Tianjin, China

Credit: ESA, Posted on: Thursday, 3 February 2005, 07:49 CST Download full size image

This Envisat ASAR radar multicolour composite image was acquired over the city of Tianjin, China’s third largest city.

Tianjin was named by the Emperor Zhudi in the early years of the Ming Dynasty. It means "the place where the emperor crossed the river" and is located at the northern end of the Grand Canal of China, which connects with the Huang He and the Chang Jiang rivers.

The urban center of the city can be seen as the grey area at the centre of the image. Tianjin is a major transportation hub in northern-central China. To the east of the centre, you can see a dark streak which is the runway of the Tianjin Binhai International Airport located in the Dongli district.

To the southeast of the city centre, you can see the Beidagang Reservoir at the bottom right of the image and the Luijian River which flows beside it. Tianjin borders Hebei province to the north, south, and west; the municipality of Beijing in a small portion to the northwest; and the Bo Hai Bay of the Yellow Sea to the east.

The capital is surrounded by fertile farmland. You can see from the image that farmland, fields of wheat, rice and maize, takes up about forty percent of the total area of the Tianjin Municipality.

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