Dagukou Fort Ruins Museum (People's Daily Online/ Wang Xin)

Dagukou Fort Ruins Museum in Binhai New Area of Tianjin was built in 1997. It exhibits the heroic chapter of China’s fight against foreign invasions. The museum was inscribed as a national patriotism educating base by Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China in 2005.

The Dagu Fort, the gateway to Tianjin, was built in the regime of Emperor Jiaqing (1955-1566) in Ming Dynasty. Fortresses were erected here in the Ming and the Qing dynasties because of its military importance. In 1858, the Qing government built six emplacements named Wei, Zhen, Hai, Men, Gao, and Shitoufeng. They were all thicker and wider than those constructed in the Ming Dynasty.

Between the mid-19th century and 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces launched four battles in the Dagu area to gain economic and political control over China. The local armies and citizens fought bravely against the invaders, and many Chinese people sacrificed their lives for their country.

After the war, the imperialists forced the Qing government to destroy the emplacements. As a result, most of the forts were demolished and only the Wei Fort and the Hai Fort survived.

The museum displays the history of the emplacement with abundant pictures, illustrations, and objects.