Life in Harbin

Hi Everyone!

Since I have been terrible about keeping up with regular blog posts this summer (sorry!), I am writing a series of "summary" posts to give you an idea of what CET-Harbin was like for any prospective Light Applicants. Overall, I do recommend this program, and over the next few posts, you'll see my reasons why.

First, I wanted to talk about life in Harbin. The number one thing to keep in mind about Harbin is that it is not Beijing or Shanghai. Harbin is a MUCH smaller city than those two, which has its own special culture and different attractions.


CULTURE
Harbin (哈尔滨) is the capital of Heilongjiang Province, the most northern province in China. This city is strongly influenced by the fact that it is neighbors with Russia. At various points in its history, Harbin was actually under Russian control. All over the city, you will find lots of Russian influences, from Gogol Street to St. Sophia's Cathedral to the Russian buildings in Old Harbin to Russian sausage to Russian bread and more. Many people, Westerners or Asians, will also speak Russian, and if you are of European ancestry, you will be mistaken for Russian at least once. I have stood on a bus with one of my good friends, Lilian, who attempted to hold a conversation in Chinese with an old man who spoke to her in Russian. He refused to believe she was anything BUT Russian. For this reason, Harbin's culture is different from any other Chinese city you will visit. There are still a lot of Russians in city--many of whom are students in the International Student Center you will be studying in at Harbin Institute of Technology (your host university for CET-Harbin). Be sure to visit the distinctly Russian landmarks while you're in Harbin, because some people like to call it the Moscow of the East.

In addition to the Russian influence, there is a strong Korean presence as well. There any many people of the Korean ethnic minority as well as North and South Korean nationals.

P.S. Harbin also has the world famous tiger park which is amazing. You ride in a little bus and there will be hundreds of tigers surrounding you (picture on left).

WEATHER
If you are in Harbin in the winter, then you will obviously visit the Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, which is a must as they build entire cities out of snow. Because of this festival and because the city is so north, Harbin has a reputation of being incredibly cold. While true of the winter, this is nothing to fear for summer-term students. The weather is similar to New Haven and Connecticut in the summer. There are hot days where the temperature spikes to the upper nineties (Fahrenheit), but on most days, you'll be looking at temperatures in the eighties. The classrooms are furnished with air conditioning that they will turn on if the temperature is hot enough, and you dorm will have fans. I found the weather to be quite comfortable as long as I opened a window.

The other main thing about the weather is that there is an issue of air pollution. While this problem is no where near as serious as Beijing or Shanghai, this is still a developing Chinese city. There are a ton of cars on the road, and the air can get stuffy sometimes. Some of the students experienced allergies due to the pollution. It's not a huge issue and you are bound to experience it in almost every Chinese city.

TRAFFIC
Harbin is currently building a subway/metro system that should be completed approximately 2013-2014 (I get different estimates from different people). Because of this construction, traffic in Harbin is really messy right now. At high traffic times, you'll find it impossible to catch a cab, and the buses are so crowded you'll be completely squished in. Some cabs will even refuse to drive you places because they are not in the right direction. However, on the plus side, it's also CHEAPER to catch a cab and to get around Harbin than in other cities. Cabs start at 8 RMB, and you rarely spend more than 14 RMB to get across town. Buses are 1 RMB for all of the lines. I recommend riding buses during the day because they are more cost efficient and it's also a good chance to talk with the locals and practice your Chinese.

SHOPPING
If you are an avid shopper for clothes or anything, then there are definitely a few places to buy stuff. Check out Fashion City (服装城) and Zhong Yang Da Jie for some great chances to practice your haggling skills. Fashion City also has a whole area dedicated to custom-made anything. Many of the students, including me, had custom-made suits made for incredibly cheap. You can haggle your prices down on the fabric and materials, and there is generally a set labor cost of 150 RMB to make the suit. Or you can have everything taken care of by the tailor when you choose fabrics that he/she offers in the shop. They also will make curtains, bed sheets, pajamas, prom dresses, Mandarin dresses, and more. There are also high end real-brand shopping centers all over Zhongyang Da Jie, or you can check out shopping centers located under streets in street crossings at Hongbo (picture on right). The clothing is really cheap, cheaper than other major cities, and you'll find a lot of great styles--especially Korean styles.

