Known for its rich cultural heritage, unique architecture and mouthwatering local snacks, Tianjin offers an experience unlike any other city in China.

Here are the top four things to do in Tianjin that will make your visit unforgettable.

1 Try a traditional Tianjin breakfast

A day in Tianjin wouldn’t be complete without jianbing guozi. Start your morning with this delicious pancake wrapped around a Tianjin-style crispy fritter, known as guobi'er in the local dialect.

To make a jianbing, a paste of mixed grains is first spread on a hotplate to form a pancake, then topped with chopped green onions, pickles and the magic ingredient — Tianjin crisp fritter — before being wrapped up and cut in half. The outcome is the perfect texture – soft on the outside, crispy inside.

Aside from jianbing, Tianjin also offers other morning delicacies such as gabacai (savory crispy pancake soup) and laodoufu (tofu pudding).

2 Taste Tianjin’s “signature snack trio” at Ancient Cultural Street

Besides jianbing, Tianjin is famous for three must-try local snacks: mahua (fried dough twists), goubuli steamed buns and erduoyan zhagao (fried rice cakes).

Mahua are twisted fried pastries made from flour with ingredients like walnuts, sesame and peanuts, available in sweet and savory flavors.

Goubuli buns got their name from a seller nicknamed “gouzi” (dog), who was too busy making buns to greet customers — hence “goubuli” (the dog doesn’t care).

Zhagao got its name from a narrow alley — Erduoyan — where it was first sold. These rice cakes symbolize promotion and success, making them a festive favorite.

Head to Ancient Cultural Street, one of the city's best-known tourist attractions, and you can try them all in one place.

3 Create your own woodblock print in Yangliuqing

Yangliuqing woodblock printing dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) and is recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage. The colorful prints, often depicting folk tales or blessings for prosperity, are celebrated for both their vivid appearance and cultural depth.

As the cradle of Yangliuqing woodblock printing, the Yangliuqing Ancient Town in Tianjin offers opportunities for visitors to admire the artworks. You can even try making your own.

“These objects reflect people’s pursuit of beauty. They have been treasured and passed down through the centuries because they are outstanding examples of artistic excellence,”says Zhu Xiaoyun, curator and director of international relations at the museum.

She says the tour takes people through different exhibition halls, introducing artifacts that showcase a range of craftsmanship and art forms, helping them understand the evolution of Chinese cultural and aesthetic traditions.

Some of the objects, she says, appreciate the beauty of nature, and underline the “dao fa zi ran” principle in classic Chinese philosophy, that is, learning from nature and following its principles. Others celebrate the pinnacle of ancient craftsmanship, such as a seventh-century gold necklace inlaid with pearls and red and blue gemstones.

The necklace has a poignant backstory. In 608, 9-year-old Li Jingxun, a young aristocrat and granddaughter of Yang Lihua, a daughter of Yang Jian, the founding emperor of the Sui Dynasty (581-618), was buried in an extraordinary ceremony. Archaeologists excavating her tomb more than 1,300 years later were astonished by the richness of the burial, which included the necklace now displayed in the exhibition Ancient China.

Other artifacts reflect the grandeur of social rituals, such as intricately patterned bronzes from the Shang Dynasty (c. 16th century-11th century BC), used in major ceremonies.

Still others convey romance and freedom, such as a Tang Dynasty (618-907) mural of a woman in a flowing red dress performing the “scarf dance”, in which the dancer wove long scarves through the air.

Between 2019 and 2023, seven ticks not native to the United States entered Connecticut, according to a new study published in the journal iScience. They came from a variety of countries as far away as Germany, Guatemala, Tanzania, Brazil, Scotland, and Poland.

While the study didn’t find evidence of these invasive ticks bringing new diseases to the U.S., experts say they could one day soon. Meanwhile, the study does suggest they could drive a rise in tick-related diseases already seen in the U.S., as they found these ticks can carry pathogens similar to those carried by native ticks.

Two invasive tick species from Central America tested positive for a bacteria similar to Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a disease that can cause fever, vomiting, muscle pain, and even death if untreated.

It’s part of an alarming trend: cases of tick-borne disease in the U.S. jumped from about 23,000 in 2004 to around 71,000 cases in 2022.

“Prior to 2018, here in the northeastern U.S… we didn’t have cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. But since 2018, we are seeing a number of up to ten cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in Connecticut. And we have had mortalities as a result,” says Yale University epidemiologist Goudarz Molaei, co-author of the new study.

Experts say identifying all the ways ticks can spread and carry diseases is critical to reducing the number of people who become seriously ill after being bitten. Their spread is a concern — during the last 50 years, over 140 non-native tick species have been brought into the U.S., hitching a ride on livestock, exotic pets, or people. At the same time, climate change has expanded the habitat ticks can live in. 

If more invasive ticks establish U.S. populations, “it is just a matter of time that these invasive ticks will either pick up local pathogens or native pathogens that circulate in the U.S., or they start carrying the pathogens that they transmit in their native range,” says Molaei.

