The day after our walking tour, a friend came from Cedar Falls on a business trip for
Deere. Upon seeing our gloomy gray-brown skies, he wondered if we ever see
the real sky. I was happy to be able to pull up the pictures from just 24 hours earlier,
and he was amazed. Such a change. Yes, we do periodically see the real sky.
Downtown Tianjin is built on both sides of the Haihe (high-huh) River. The
city has nice walkways (not quite like the San Antonio river walk!), but
still, very interesting. There are numerous bridges and each one is done in a different style.
In the past, all were draw bridges for the boat traffic.
Now there is only one draw bridge and it was built by the same firm that built the
Eiffel Tower in Paris. And it still works!
One plain building has a small sign outside:
this is where, in 1936, the communist party of China was secretly organized in northern China.
I just finished reading a book, "Things that Must Not be Forgotten; A Childhood in Wartime China" by Michael David Kwan.
Kwan was born in the 30's of a Chinese father and Swiss mother. His story tells
of a life of privilege in those early days (his father was wealthy), and he tells of living in
Tianjin, and having a seaside home in Beidaihe (the seaside resort town we went to last fall).
His was also a life of difficulty as a half-caste, and he encountered hatred
from Europeans and Chinese alike. As we walked around town, we saw places mentioned in the book.
Then, the Japanese invaded. Life became a downward spiral until Kwan was able to leave China
just before the Communists took over. The book was not sympathetic to them, but
it also didn't paint the Nationalists very well either. Most were corrupt, enriching themselves
on the aid given by America to fight the communists.
And in reality, life was just awful for the Chinese. It is easy to see how they would be happy to
throw their lot in with the communists. Life could only get better.
Okay! So! After thinking about how awful the peasants lived, we walked another
block to their "5th Avenue" area of town.
Upscale shops. A McDonalds or Pizza Hut every 100 yards. Interesting!
Way down at the end of the street was our final destination.
A French Catholic cathedral, built in the late 1800's.
(With an elephant statue out front--though I don't think it is actually
related to the church...)
The interior was very beautiful. I loved the blue! The church was taken over by the
Chinese during Mao's years, and partially destroyed in the Tangshan earthquake in 1976.
The Tianjin government has helped restore it and it is now the home for the Catholic archdiocese of Tianjin.
Now, when people come to visit, if you want to see some of these areas,
I know where they are. At first (or second or third!) glance,
Tianjin looks to be a soulless city full of glass and steel and concrete--
nothing very interesting. You just have to know where to look...
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