Tianjin, with Bohai Sea to its east and with Beijing and Hebei province to its west, lies on the North China Plain covering a land area of 11,917.3 square kilometers, including 153.3 kilometers of coastline.

As one of the four municipalities directly under the jurisdiction of the Central government and only 120 kilometers away from Beijing, capital of China, Tianjin serves as the largest port city in the north of China and a major channel for more than a dozen provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in the north to enable them to communicate with foreign countries.

Tianjin's land slopes from the northwest mountain area to the lower southeast near the sea. Accounting for 94 percent of the total land area, the plain is generally 2 to 5 meters high above sea level. In the most northern part of Tianjin, the upland areas south of Yanshan Mountain are generally 100 to 500 meters high above sea level, with the highest point of 1,078.5 meters at Jiushanding Mountain.