It is hard to overstate how liberating it felt when after limited success in Nanjing and a total refusal in Changchun I could finally work with the materials I wanted to see. Similarly to Shanghai, I had a really fruitful research-experience at the Tianjin Municipal Archives (天津市档案馆) in just four days, spending both mornings and afternoons at the Fukang Road (复康路) site, across the street to my 100 years-old alma mater Nankai University (南开大学).
Having its back towards the city’s beloved Waterpark (水上公园) and the memorial museum of Nankai’s esteemed alumni, first Premier of the PRC Comrade Zhou Enlai (周恩来) and his wife Deng Yingchao (邓颖超), the Archives is the also next to the large building of the Municipal Library. There are several bus lines that can take you to the closest stop Shoubiaochang (手表厂) or to the subway station ZhouDeng Ji’nianguan (周邓纪念馆), a five minutes-walk from the main entrance. You can enter the gates after registering at the guards’ booth (date, name, purpose of visit, number of people and phone number), a mere daily formality. Then you need to cross the parking lots in front of the yellow-tiled, horseshoe-shaped main building then circumvent it in order to enter from behind. The glass doors with blue stripes might try to mislead you as they read “Tianjin Municipal Archives Museum” (not in Chinese though where its only 天津市档案馆) but don’t be fooled, that’s what you’re looking for.
The TMA building hiding behind the trees (L); the Main Building (C); the misleading script on the back entrance (R)