Tianjin-An Epitome of China in the Past Hundred Years （百年中华看天津）
The one hundred years after the Opium War was a period of bitterness for China as a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country. Striving for national independence and prosperity became the sacred mission of the Chinese people. To attain this goal, the people of Tianjin, together with their fellow countrymen, rose up in resistance, with generations of men and women with lofty ideals throwing themselves into a most arduous exploration and tenacious struggle.
Since the Westernization Movement, Tianjin had become the center in the dissemination of the modern industrial civilization in north China, a confluence of Chinese and western civilizations, and the sourceland of many new ideas and practices. Patriotic personages of various circles made their attempts in Tianjin in saving the nation by engaging in industry, education and science, taking the city to the forefront of the national economy and culture, and the largest industrial and commercial city in north China. After the May 4th Movement, the Communist Party of China(CPC) persisted in their leadership of the North China’s revolutionary struggle in Tianjin. “Tianjin Pattern” formed during the War of Liberation laid a solid foundation for the founding of a new China.
The past hundred years of Tianjin in modern time is China in miniature and the epitome of the Chinese nation suffering misery in its history of resistance, exploration, wakening and moving towards the light.