The Tianjin Market

Executive Summary

What are people like?

• Tianjin people are jovial

• Tianjin people are talkative and humorous

• Tianjin people are content

• Tianjin people are proud of their city and seldom move away

• Tianjin people are warmhearted and down to earth, but you have to give them “face” to get things done

What activities do they like ?

• Watching Xiansheng is popular

• Majiang is a popular pastime

Tianjin Consumer Habits

• Tianjin People love to do online group buys and download coupons to their mobile phones

• When dining out, Tianjin people choose to eat western food and hotpot

• Joy City, Aqua City ( 水游城 ), and Florentia Village are considered the city’s landmarks

What are people like?

People on one street in Tanggu, Tianjin, are trying to catch fish in the water

When a rainstorm hits Tianjin, Tianjin people will have some fun first

Tianjin people are jovial

When a heavy snow hits Tianjin, Tianjin people will have some fun first

Tianjin people are jovial

People from Tianjin are stereotyped as talkative, eloquent, humorous, open, and unfettered. There is a term for the Tianjin native: wèizuǐzi ( 卫嘴子 ), which translates roughly as "the Tianjin mouth". Tianjin is famous for Xiangsheng, sometimes translated as crosstalk, a traditional Chinese comedy duo performance in the form of a dialogue, rich in puns and allusions, done in a rapid, bantering style. Xiangsheng is one of China's foremost performing arts. Canadian Xiangsheng comedian Dashan (Mark Rowswell) says the closest equivalent in English would be Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" sketch.

Tianjin people are talkative and humorous

Tianjin people are content

China Central Television (CCTV) went to Tianjin and did several interviews with ordinary people, most of whom said their biggest life wish was happiness. “We are ordinary people, (we) don’t have big dreams, just be safe and be happy, that’s enough.” One young street stall owner said his dream is to make more money, but not do something else to make extra money. “I just try my best to make more Jian Bing Guo Zi (Crepe), sell more, that’s enough, enough, no big dreams.”

Video here: http://t.cn/zYTSL9J

“ 有口凉水喝也不愿意往外跑”

Tianjin people are proud of their city and seldom move away

热土难离——天津人最爱说的一句话，就是：“咱们天津卫是一方宝地。”天津人说自己的家乡是宝地，自然是有许多理由的。天津、这个地方自古以来就好似常常要发生一些惊天动地的大事情。如此说天津是一块宝地，也就不为过分了，天津一没有一亩良田，二没有一座矿山，就是凭着这九条大河，硬是世世代代地养活了这许多的市民，只是这一点，天津就有资格是一处宝地。

－－《其实你不懂天津人》

“As long as there is cold water to drink in Tianjin, I will never move out of the city.”

Tianjin people always say: “Our Tianjin is blessed, because Tianjin doesn’t really have good farmland and no other natural resources. We only depend on the nine rivers passing through the city, which have managed to feed so many Tianjin people. For this reason, our land is blessed. --- a Actually You Don’t Know Tianjin People

Tianjin people are warmhearted and down to earth, but you have to give them “face” to get things done

There are 4.5 million posts (BBS and Sina Weibo) mentioning “Tianjin people” and “warm hearted” together in the past year.

Tianjin people are so warm hearted! People I don’t even know greet me with “little sister” and help me out a lot! Tianjin people are so warm and

friendly. Even the 40 or 50 year old women call me “sister” to show hospitality.

Tianjin people are picky when it comes to food and they are willing to spend money and time on food (not necessarily quality food). The most important meal for them is breakfast.

What activities do they like ?

Watching Xiansheng is popular

Majiang is a popular pastime

Tianjin Consumer Habits

Source: 大众点评（ www.dianping.com) 发布《 2012 天津城市生活消费报告》” Tianjin consumer spending habit report”

Tianjin People love to do online group buys and download coupons to their mobile phones

Tianjin “Tuan Gou” (group buy) volume was the highest in China in 2012. On average, every one group buy deal generates 3,300 deals. The average group buy discount online is 67%. Top group buy deals include: movies and restaurants (especially Korean restaurants).

In the past year, Tianjin people downloaded coupons more than 2.78 million times. More and more people are downloading these coupons or searching for deals using their mobile phones. People using mobile to access group buy sites or download coupons increased 106% in 2012.

When dining out, Tianjin people choose to eat western food and hotpot

On average, Tianjin people spend RMB 68 per person when they dine out, ranking 14th among the 23 first and second tier cities in China. When they go out for food, western food (Chinese style western food) is the first choice, spending RMB 65 per person; the second choice is hotpot, where they spend RMB 61 per person on average.

Source: 大众点评（ www.dianping.com) 发布《 2012 天津城市生活消费报告》” Tianjin consumer spending habit report”

Tianjin people spend most of their leisure time in the city’s parks. The second most popular choice is shopping malls, of which several have opened in recent years. They are willing to spend money on a good shopping experience. One of the comments left on Dianping about a luxury shopping mall reads: “This is the best shopping mall ever in Tianjin. It has all the luxury brands (that I know). Even if I can’t afford them, it is a good place to hang out and window shop. But it will be my goal to shop in this mall!”

Joy City, Aqua City (水游城 ), and Florentia Village are considered the city’s landmarks

Source: 大众点评 (www.dianping.com) 发布《 2012 天津城市生活消费报告》” Tianjin consumer spending habit report”