Xiaozhan

Xiaozhan is a town in Jinnan District, and it carries two quite different reputations. The first is military: after Tianjin was opened as a treaty port in 1860, Li Hongzhang founded the Tianjin Naval Academy and the Beiyang Military Academy, and later Yuan Shikai trained his new troops at Xiaozhan, the cadre of which went on to form the Beiyang military and political faction. The second is agricultural: Xiaozhan rice is listed among the Tianjin specialities that the city attributes to its particular geography and climate, and in 2024 it was the benchmark against which the Shawo radish was measured as only the second Tianjin farm brand in the national programme.