One Sunday afternoon we bike with some foreigner friends to the Li family ancestral temple complex. This place was a great find. As one of the first photos explains, a warlord from Tianjin bought the buildings off a prince in Beijing and reassembled it in Tianjin in 1913. It was intended to imitate the Forbidden City, and it’s apparently the largest traditional complex in Tianjin. Now it’s practically abandoned. Some people sell used books in the entrance way to one half of the complex, which was empty. A small furniture market clogs the entrance to the less preserved but more popular half, which seems to have been unofficially converted into something of a public park – it’s full of jumbled junk, furniture, bricks, a few occupied small brick homes, and a bunch of old men playing cards, chess, or otherwise relaxing under the trees or on the steps of the giant, faded, peeling gateways. It’s an interesting oasis in the middle of the polluted urban near-chaos.
After the family courtyard complex we headed to a crumbling church building that we’d first found last summer. It’s literally falling apart; trees are growing on it, against it, and even through it in one part. The yards are strewn with bricks, junk, and clothes lines; people live in the buildings all around it, which look like they may have been classrooms or offices at one point. Simple brick structures have been built onto the front of the church. The people living there were really friendly, and told us that the church hadn’t been used in over 30 years. I climbed a rusted fire escape on what maybe a condemned building across the road to try and get a shot of the whole thing. One interesting thing here that we also noticed on another crumbling church building: the crosses have been removed, bricked in, or otherwise covered from view.
Turns out that the Zǐ Zhú Lín church was built in 1872 with compensation money extracted from the Chinese government by the French as reparations for the infamous Tianjin ‘Incident’/'Massacre’ (1870). Foreign and local Catholics used it as a refuge during the Boxer rebellion (1900). It’s been disused since 1958.
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That is a neat old church. Did you happen to get a peek inside? I found it also in ‘05, and there was an old man who let us in. He lived in the little place just inside the door.
Interesting to note also the relics of the Cultural Revolution still present in the form of writings on the doors and the lintel piece- this church (like many churches and religious areas) was a warehouse for ‘important stuff’ during that time.
Hi, Chuck. Some classmates of ours got in just a few weeks ago. They said it was full of junk and looked like people had been living in it. There’s a very old lady who lives just inside the gate who I’ve met twice now (once last summer – photos of her here), and she said that we could go in but the people with the key are at the not very far away XiKai Cathedral (a.k.a. Tianjin Catholic Church, the famous one in the big shopping district). We could peek through the padlocked door, but could only see piles of discarded furniture and light streaming through the perforated ceiling.
Did you ever visit the All Saints church building (a.k.a. the Anglican church, near the Astor Hotel)? The grounds are kept clean, but the building itself locked up and left to rot. Architecturally, I think it’s even more interesting than the Zǐ Zhú Lín church building (pictured above).
Also, they told us when we visited the Wanghailou church building (of the ‘Tianjin Incident‘) that the inside will be open to the public this summer. But I assume that means it’s being fixed up.
Hello!
I’ve just found your website. I’m also in Tianjin studying Chinese(at the normal university near BaLiTai). I like your photos and the church seems really cool. Where is it? I’m quite interested in ‘abandoned buildings’ I can’t explain why.
My net is being silly slow at the moment so I can’t check but your pictures of the man selling birds opposite where you study looks like where I went yesterday. The place I went is if you go to ancient culture street then cross the river there’s a small park there with lots of people playing cards and majiang and a man selling birds in cages.
As for Oasis: I really like the water park. I live really near there but I always find it really relaxing and it was ace seeing in Winter when the lake was nearly frozen seeing people Winter Swimming(Dong Yong) in the only bit that wasn’t frozen.
Also I hope you don’t think I’m being rude but from your about me page then the link to the website of the company you’re learning with it seems like quite a costly way to learn Chinese. Do you feel that it is worth it and much better than say what I’m doing with a university here?
p.s sorry my comment is so long!
That particular church building is on 营口道 near 解放北路 (Yíng Kǒu Dào near Jiě Fàng Běi Lù).
Re: the cost – ha, no, i don’t mind you asking. Do you mean the language school we’re using or the NGO that helped us get here and get set up? That school is more expensive, but since we have a limited amount of time in which to study full time we felt like that school would give us the most for the amount of time we have. We also liked the their program’s emphases for beginning language learners. I expect that eventually we’ll end up learning part time at one of the universities, but our current school fits good for now. As for the NGO, all the help with paperwork, set-up, etc. that’s required to get here and function has been invaluable, and the discount we get on tuition from the school for being with the NGO is almost equivalent to the NGO’s annual fees, so that part works out pretty nice.
Oh I know where that is. I’ve probably been past it a few times. YingKou dao has a huge flower shop on it about 3 shops wide and that’s near my Uni.
The website I wasn’t really sure about now I see more of your point of it. I didn’t realise that it was an NGO(silly me!) although I did the Volunteering projects, some of them look pretty cool. I just said that it seemed quite a lot because I know how much I’m paying for 2 semesters(basically 32 weeks) is under 10,000RMB(depending on the £ to the RMB but in pounds I’m spending £625 which at the moment is about 8,700RMB). That’s 3 and a half hours a day but in a class of 12. I also have a private teacher but private lessons are almost nothing(like 10/15 per time if that)I like being in a class as it means there’s a social aspect and also meeting people in my class many of who don’t speak English and getting a bit of their cultures as well as improving my Chinese. If you register at a uni here, you’ll find it’s not that much work at all(about 10 mins filling in forms and paying fees etc.) and they also sort out your visa for you for free.
They have a bunch of cool projects around China, including Tianjin. We volunteer/visit the -drugs-and-tianjin-university-students" rel="nofollow">Bright Future sexual and relational health project (I forget the ‘official’ description at the moment), currently hosted by TianDa. The project leader is a friend of ours.
Hi
I was very excited to see some pictures of my great grandfathers ancestral home (general Li) on your website if you are interested in some of the history surrounding the building I can put you in touch with someone.
I am also writing to ask a favour do you know of any one who has some photos of the anglican church near the astor hotel as I am trying to research its history.
Thanks
Maomei,
I do have photos of that church, just not on the blog. Would you like me to e-mail you some?