Tien-tsin

Tien-tsin, a large city and river-port of China, in the province of Chih-li, on the right bank of the Pei-ho, 34 miles from the mouth of the river. It is the port of the city of Peking, from which it is distant 80 miles SE. The river is generally frozen over from about the 15th December to the 15th March, and the business at other times carried on by means of boats and junks is taken up by sledges, which swarm on the river. By the treaty of Tien-tsin, signed here in 1858, the port was declared open; and a British consulate was established in January 1861, while part of the allied troops were still here (see CHINA, Vol. III. pp. 192, 193). In 1881 Tien-tsin was connected by telegraph with Shanghai, and in 1897 with Peking by rail; and there is a railway from Tien-tsin to the mouth of the Pei-ho, which will ultimately be extended to Shanghai. The imports have an annual value of £500,000, the exports of about £1,000,000. Pop. estimated in 1900 at 1,000,000. In 1900 Tien-tsin, taken by the allies, became the base of operations against Boxers and Chinese.