Ma Lianliang's former residence

The low profile style is still retained now in the neighborhood. Those mansions are now used as residences for ordinary people, office buildings, kindergartens or schools. Ad posts are forbidden in the neighborhood, which protects the romantic and artistic landscape from being ruined by commercials. It is worth noting that in the neighborhood, sightseeing horse carriages are offered to show visitors around the whole area---15 RMB per person.

 Bygone Hubbub and Prosperity

Jiefang North Street used to be called "Wall Street in North China". Diverse European-style architectures line up along the street, which can rival Western building complexes in the Bund in Shanghai.

If you looking southward at the crossroad of Jiefang North Street and Binjiang Avenue, you can see arrays of old foreign bank buildings. Those magnificent structures demonstrate bygone glory of the city as a financial center in north China.

The current office building of Tianjin Municipal Workers' Union used to be the seat of China-France Bank of Industry and Commerce. The four-storey massive building is located at the conjunction of the former British and French cessions. The architect designed the shape of the building as a curve to naturally link the two streets in the two different cessions which are not on a straight line.

The former HSBC building was the first foreign bank building in the British Cession. Classical parlors, steel concrete structures, yellow-copper gilded gates, all add to the magnificence of the bank building. Round pillars along each side of the gate make the structure appear more solemn and grand. A stone carved flower basin at the doorsteps is exquisitely designed with quiet charms as if it silently witnessed the vicissitude of the past century.

Though diverse in appearances, those buildings in former cessions all feature Renaissance techniques to highlight solemnity and stability. For example, the screen wall at the entrance of the former HSBC building is accompanied by parlors and Ionic pillars to make the whole structure appear magnificent and solemn.

Cultural heritage is the biggest asset of a city. Those historical fragments testify fading memories of people. In today's Tianjin, children should feel proud, not only because of historic and cultural traditions, but also because of the city's low-profile, undefeated and discontented personalities. We hope that those historical buildings can be handed down to younger generations to retain the memory of the city.

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