TianjinisthesixthlargestcityofthePeople'sRepublicofChinaintermsofurbanpopulation.Administrativelyitisoneofthefourmunicipalitiesthathaveprovincial-levelstatus,reportingdirectlytothecentralgovernment.Also,itsurbanlandareaisthefifthlargestinChina,rankedonlyafterBeijing,Shanghai,GuangzhouandShenzhen.

　　Tianjin'surbanareaislocatedalongtheHaiHeRiver,whichconnectstotheYellowandYangtzeRiversviatheGrandCanalinTianjin.Itsports,somedistanceaway,arelocatedonBohaiGulfinthePacificOcean.TianjinwasoncehometoforeignconcessionsinthelateQingDynastyandearlyKuomintang(KMT)era.ThemunicipalitynowincorporatesthecoastalregionofTanggu,hometotheBinhaiandtheTechnologyandEconomicDevelopingArea(TEDA).TianjinMunicipalitybordersHebeiprovincetothenorth,south,andwest;ChinesecapitalBeijingistothenorthwest,andBohaiGulftotheeast.

　　TianjinisatthenorthernendoftheGrandCanalofChina（大运河）,whichconnectswiththeYellowRiver（黄河）andYangtzeRiver（长江）.

　　TianjinMunicipalityisgenerallyflat,andswampynearthecoast,buthillyinthefarnorth,wheretheYanshanMountains（燕山）passthroughthetipofnorthernTianjin.ThehighestpointinTianjinisJiushandingPeakonthenorthernborderwithHebei,atanaltitudeof1078m.

　　TheHaiHeRiver（海河）formswithinTianjinMunicipalityattheconfluenceoftheZiyaRiver（子牙河）,DaqingRiver（大清河）,YongdingRiver（永定河）,NorthGrandCanal,andSouthGrandCanal;andentersthePacificOceanatTianjinMunicipalityaswell,inDaguDistrict.MajorreservoirsincludetheBeidagangReservoirintheextremesouth(inDagangDistrict)andtheYuqiaoReservoirintheextremenorth(inJiCounty).

　　TheurbanareaofTianjinisfoundinthesouth-centralpartoftheMunicipality.InadditiontothemainurbanareaofTianjinproper,thecoastalongtheBohaiislinedwithaseriesofporttowns,includingTanggu（塘沽）andHangu（汉沽）.

　　Tianjin'sclimateisamonsoon-influencedhumidcontinentalclimate(KoppenclimateclassificationDwa)characterizedbyhot,humidsummers,duetothemonsoon,anddry,coldwinters,duetotheSiberiananticyclone.AveragehighsinJanuaryandJulyare2°C(36°F)and31°C(87°F)respectively).Springiswindybutdry,andmostoftheprecipitationtakesplaceinJulyandAugust.TianjinalsoexperiencesoccasionalspringsandstormswhichblowinfromtheGobiDesertandmaylastforseveraldays.