Haihe Patriotic Education Cruise

Haihe Patriotic Education Cruise

The Haihe Patriotic Education Cruise is designated as a patriotic education base.

The Haihe Patriotic Education Cruise was launched in April 2000, becoming the first-ever sightseeing route along the lower reaches of the Haihe River. The cruise highlights the historical and cultural heritage along both banks of the lower Haihe, starting from the Haihe Riverside Park. Over its approximately 15-kilometer course, it passes by more than 20 cultural landmarks and historical sites, offering a concrete and vivid patriotic education resource, as well as a rare tourism experience that combines education with sightseeing.

The cruise route passes six patriotic education bases—including the Dagu Fort and Tianjin Alkali Plant—as well as over 30 historical sites. Along the riverbanks are remnants such as the site of the Shangwuguan customs, the largest opium trading port in northern China during the early 19th century and the earliest customs post in North China; the ruins of the Dagu Fort where Chinese soldiers and civilians resisted foreign aggression in the late 19th century; sites of oil depots built by foreign powers including Mobil, Mitsubishi, and Asiatic Petroleum, as well as the Yonghe Shipyard and the DeDa Wharf; the former dock of the Kailuan Mining Bureau established during the late Qing Dynasty’s Westernization Movement; the Tianjin Alkali Plant, the first and largest of its kind in China and Southeast Asia, founded by prominent industrialist Fan Xudong and chemist Hou Debang; the original site where the humiliating 1933 Tanggu Agreement was signed between the Nationalist Government and Japan; the mass grave site where Japanese forces massacred Chinese soldiers and civilians during the War of Resistance; and the original site of the labor camp where Japanese forces abused and transported Chinese laborers. Along this route, visitors can also see modern structures such as Tianjin Port, currently China’s largest artificial seaport, and the Haihe Bridge, Asia’s largest single-tower cable-stayed bridge spanning 2,650 meters over the river mouth. This cruise connects and contrasts China’s modern history of resisting foreign oppression and developing national industries with the country’s current prosperity and national unity.

Since its launch, the cruise has seen annual passenger traffic grow from over 10,000 to more than 160,000. In 2002, it was designated as a Tianjin Patriotic Education Base by the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government.

Address of the Haihe Patriotic Education Cruise: West side of Haihe Riverside Park, Tanggu, Binhai New Area. Open daily from 9:00–17:00. Contact number: 25392433.