New Walk: The Great Escape to Tianjin
Tianjin is “A Great Escape” in more than one sense.
Only about 28 minutes away from Beijing with train it is possible to enter a whole other world. Walking downtown Tianjin, you suddenly have the strange sensation of being in not one but several different European cities. German, British and French architecture is still standing telling the story of the modern city that once existed here in the late Qing and Republican period of China. Tianjin has in a quite remarkable way escaped the makeover that Beijing has gotten during the last 30 years.
Some parts of the city remain untouched
To the last emperor of China, Puyi, Tianjin was also an escape. The young emperor had lived his childhood confined by walls and gates in the Imperial Palace, before he settled in the Japanese concession of Tianjin. Now the young man out of his imperial prison lived in a western dominated world with all kinds of entertainment. He would play golf at the country club, dance tango at the Astor Hotel and use money as if there was no tomorrow.
But to the last Emperor Tianjin was also an escape from reality. Puyi surrounded himself with a distorted choir of people telling him only what he wanted to hear. Desperate to get restored to the throne, he used enormous amounts of money supporting dubious warlords and ousted white Russians, who promised to help him. When all of this failed it led to his final and ultimate escape From Tianjin to Manchuria in to the hands of the Japanese.
Puyi and Wanrong in Tianjin in 1928
“The Great Escape” is the story of the seven years Puyi spent in Tianjin. We will follow in the footsteps of China’s last emperor visiting both Zhangyuan where Puyi stayed for 5 years and the Quiet Garden from where he would finally flee. We will also trace the pass of Puyi’s big spending empress Wan Rong and his concubine Wen Xiu who escaped the confines of marriage when she was granted the first Imperial divorce in 1931.
Preview Walk - start and end in Tianjin
11:00-14:00, Tuesday, April 23
Premiere Walk - start and end in Beijing
9:00-18:30, Saturday, May 11
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