Tianjin is the strategic gateway to the capital and is close to Bohai Bay, a historically important region for fishing and coastal trade.

Tianjin's geographic location helped to make it a place of primary importance for interactions between Chinese and other civilizations in modern times.

Prior to the invention of photography, Western etchings and watercolor paintings were a primary means by which scenes in China were shown realistically.

The exhibits in this part are about Western works of art which faithfully present Tianjin's features in the latter half of the 19th century, especially the landscapes around waterways and port facilities.

This part presents a distinctive gallery of Western historical figures from various national, ethnic, and professional backgrounds, all of whom contributed to Tianjin's rich and unique cultural atmosphere.

It showcases over thirty Western celebrities and their stories while living in Tianjin, including the 31st American president Herbert Clark Hoover, the German diplomatic consultant Gustav Detring, the German military expert Constantin von Hanneken, the French geologist Emile Licent, and British ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn.

All of the exquisite stained glass displays are entirely handmade with wonderful workmanship, and represent the beauty of important Western-style buildings at Tianjin.

A team of experts traveled to Europe and North America to interview former foreign residents of Tianjin or their descendants, from whom valuable oral historical videos were recorded.

Eleanor Cooper and William Liu, Grace: An American Woman's Forty Years in China, 1934-1974, New York: Soho Press, 2003.

Paul French, Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China, Beijing: Penguin Books, 2013.

Frances Wood, No Dogs and Not Many Chinese: Treaty Port Life in China, 1843-1943, London: John Murray Pubs Ltd; New Ed, 2000.

Ruth Rogaski, Hygienic Modernity Meanings of Health and Disease in Treaty-Port China, Oakland: University of California Press, 2004.

David McCasland, Eric Liddell: Pure Gold: A Biography of the Olympic Champion Who Inspired Chariots of Fire, Discovery House, 2010.