… a city of 15 million people. Our fantastic guide, Jason, tried to explain some of the basic differences between the Chinese and Western philosophies by describing that a Chinese person wanting a drink from your bottle of water would be very indirect, saying “I see you have some water. What brand is it? How much did you pay for it? What other brands of water have you tried? etc.” until the friend asks, “Would you like a drink?” At which point the Chinese person would refuse repeatedly until almost forced to accept a drink. A second example was a Chinese person who finds himself naked in a crowd with only a small scarf. What does he cover? His face… Chinese society demands saving face at all costs. Six billion cigarettes are consumed each day in China, ranging in price from $.45 to $75 a pack. Business men exchange a cigarette on the street; although they may smoke the cheapest brand, they exchange only the most expensive ones.
We visited the Shi Family Mansion; Mr. Shi was a shipping magnate, and a fourth of his primary mansion remains. Its 12 courtyards and 278 rooms cover more than 60,000 square feet and are laid out like a smaller Forbidden City. Its high-quality brick, wood and stone carvings are famous. Its theater was the largest private theater in China when it was built in 1875. I’m sorry to report that although the snow is real, the cherry blossoms aren’t!
The state-of-the-art Tianjin Museum was our next stop, where we viewed exhibits on ancient China as well as Tianjin’s turbulent history for the last 100 years. As a port city, Tianjin was a target in the Opium Wars in the 1800s. Along with its historical exhibits, the museum has a large collection of ancient arts and crafts treasures. The Neolithic yellow jade pig-dragon was my favorite. For those of you who’ve been to our house in Germantown, they had Jose’s brother! All exhibits were labeled in Chinese and English.
We had a fairly dreadful Chinese lunch – when the first plate they bring out is filled with stale and soggy french fries accompanied by a bowl of ketchup you know you’re in trouble. The second plate was canned corn. I’ll say no more … Lunch thankfully over, we had a quick stop for shopping, and then a good visit to Tianjin’s Confucius Temple, the third largest COnfucian temple in China. It was a beautiful and peaceful oasis in the city.
Who knew Tianjin would be such an interesting place?!
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