The Huangyaguan Great Wall (Yellow Cliff Pass) is situated in the mountainous area of Ji County in Tianjin City, which is 130 km east of Beijing. Originally constructed in the Northen Qi Dynasty (550-557) and it was repaired by General Qi Jiguang in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The Huangyaguan Great Wall connects the Malanguan Pass in the east in Hebei Province and the General Pass in the east in Beijing City with a total length of 42 kilometers, and 52 watch towers and 14 beacon towers were built along this section. The rock and cliff to the east of the pass are always yellowish at the dusk, hence its name. This section of the wall was restored again between 1984-1986, and opened to the public in 1987. There are 20 watch towers being restored with total length of 3 kilometer.

The Huangyaguan Great Wall was built on an abrupt mountain ridge. Being endowed with both natural beauty and cultural interest, it’s divided into two areas: Huangyaguan Pass and Taipingzhai Mountain Stronghhold.

Huangyaguan Pass This section is 2152 meters long and combined with the Huangya Fortress, the water pass, watch towers, the frontier cities, the Bagua Castle, as well as military facilities. The defense system of the wall is still intact. The Phoenix Fortress, located in the north of the pass, was one of the beacon towers left from ancient times to deliver message in case of emergency. The Bagua Castle was built on the idea of Eight Diagrams, which come from the ancient philosopy, the Book of Changes. Even the enemy could break into the pass, they would easily got lost and attacked by the soldiers. A Great Wall Museum and Forest of Steles were established when the restoration was going in 1980s.

Six miles northwest of Huangyaguan Pass and built 400-500 meters above sea level, the stronghold is located in Xiaopingan Village. There are 6 watch towers along the 873-meter-long mountain ridge. It controls the Chongshan Valley east of Huangyaguan Pass. The Widow Tower was built in the western end of this section. It is said that 12 wives contributed their smart money to build a watch tower when they came here to find their husbands were dead.   A rock statue of Qi Jiguang was erected here in memory of his great work to defend the captial. Taiping Mountain Stronghold.

IslamiChina has summarized the following Tianjin Muslim travel tips to our Muslim brothers and sisters to travel Tianjin during a short period of time.

Tour Itinerary Planning

Tianjin is located about 80 km away from Beijing. It only takes about 30 minutes now by the bullet train to travel from Beijing to Tianjin. As a matter of fact, Tianjin is not a good destination for Muslim travelers. However, if you do like to see Tianjin, you may arrange a day trip to Tianjin by the bullet train at Beijing's South Train Station. There are bullet train departing for Tianjin every thirty minutes. Once you arrive in Tianjin, you may visit Tianjin's Culture Street and then perform Salat Prayer at Tianjin's Great Mosque.

Accommodations

There is no Muslim hotel in Chengdu, you may choose to stay at international brand name hotels such as Sheraton, Hilton, Holiday Inns and dine at local Halal restaurants in Tianjin.

Halal Restaurants

The easiest way to find a Halal restaurant in China is to look for local mosque. Mosque is always located in the center of a Muslim community, no doubt, Halal restaurants can be found around Mosque serving local Halal food. In Tianjin, Halal restaurants are also located in other part of the city serving Southeast Asian Cuisine, local Tianjin Halal cuisine and Xinjiang Uyghur Cuisine, Lanzhou Beef Noodles can be found in many parts of Chengdu.

Mosques

Tianjin Great Mosque which was built in 1703 is a culture relic under Tianjin Municipal Government Protection. Tianjin Great Mosque is the largest mosque now in Tianjin and Tianjin Islamic Association is located here.

Money Exchange

You can exchange traveler's checks or cash at most banks, and most 5-star and 4-star hotels always have a money exchange counter. You can also get a cash advance on your credit card on ATM machine. The exchange rate all over China are the same fixed by Bank of China. To change money, you have to have your passport at hand. If you want to change money in a hotel, you usually have to be a guest there. Sometimes if you are not a guest in a hotel but need to change money there, you can just say a random room number, but this doesn't always work. Remember to keep the exchange slip well because you need this slip to change the Chinese Yuan back to your currency if you do have this need at the end of the tour. At present, the RMB is not exchangeable on the International market, so it is only usable within the country. So when you are changing money, don't change too much, because it is difficult to change back into other currencies. To change RMB back into your home currency, you must retain the exchange slips that are given to you at the bank or money exchange counter.

Tianjin offers a variety of goods ranging from traditional handicrafts to international commodities. The local products, such as Yangliuqing New Year Posters, Zhang’s Painted Clay Figurines and Wei’s Kites, have enjoyed national reputations. They are wonderful mementos of your shopping experience in Tianjin. The most famous shopping districts in Tianjin are Binjiang Dao Business Street and Heping Lu Business Street, which are the most prosperous in this city.

