Tianjin: No Longer the City That Time Forgot
January 28th, 2008 | by This is China! |A recent report in Xinhua News caught my eye about the soaring growth of the Tianjin Port. “Yu Rumin, president of the Tianjin Port (Group) Co. Ltd., attributed the rapid growth to the development of the newly-established Binhai New Area, a state-level industrial zone approved in Tianjin.”
Located in the eastern coast of Tianjin, the Tianjin Binhai New Area (TBNA) is an agglomeration of three administrative regions:Tanggu District, Hangu District and Dagang Districts; and three nationally approved and such two nationally approved Zones: Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA), Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone (TPFTZ); as well as the Tianjin Port and parts of Dongli District and Jinnan District. TBNA will then be 2,270 km2 with a coastline that stretches 153 km. About 1-1/2 million souls will live in the Area.
Beijing Central Government about two years ago gave the Tianjin government the green light to begin developing its industry. For a variety of reasons – depending on which Chinese person you talk to – Tianjin has never gotten very far in its development, despite – or because of – its preeminence as an industrial base during Mao’s tenure. Some say Tianjin never developed because Beijing wanted to develop first. Others say the Shanghai gang of politicians – including former President Jiang Zi Min - wanted Shanghai to be the poster child for China as a port city, not Tianjin. And still others – none of them from Tianjin – say Tianjin people prefer a relaxed lifestyle – Chinese code words for, “they’re just plumb lazy!”
Whatever the cause for the all the sudden activity, the changes are certainly welcome. I’ve always felt Tianjin to be the City that Time Forgot.
Overall, the Area will focus on services and tertiary industries development, including: R&D, logistics, avionics and tourism.
Welcome to the 21st century, Tianjin.
Bill Dodson
SUZHOU, China
2 Responses to “Tianjin: No Longer the City That Time Forgot”
By Gregory Samsa on Jan 28, 2008 | Reply
Bill- I have a question for you about development zones. It seems that nowadays every city has a development zone, an industrial park, a chemical park, or what have you. They are generally built in farm fields way the heck out of the downtown, and then the workers are bused in or drive in, on a daily basis. I wonder what you make of this focus on development zones and what really, does it mean for the average Chinese city dweller if, rather than focusing on overhauling or upgrading what has already been built, the government instead chooses to focus on channelling investment funds into development zones?
By This is China! on Jan 29, 2008 | Reply
Actually, Gregory, the local Chinese governments are doing both of what you mentioned in your comment: developing the Economic Development Zones (EDZs) AND developing the infrastructures of the cities. This has been great for the average city dweller; near disaster for the average Zhang in the countryside.
For the city dweller, it’s meant better sanitation, more consistent electricity, gas feeds - even more space as they upgrade their home from a crumbling apartment to something a bit more spacious. Of course, the smaller neighborhoods in the cities have suffered a great deal of trauma as decades if not hundreds of years of familial habits have been ripped up to make way for the next high rise. The situation within many Chinese cities is not unlike that of America’s Urban Renewal programs of the late 1950s and early 1960s, when immigrant neighborhoods had to give way to government plans for superhighways that sliced through city centers.
For the Chinese farmer, local development has meant massive upheaval and, in many instances, injustices. Crooked local politicos illegally make off with the land for commercial purposes, and do not pay the residents market values for the property - if they pay at all. Forced off land that used to sustain them and houses that used to shelter them, people in the countryside may also find themselves unemployable and homeless. The countryside folk have also suffered terribly from the pollution vomited from many of the factories placed next door to where they live.
Pressures, then, are immense for people in the countryside - where these new EDZs or commercial developments are going up - to move to the city, giving yet another motivation for urban leaders to upgrade and expand city services and infrastructure.