Ask your roommates to take you around shopping places because they can also help you haggle down prices, and they probably know all the best places to check out. I was taken to a shopping mall that only sold shoes, a shopping mall that only sold school supplies, a shopping mall for toys, and more.

FOOD
Eating in Harbin is cheaper than any other Chinese city, but in my opinion, it is not as tasty. If you are used to going to Chinatown in America for dimsum, and that is what you thought authentic Chinese food was in the entire country, then you will be in for a surprise. Northeast Chinese food is drastically different from any other Chinese cuisine. For one, they don't like spicy or sweet/sour foods. They prefer a salty and savory cuisine that I had a hard time transitioning to. In fact, I lost 7 pounds in China (and for my 5'3" stature, that's a lot).

Some specialties of the region include cold vegetable salads, cold wood ear (a type of fungi) with wasabi, long snow peas-esque beans stir-fried with potatoes and pork, roasted pork shoulders, BaSiDiGua (caramelized sweet potatoes), and hot pot (a communal boiling pot you share with your friends in which you throw in raw vegetables and meat). I highly recommend trying out the various hot pot places because even though it is about 90 degrees out, it's still delicious, and the homemade sesame paste many of these restaurants provide as a dipping sauce is so great.

Other things to try out in Harbin include their Russian sausage (only buy from an authentic place such as Qiulin), Russian bread (tastes a bit like ciabatta bread), and a Russian soft drink made from their Russian bread (tastes like a mildly sweet beer). Harbin has a huge Russian influence, but it's a great idea to check out the Russian cuisine. They have a few Russian style restaurants, but beware they will be more on the expensive side. Your residential assistant will know about a lot of great restaurants in Harbin, and mine was great enough to take us to a bunch of them. The Chinese roommates also will take you out to eat a lot.

Japanese and Russian restaurants were the most expensive at about 100 RMB per person, but they are also the most high-class. The decor in Lucias Russian Cafe was reminiscent of Union League Cafe with beautiful carved hardwood walls (photo on left), and the Japanese restaurant (there's only 2 in the city) features private rooms for basically every guest. Western cuisine tends to just be more expensive; Hamamas near campus sold hamburgers, muffins, brownies, cakes, smoothies, shakes, etc. at about 40 RMB per person. A French cafe sells tuna sandwiches and grilled cheese melts as well as cheesecake for anyone feeling homesick at approximately 30 RMB a person (picture on right). There is a German all-you-can-eat restaurant where servers will come by your table to slice off meat from the skewers; they also brew their own beers.

Korean food will cost approximately 30-40 RMB per person, but it's still much cheaper than Korean food in the US. Just asa forewarning, Korean cuisine often involves dog meat, so beware of that when you are being taken out for a meal. When my teacher treated me to lunch once (she was of the Korean ethnic minority), she ordered dog meat stew. However, the non-dog meat dishes are quite amazing and bibimbip or chapchae is always less than 20 RMB (yum).

Then there are various Chinese restaurants (one Hong Kong style restaurant with pretty good Cantonese cuisine that satisfied my craving for Southern Chinese food). Hot pot restaurants can be buffet style or order by the plate, but they never come out to be more than 35 RMB per person. Perhaps some of my favorite meals were sitting out on the street side eating barbecued meat from stick (chuanr). They are not the most hygienic meals, and I've gotten milk food poisoning more than once in Harbin, but they are fun and delicious.

In fact, food poisoning is very common in China. If you have a sensitive stomach, bring some peptol bismal or other stomach medications. Most of the kids were sick at one point or another. Always eat your meat well-done, and I learned to avoid most cold salads because they had just been sitting out for most of the day while it's 95 degrees out. Never drink tap water, and always check seals on bottle water purchased from the street. As a personal rule of thumb, I also avoid milk in China, but that's only because milk in China tastes incredibly processed in my opinion, and it's rarely refrigerated because the processing gives it a longer shelf life. Also, I have gotten sick from milk in China before, so I have bad memories of it.



I will write more posts VERY SOON about nightlife, classes, trips, and campus life.