Timeline of Events in Tianjin

With Bi Ziyan becoming duxiang (mayor) of the city, Tianjin makes significant progress. The local government hires a multitude of craftsmen and specialists to build boats and ships, make weapons and armors, construct houses, guard the transportation of goods, and erect dikes around rivers to prevent floods. While the size of the city is significantly increased, the availability of housing and transportation is in shortage. It's significance as a military base gradually decreases. The need for food and supplies dramatically increased. Tianjin's role as an economic trading center for northern China is established, which in turn fuels population growth and urban development.

During the era of the Kangxi Emperor (reigned 1662-1722), the salt production gradually develops into a major industry in and around Tianjin. 660 million pounds of salt are produced every year.

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Eminent politician and scholar Li Hongzhang sets out from Tianjin to Japan for peace talks. In April 1895, as the news that Japan forced China to sign the Ma Guan treaty (the Treaty of Shimonoseki) to end the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 spread to Beijing, the reformer Kang Youwei encourages over 1300 candidates for the imperial examination to submit a joint letter to the emperor Wenzong (reigned 1851-1861). In this letter, Kang analyzes  the severe situation China faces and proposes to stop the peace talk with Japan , to move the capital to Xi'an , to train more troops, and – above all – to undertake political, economic, scientific, social and military reforms on a national scale. 

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The U.S. concession is established in Tianjin . To the very east of the concession is the Hai River , and the west end of concession reaches a point now identified with Kaifeng Road . It is rather small (compared to other concessions such as the British for example), measuring just about 22 acres. It never becomes fully operational, and is amalgamated into the British Concession in around 1880 or 1881.

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The British and French municipal concession governments issue an ordinance that orders all Chinese who live in those areas as designated to be French and British to move out in three days, compensating the Chinese residents with a non-negotiable amount. The occupied territories includes 8 villages, affecting 218 households altogether.

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The French Roman-Catholic missionary Meng Zhensheng (his Chinese name), who served as a bishop in Beijing , brings four missionaries, 14 nuns, and two assistant nuns to Tianjin .

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The missionary movement in China begins at approximately the same time as the China trade, and has been going strong ever since. In the Chinese countryside, however, missionaries have increasingly brought suspicion upon themselves from the peasants, who are primarily Buddhist believers, and who now fear the missionaries have magical powers of some kind. That fear erupts into violence in 1870. French Catholic nuns in the area had pay money to have orphans brought to the mission, which starts rumors among the peasants that the nuns were buying children to use in arcane rituals. The peasants attacks the mission, killing the French consul, ten nuns, and ten other Westerners. Chinese and French authorities manage to resolve the issue without resorting to violence, but it is said that what had been build in a decade (a – probably still quite uneasy – relationship between the Chinese and the foreigners) came undone in one single afternoon.

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The Boxer Uprising

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Wang Xipu (i.e. Wang Zhongsheng ), the founder of modern Chinese drama ( hua ju ), sets up his stage in Tianjin, and directs several well-known Chinese stories (Beyond Fate, Patriotic Blood, and Niehaihua ) in a new, refreshing way. These performances are regarded as the beginning of modern Chinese drama.

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Zhang Xiangwen founds what is seen as China 's first modern scientific association in Tianjin . Called the Dixue hui (Geographical Association), Zhang launches an important periodical ( Dixue zazhi , or The Geographic Journal) in Chinese which introduces all methods of study related to modern geo-sciences. The journal appears almost without interruption until 1936.

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The Tianjin Red Cross is established on this day. Thousands of people attend the meeting. Hu Xian and Bai Liukun are the initiators of the establishment. Xu Qinghua acts as the first president, and Sun Shipu and Jin Yunmei serve as vice presidents.

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Future premier Zhou Enlai returns to Tianjin from Japan , and attends Nankai School (which later develops into a full-fledged university, Nankai daxue ). In September, he and 20 others establish the Juewu She (Awakening Society), which gradually evolves into the core patriotic movement in Tianjin . One year later, Zhou Enlai founds the periodical Jue Wu , and serves as chief editor. The pedagogical intentions of the periodical are: to reform oneself inside out, to renovate the society, to improve self-awareness and self-consciousness, to decide one's own fate, and not to endure oppression from exploitation.

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Sun Yatsen comes to Tianjin from Shanghai via Japan . He is greeted by over 20,000 people. He makes a public speech, pointing out that the ultimate purpose of the republican revolution is victory and benefits all the Chinese people. Everyone should participate in the movement for independence, freedom, uniformity, and the reconstruction of the nation and its people. He calls for national citizen meetings to encourage participation.

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The city's first official Ping Pong Open tournament is held in 1930. Over 60 male athletes participate in the games. In 1931, the second annual Ping Pong Open is held, and female athletes also participate in the games.

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The Japanese military attack Langfang (a smaller town close to Tianjin ), which leads to over 2,000 death and casualties. Electricity in Tianjin is cut off. On the 29 th , at 1 am , two patriotic Chinese armed forces start to fight back the Japanese in Tianjin . However, 15 hours later, the city is eventually occupied. The battle causes over 2,000 deaths, and more than 100,000 people become homeless. Much of the city suffers destruction. In August, 46 railroad workers who are persistently against the Japanese occupation of Tianjin East Railroad station are killed. Over 2600 workers (and later many more, including merchants and members of other guilds and trades) refuse to cooperate with the Japanese, and either resign, or engage in various obstructionist activities.

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The surrender ceremony of Japanese occupying military forces in Tianjin is held in front of the Public Meeting Building (former Gordon Hall; today occupied by the Tianjin Youth Library). The Japanese chief commander signs the agreement to withdraw military forces, and admits to the fact that the invasion was a mistake. Over 20 thousands people come to observe the entire ceremony.

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The Tianjin Law Advisory Committee is established. This is the very first lawyer organization formed in People's Republic of China .

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The Tianjin Yangliuqing Prints ( Nianhua ) Studio is officially established. It produces distinctive Chinese wood block paintings featuring folk art style pictures of children, babies, fairy tales and operatic scenes. The town Yangliuqing , where the workshop is located, has specialized in this particular style of art since the 17th century. In China , it is considered lucky to put these pictures on the door at Lunar New Year.

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Tianjin and Philadelphia become sister cities.

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The first container ship named Zhangjiakou leaves Tianjin to the west coast of the United States . This is remarkable in that the maritime shipping commerce between United States and China is re-launched after decades of interruption.

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The Yinluan ru jin project is finally completed. On August 17 th , the Luan River is successfully irrigated throughout Tianjin , which solves the city's and its surrounding areas' longtime problem of drinking water shortage.

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The area around Tianjin has been historically an earthquake region. Since 1404, the beginning of the records of Tianjin , the city suffered over 15 significant earthquakes. These occurred in 1481, 1495, 1523, 1576, 1615, 1618, 1621, 1668, 1679, 1730, 1795, 1816, 1874, 1922, 1926, and 1976. The earthquake of 1976 is the most severe one. Over 24,000 people died, and 21,000 more were injured in the tragic occurrence. It's effect on the urban landscape is equally devastating: over 62% of the houses were damaged, leaving more than 700,000 homeless. Of important western style houses which did survive all historical onslaughts up to that point but were finally destroyed by this act of nature in 1976 is (among others) the famous Detring Villa and the German Club House.

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Heavy flooding occurred frequently. It is specifically recorded for the years 1470/6/21, 1622, 1654, 1657, 1696, 1725, 1741, 1748, 1770, 1930, 1939 and 1949.

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