The Head (of China House)

The China House, also known as the Porcelain House, is one of Tianjin’s most unusual landmarks. It’s a French-style mansion from the early 1900s, completely covered in over 400 million pieces of ancient porcelain and ceramic shards collected from dynasties as old as the Tang (600s AD).​

Businessman and art collector Zhang Lianzhi bought the decaying villa in 2002 and spent five years turning it into a porcelain museum. The result is a glittering mosaic of vases, plates, bowls, and dragons that gleam in the sunlight. A 768-meter-long porcelain dragon curls across the roof, and the outer wall—known as the “Peace Wall”—is made from 635 antique vases symbolising harmony.​

Inside, porcelain fragments create mosaics of famous art, from Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa to China’s Five Oxen painting. The collection also includes rare Ming and Qing dynasty furniture and over 200 artworks inspired by both Chinese and Western masters.​