of recent investment seems to be directed out to the Tianjin Economic Development Area (TEDA) located well away from the city center.

YJ, a native of Tianjin, returning from two years in Europe was shocked that Beijing had changed so much and Tianjin had changed so little.