Haihe River central Tianjin, 2004. [Photo by Bruce Connolly/chinadaily.com.cn]

Throughout China's history, goods and people were often transported by water. Tianjin was the port for landlocked Beijing. Boats arriving at Tanggu transferred cargo to barges for onward movement by canal to Tongzhou and ultimately to the capital's waterways. The Grand Canal, dating back to 7th century Sui Dynasty, allowed food, rice, grains, fruit to be carried from the fertile lands of the Yangtze Delta northwards across the Yellow River.

Today, the canal boats are gone and Tianjin is now a major junction on China's extensive rail network where lines from the northeast merge with key north-south routes. Bullet trains put it within 35 minutes of Beijing.