Zhang’s Painted Clay Figurines

"Painted Clay Figurine Zhang" of Tianjin is a popular folk artifact that first started during Emperor Daoguang's reign of the Qing Dynasty, with a development history of over 180 years. The "Clay Figurine Zhang" painted sculptures raised the traditional clay figuring making to the artistic level of circular engravure, with the adornment of colors and props, forming a unique style. "Clay Figurine Zhang" features a wide range of subjects and is applied with simple and elegant colors, with special attention paid to raw material selection. That's why the works can last a long time without getting dried or cracked. The figures and animals of "Clay Figurine Zhang" bear resemblance to the real thing in both appearance and spirit.

Yangliuqing New Year Poster

The Yangliuqing New Year Poster is a popular wood engraving painting in North China. The art form inherits the painting skills of Ming and Yuan Dynasty, integrates with the colored drawing and forms its unique style. As Yangliuqing Town is the birthplace of this art form, it is called Yangliuqing New Year Poster.

Tianjin Ancient Culture Street

Tianjin Ancient Culture Street is composed of simulation of small shops in the Qing Dynasty. Taking Tian Hou Temple of Yuan Dynasty as the center, the Culture Street is located at the northeast corner of Tianjin Nankai District, outside the east gate, in the west bank of Haihe River, reaches the northeast corner on the north, located in the downtown area, started from Laotieqiao Main Street (Gongbei Street), faces Haihe River on the east, reaching Shuige Main Street on the south (Gongnan Street). There is a memorial archway at the North corner and the South corner separately, writes "hometown of Jinmen " and "Art Gallery of Gushang", 687 meters long and 5 meters wide. Here is a shopping mall, also the gathering place for the ancient ritual of sacrificing to the god of the sea and for the entertainment of the boatman. In the past it was destroyed and now some parts of the Culture Street are restored, including Tian Hou Temple, Gongbei Street, Gongnan Street. Tian Hou Temple, commonly known as "the Queen of Heaven Palace", is the main tourism item on the ancient culture street.

Tianjin has become a well-developed hub with a sea-land-air transportation network. Tianjin Harbor is the largest manual harbor in China having business with over 300 ports of more than 170 countries and regions with 75 berths. Among them, there are 48 deepwater berths with 10 thousand tons. In 1997, its annual loading and unloading capacity is 67.89 million tons and it's in the front raw of China for the container capacity and loading and unloading capacity of groceries. Tianjin is the junction of the rail lines of Beijing-Shandong, Beijing-Shanghai and Beijing-Harbin, so Tianjin is the transportation junction of railway in North China.

Getting to Tianjin by Air

Tianjin Binhai International Airport is not only for the passenger planes but also is the largest air freight center inNorth China with dozens of international and national airlines. There are over 400 highways with more than 4000 kilometers. A city highway net has been built with 3 circulation circles and 14 centralized lines. The main railway lines, as Beijing-Harbin, Tianjin-Chongqing, Beijing-Fuzhou, Beijing-Zibo, Beijing-Datong etc. are all passing through Tianjin.

Getting to Tianjin by Train

Tianjin has a number of passenger transport railway stations, the largest three of which are Tianjin Railway Station (namely East Railway Station), West Railway Station and North Railway Station. Close to Tianjin Xingang Port, there is the Tanggu Railway Station located in Binhai New District.

Getting around Tianjin by City Bus

Tianjin city-bus operates regular routes which include inner city and suburban lines. If you take an inner city bus route, you will pay CNY1 for twelve kilometers (about 7.5 miles) or less and CNY1.5 for more. If you take a suburb line you have to pay CNY1 for the first ten kilometers (about 6.2 miles) and CNY0.5 for each extra five kilometers (about 3.1 miles).

Getting around Tianjin by Taxi

Taxi service in Tianjin is like any other cities in China, convenient sometimes, difficult to get one sometimes. You can easily find taxies with makes of Toyota Corolla, VW Santana, VW Jetta or others at or around airport, railway station, hotels and tourist attractions. The flat rate fare is CNY8 for all taxi types; while the distance surcharge varies from CNY1.5–2 per additional kilometer according to the make of taxi.

Located in the warm temperate zone, Tianjin has sub-humid continental monsoon climate. As it is influenced by the sea and ocean in summer and by the continent in winter, the four seasons here are clearly cut, which results in a great variety of temperature throughout the year. The average temperature in a year is 11.1℃-12.0℃. The coldest month is January, with an average temperature of less than -4℃; the hottest month is July, with an average temperature of about 26℃. On average, the frost-free period lasts about 200 days. The annual precipitation is between 550 and 680 mm, 75% of which occurs in June, July and August. The sunshine time in the city is relatively long: an average of 1,921.0-2,852.0 hours in a year. The average wind speed throughout the year is 2.5m/s.

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