daygan rocks the world

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Obviously, I can't speak for every member of Tianjin in terms of what Tianjin really is like, but I do know, for my own world inside Tianjin, what it's like for me. I realize that in the coming months, we may have a lot of people that are interested in coming and visiting Tianjin, particularly during the Olympics when Tianjin will be hosting some of the competitions in the Olympic Games. I would like to take a little bit of time to help people understand, from my perspective, what Tianjin is like, and perhaps, through my perspective coupled with knowledge from other peoples' perspectives on Tianjin, an outsider coming to this city might have a slightly better grasp on what kind of city he or she will be coming to.

First I'll give everyone some pictures to look at of the city just outside my apartment here in Tianjin:

This first picture is a look across the street from just outside my apartment complex. The other side of the street is the Nankai University area, and the building that we see is a bank. You'll note the bridge there too - yes, there's a river / canal running parallel with the road over there, but it is usually fairly polluted. An interesting thing, though, is that here in China, they love to cut corners and neglect important things in regular life, but whenever they think other people are watching, or it might make the difference in developing their economy or getting them, personally, more money, they suddenly make a lot of superficial changes to impress the outsider. Thus, as the Olympics are approaching, I have noticed a lot of sudden, visually notable changes, particularly in the last few days. Across the river, you'll notice a number of evergreens and shrubs planted there next to the bridge. Those weren't there just a few days ago . I am sure that the city will suddenly do some quick changes to improve the pollution problems in the canals around the city. So by the time any visitors get here, it just might be, on the surface, at least, a fairly attractive city here in Tianjin.

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This is a view from down the road from my home - just outside the Tianjin University main entrance. Lots of bicyclers. The blue wall across the street is a metal barrier that they put up around construction areas. That site is the grounds of the Tianjin Television tower, and right now, because of the olympics, they are tearing down the large, brick wall that used to be around it, and, from what I understand, they will be replacing it with a fence. Evidently, they believe that that will give a better impression international visitors. Walls tend to be very unwelcoming and give people a rather closed, cold impression.

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