Tianjin Road

Everyone knows Haihe is the main river, or "Mother River" of Tianjin.It is an important Tianjin symbol.In fact, all Tianjin roads are named with regards to their location to Haihe.The east of Haihe is called the Hedong (He, meaning Haihe, dong, meaning east) District and the west of Haihe is the Hexi District.

A unique characteristic of Tianjin roads is that they are not designed in a normal grid but run in an almost adhoc manner. This is vastly different from Beijing where the roads in a strict grid. Closer inspection of a map of Tianjin would also reveal another interesting fact. In the main Tianjin district of Heping, roads are named with regards to their location to other cities. For example, the Ha'erbin City lies in the north of China, thus the road running to the north of the Heping District is named Ha'erbin Road. Unfurl your well-used map of China and take a look.

If you are confused by street directions in Tianjin, we would like to propose an easier method to find your bearings. A road in a north-south direction is named "Lu" such as "Xikang Lu". While alternatively a road in an east-west direction is named "Dao" such as "Anshanxi Dao".However this is all set to change soon.

Tianjin authorities have begun to implement a color-coded system in naming the roads. The system which is expected to be fully implemented within five years, will allow residents to determine the direction of a road according to particular colors. For example, roads running in a east-west direction, will be coded green or have "Dao" added to their names, and the roads running in a south-north direction will be coded blue. This system has already been successfully setup in the Dagang District.