Good to know

 

Time different

 

China is a very big country, and it extends far from east to west, but the Beijing time is used all over China.

The time in China is 8 hours ahead of Europe in the time of the year where there is wintertime, and 7 hours ahead in the summertime.

If the time is 12 am in London, the time is 7 or 8 pm in China.

Weather

 

Normally the weather in Tianjin is good, but very dry.

 

Jan	Feb	Marts	April	May	June	July	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
-3	0	6	24	20	25	30	27	23	14	5	-1

Average temperature for Tianjin

Tianjin

 

Tianjin lies about 130 kilometers south of Beijing, and there are about 12 million people living in Tianjin.

The Chinese government established Tianjin as the financial capital for the northern part of China, as Shanghai is for the southern part of China. In 2004 the government gave a lot of money to Tianjin, and told them to make Tianjin “high-tech” as Beijing and Shanghai, before the start of the Olympic Games in 2008.

That meant the beginning of building up a new city with top modern buildings, new infrastructure with new  roads, bridges, underground. Also a new railroad from Tianjin to Beijing was opened. The train runs at 330 km/h and it takes 30 minutes to get from Tianjin to Beijing. Later on it will be possible to take the train from Tianjin to Shanghai. Now that trip takes 12 hours, but with the new train it will take only  5 hours.

Embassy

 

The embassies are located in Beijing at the following address.

 

The embassy is open from Monday to Friday from 8:30-12:00 / 13:30-17:00

The Embassy of the Republic of Poland

 

The embassy is open from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm .

The Royal Embassy of Denmark

San Li Tun, Dong Wu Lie 1

100 600 Beijing

 

The embassy is open from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm .

Currency

 

The name of the currency in China is Yuan or Renminbi, but when people talk they only say RMB or CNY.

 

100 RMB/CNY is 8,95 GPB

 

In coin there is : 0,01 – 0,02 – 0,05 - 0,10 – 0,20 – 0,50 – 1,00

 

In banknote there is : 0,10 – 0,20 – 0,50 – 1 – 5 – 10 – 20 – 50 – 100

 

The Chinese currency fluctuations follow the US Dollars fluctuations.

Foreign currency

 

US Dollars and Euro can be exchanged in all local branches of Bank of China.

It is also possible to exchange other kinds of currency, but only in the head Bank of China in Tianjin.

At the airport it is also possible to exchange all kinds of currency, but it is expensive.

 

Sometimes people on the street will offer to exchange money, but never do that – there is a lot of fake money and it is difficult to see the difference between the real and the fake one.

Taxi

 

The easiest way to go around in Tianjin is by taxi.  There are about 34.000 taxis in Tianjin, so it is very easy to get a taxi. The price starts from 8 RMB within 3 km, later it costs 1,70 RMB per kilometer.

 

Restaurants

 

In China one of the most important things is the food. It is possible to say that the Chinese live for eating, where others eat for living.

So eating is a very important part of the day, and they also eat at a regular time every day.

 

There are a lot of different kinds of restaurants in Tianjin. Starting from the small stall on the street to the biggest restaurant on 28000 square meters with 1000 workers.

 

The food in Tianjin is very good, and it is possible to get food from different parts of China.

It is also possible to visit a foreign restaurant, with a lot of different Western dishes.

 

It is very easy to communicate in a restaurant, even if the waiters speak  only Chinese – all the menu is shown on plates or in the picture, so it is enough to point at the food you want to eat.

 

The seafood in Tianjin is very good; most of the restaurants have aquariums with different kinds of fish, lobster, crab, shrimps and so on.

 

A typical meal with 4 – 6 different kinds of food in an average restaurant will cost about 180 RMB incl. soft drink or beer. If you go to a smaller restaurant, it is possible to get food and drink for about 70 – 100 RMB for 2 people.

 

Fast food is everywhere in Tianjin, including Mc Donald’s and KFC. It is nearly the same kind of fast food as in Europe but the price is cheaper, about 25 RMB for a meal.

 

 

Tianjin has a lot of small markets where the Chinese people buy meat, vegetable and fruit.

There is a wide range of goods, and every morning they bring fresh goods into the market.

 

At the market it is not necessary to bargain, it is very cheap.  It is possible to buy beef meat for about 20 RMB for one kilo, and pork tenderloin for about 14 RMB.  

 

Tianjin has a lot of big supermarkets, and it is possible to buy all kind of goods like in Europe.

It is only in a supermarket that it is possible to buy fresh milk and yoghurt.

 

There is also some special shop where it is possible to buy goods from many different countries, but it is expensive – e.g. Danish butter costs 50 RMB for 250 gram.

Shopping

 

In Tianjin there are a lot of big shopping centers, with all the new fashion and all the expensive brands.

 

Also, small markets are easy to find. It is possible to find and buy shoes, belts, clothes at a very cheap price. In the small markets they also sell fake well-known brand things, but they look real.

At the market you need to bargain because when they see a foreigner, the price will be higher straightaway.

Drinking water

 

It is not possible to drink the water from the tap, there is chlorine in it.

Every shop in the street sells water, and the price is about 1 RMB for one 600 ml bottle.

Electricity

 

In China they use 230V like in Europe, and all European plugs can be used in the Chinese sockets.

Safety

 

Tianjin is a safe city to walk around, all day long.