Beginning this month, we will begin a series of features detailing Tianjin's history which began early during the late Song Dynasty (960 Ð 1279 AD). Tianjin has a rich and diverse past which reveals itself in the colonial houses and uniquely crafted buildings on many a Tianjin street. Together with Liu Hang Ying, who has been cataloging Tianjin's history, we will uncover the stories behind those houses and unfold the tales of yesteryear. We begin with an in-depth interview with Liu.

Liu Hang Ying, a sprightly 59-year-old, is a woman with a mission. Since 2000, she has been on a quest to document Tianjin's long and interesting history. Liu has been meticulously researching and cataloging stories, documents and photographs with the ultimate aim of setting up a museum to showcase the city's over 1,000- year past.

``I hope that this will serve as a bridge between the Chinese and its Western counterparts," said Liu, who modestly claims to be a writers for plays and television. In reality, Liu has won 9 national awards for her plays and TV scripts.

Liu said she first thought of the idea of researching Tianjin's history during a chat with her friends. ``We all knew Tianjin had a rich past and were proud of it but unfortunately very few people knew about it,"
``We were not sure if it all anyone had a complete record of what happened and that's when I decided to do something about it," said the gutsy grandmother.

Thus began a one-woman operation to document Tianjin's past. Liu began by interviewing history professors and academics, many of whom she counted as friends, to compile a catalogue of events and dates in Tianjin's long history.

Liu funded her initial work by herself but later she began seeking financial support from some of Tianjin's largest companies. ``The TEDA Binhai Group were gracious enough to donate (RMB) three million, which we used to buy a house to be used as a museum," she said.

Liu began her search for documents and artifacts by contacting the German Embassy in Beijing in 2000 and requested their help in locating German families who had lived in Tianjin during the foreign occupation (1920s onward).

``A German company sponsored a trip for my husband and I to travel to Germany to meet with some of these families," she said, adding she spoke to 40 people in over 20 cities and towns.
``I spoke to many, now elderly, people who themselves had lived in Tianjin for many years and came away with about 800 photographs and over 5 hours of taped interviews," she said, adding she had yet to translate them into Chinese.
During the course of her research, Liu has traveled to Europe and been to Germany twice, the second time with her daughter, who now resides and studies there.

Owing to her and her family's (including son Louie Liu) hard work, the museum now houses an extensive collection of photographs, documents, transcripts and maps dating back to the 16th century.
``Most of the collection is between 1860 to 1949 and relates to at least 10 countries, most of which consisted of the Allied Forces," she said.

Due to the detailed research Liu has done over the years, she is now is a veritable fountain of information. Ask her anything and she will have the answer complete with dates and special events that would escape most history books. For her, by far the most interesting time was the Foreign Occupation period (which began after the Opium War).
``At the peak of the Occupation, there were 300,000 foreigners and 800,000 Tianjiners living here," said Liu, adding a total of 9 countries had `occupiedÕ Tianjin.

``Although it seemed like a cosmopolitan city, in reality the locals resented the presence of the foreigners. They saw the occupation as a form of imperialism and thus a humiliation for Tianjin," she said.

On the museum, Liu is planning to open it to the public by the middle of the year. ``I want to show to Tianjiners that they should be proud of their city. I want foreigners to see the actual reality of Tianjin during those times," she said.

Even as the museum opens, Liu is not going to rest on her laurels. She is already planning a trip to the United States to visit several World War II veterans. The mission continues.