Ticks pick up diseases after biting animal hosts like deer. Then, these diseases can be transmitted to other organisms.

Dan Burton heard of pigs with electric blue meat in California years ago from an old-timer he used to hunt with, but he’d brushed it off as urban legend.

So when he cut open a dead wild pig in Monterey County, California, this past February, he was surprised to see blue fat — vivid, “7/11 slushie” blue — beneath the skin.

The color came from the blue dye of rodent poison, he correctly suspected, specifically from anticoagulant rodenticide bait containing the chemical diphacinone. He tipped off the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which confirmed the presence of diphacinone and sounded the alarm to local hunters.It wasn’t the first time.

Diphacinone is a restricted chemical in California, meant to be used only in specific circumstances for infestation control. The state tightly regulates anticoagulant rodenticides, but it doesn’t enforce a total ban. So it still shows up where it’s not supposed to be: in the bodies of many of California’s iconic animals, including condors, black bears, bobcats, and in the somewhat less beloved feral pigs.

(These widely used insecticides may be a threat to mammals, too)

Wild animals with bright blue flesh have turned out in California, indicating poisoning by a partially banned rodenticide.

Photograph By Dan Burton

Burton, who owns Urban Trapping Wildlife Control, was hired in late February to deal with wild pigs encroaching on an 800-acre ranch along the Salinas river. On multiple late-night stakeouts, he watched thick-furred pigs trot up from the banks of the Salinas to the ranch’s fence, snuffling for the ground squirrel bait stations affixed there — and the diphacinone-laced oats within.

The hard plastic bait containers were standard-issue and secure, but a California feral pig can weigh up to 200 pounds and makes “a worthy opponent,” said Burton. The pigs easily broke up the containers and scarfed up the blue pellets.

Want to join the fun? Here’s how to bring that sanuk spirit into your life…

Work hard, play hard

Any good manager appreciates that when colleagues bond, work improves. 【小题1】 Why not suggest your workplace holds a monthly baking competition, or a (not at all serious) awards evening to hand out gongs for ‘Best Tea Maker’ and ‘Funniest Zoom Meeting Moment’?

A sanuk way to exercise

Even though endorphin-boosting physical exercise makes us feel good, it’s sometimes a chore to hit the gym, or pull on your running gear. But incorporating play into your workout routine — very sanuk — can boost motivation. 【小题2】   For example, try a dance class with friends instead of solo jogging, or turn a walk into a scavenger hunt by looking for specific items like red flowers or funny-shaped clouds.

【小题3】

In her book, Karen suggests marking out specific periods in the day to go phone-free — whether at the breakfast table, on a walk, or in bed. Think about curating your social media feed — unfollow any accounts that make you envious or anxious, and fill it with inspirational, funny, and uplifting ones. Seen a funny meme? Share it with a friend who needs a bit of cheering up.

Sanuk when you’re alone

With community at the heart of sanuk, can we ever experience it when we’re by ourselves? Karen believes we can. “When life is lacking sanuk, Thai people plan it,” she says. 【小题4】 the delicious thrill of anticipation can be as much fun as the event itself. ” Simply cast your mind back to when you had the best time – think about who you were with, and make an effort to meet up with them again.

 Expand your own community

Whether you enjoy being alone, prefer hanging out with a couple of close friends, 【小题5】 everyone can benefit from creating new connections of all types. Karen believes that this is crucial to the process.

Two savvy US school teachers Monica Brzoska, 32, and Jorrell Conley, 36, have sold almost all of their possessions to live ________ sea.

The couple fell in love with cruising after travelling to Mexico, Belize and Grand Cayman almost a ________ ago.

In 2023, after Monica’s father fell ill, she was inspired to live the life she had always ________.

“Don’t wait for retirement to follow your dreams. Do it now,” her mother had told her. That’s when she and her husband made the life-changing ________.

“Instead of coming back, why not keep booking consecutive cruises for as long as we could ________ to?” Monica told The Sun.

“It sounds mad, but the numbers made ________. Accommodation, food and entertainment would be included — we’d only need spending money.”

“And because we’d been on so many Carnival cruises, we’d earned ________ to some amazing offers.”

“If we chose the cheapest cabins, our savings from the pandemic would allow us to book eight months of cruising for $16,000 — some trips paid for in full, others with ________.”

“We could then use the rent from our three-bedroom house in Memphis to make extra payments as ________. Many cruises start and end in the same ports, so we knew we’d be able to disembark and easily ________ our next ship, or otherwise fly to the port.”

The pair ________ their jobs, sold most of their possessions and rented out their three-bedroom home in Memphis, and have been cruising for almost two years now.

Since making the move, the couple have completed 36 consecutive cruises and visited almost 50 ________.

“I instantly felt ________,” she said.

“People are amazed when they hear we live on ships, and I’m always happy to share the ________ we’ve learned to save money. We’ve won excursion tickets, jewellery and spa treatments in onboard raffles, while on land, we do our own tours, using local transport to explore,” she said.

However, she admitted that there are a few challenges, including missing family, but regardless “it really is a dream ________.”