Harbin City Tour

Monday began much as Sunday had. I worked in the coffee room and enjoyed several cups brought to me by the grad students. At break, Glen had a private chat with a young professor who needed guidance so I brought him egg tarts.

I haven't mentioned this before but the university buildings were very cold and most conferees wore their coats all day, including me. I think the heat was turned off for the summer and since radiators take so long to get back up to temperature, no one had turned it back on. We even wore our coats during the meals.

Lunch was a more intimate affair as most of the conferees departed for their homes. A city tour had been scheduled for the afternoon so those who knew Harbin left. Many were off to another conference so said their goodbyes with promises to have us visit their universities. It will be hard to resist any offers they may make.

After a lunch of black fungus, three whole fish (perhaps trout) in a bowl of broth and the ever-present eggplant dish which Glen loved, we were taken on a campus tour by two young women. Since the day was sunny and warm, I could take more pictures of the buildings. Even the goldfish appeared in the fish pond.

At two, we boarded a bus and departed for the St. Sophia Cathedral. This was one of three Russian Orthodox churches built in Harbin. The others were The Church of the Intercession (renovated and now open for public worship) and St. Nicholas Church. The latter was destroyed in 1966 during the Cultural Revolution.

St. Sophia, also called The Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom of God, was built in 1907 after the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway and extensively renovated in 1932. It is an beautiful example of Neo-Byzantine architecture. The Communist government closed in 1958 then gutted it to use as storage. Apartments and stores soon invaded its square and the church became visually lost. In 1996, designated an historic building, it was restored and the surrounding buildings were torn down. It now houses the Municipal Architecture and Art Museum but we didn't go inside.

As I was photographing all angles of the building, a grad student with a huge red umbrella hovered nearby to protect me from the sun. I noticed that the older women of Harbin wear unique headgear--a large visor covered by a fancy silk scarf. One such lady began blowing a whistle near the cathedral. Suddenly, the air was full of pigeons descending from the church to feed at her bird feeder. Once they were on the ground, she whipped the feeder away and began selling bags of seed to those gathered around. The children were delighted in watching the birds and all I could think of was the song from Mary Poppins, Feed the Birds.

From the cathedral, we walked to Central Street (Zhong Yang Da Jie) famous for its Russian architecture and shopping. Harbin is often called 'Eastern Paris' as during the 1920s, European fashions and merchandize arrived here. It is a pedestrian-only street but we had to battle Harbin traffic to reach it. All the grad students took their lives into their hands keeping us safe. Not an easy task.

Glen is a magnet for unusual people and sure enough, an old man latched onto him as we walked down Zhong Yang Da Jie. The man spoke impeccable English and knew a lot about Canada. He sold maps and said he had Canadian ones, too. Glen laughed and told him he had plenty of Canadian maps. They chatted for a block or so before the man realized Glen was not going to buy a map.

Zhong Yang Da Jie stretches 1450 m from JinWei Jie where we began our walk to the Songhua River and features many different European architectural styles from Renaissance to Baroque (often using modern materials). The day was hot so we stopped at a famous ice cream store, Zhaoba & Ice Cream Bar & Maogong Zai, and were treated to an unusually flavoured ice cream bar. Not quite vanilla, not quite coconut but reminiscent of both.

Originally built in 1898, Zhong Yang Da Jie was 'cobbled' in 1924 and used to transport railway goods into the city. In 1997, it was closed to traffic and is the largest such street in Asia.

We walked with yet another grad student who wished to practice her English and she told us stories of Harbin since it was her home town. When we reached the Flood Control Monument on the banks of the Songhua River, we found our party had dwindled to six as the others had stopped to shop. We had an hour to enjoy Stalin Park but I began to suffer from the heat (and dehydration as it turned out).

The Flood Control Monument commemorates the efforts of the city's people who battled the flood of 1957 when the river rose 4 m. Two other floods since then have also been noted on the monument. Our guide told us her grandmother did sandbagging during the first flood as we walked along the path beside the river. Stalin Park is a favourite getaway for Harbin's people who come to play and relax. It was built in 1953 and named for the Russian dictator, Joseph Stalin.

The group was to reconvene at the Flood Control Monument and as we slowly gathered, the students did a head count. Someone was missing but because we were milling around, it was hard for them to count us. Finally, someone suggested we form two lines. This was all done in Chinese but we got the idea and stood in line. Still, the numbers didn't add until Robert and his guide came wandering into the square. We then hurried to catch the bus. I was fading at this point and began to realize I needed to drink water. Since I don't like water and rarely get thirsty, I had become dehydrated. All I wanted to do was go back to the hotel but we had to eat first.

Shu-Lin had promised us an authentic, country (peasant) Chinese meal for supper before he headed to a conference in Beijing. He assured us we'd have a good time and he was right.

The restaurant was large by Harbin standards and we ushered upstairs into a room packed with people. Someone led me to a table but we were soon uprooted and told to sit again at the head table. This was not far from a small stage. Glen and I each had a translator but Glen couldn't hear his and mine got caught up in the show so forgot to tell me what was going on. I didn't mind.

The meal began with Chinese liquor served in saki 'vases' and instead of tea, pots of hot water sat on the lazy susan. A hibachi-like device held a wok full of cabbage and blood sausage and surrounding it were dishes of lightly battered minnow-like fish (with heads still intact), boiled potatoes, corn, squash, black fungus with cabbage, eggplant, bean sprouts, deep fried pork, sweet balls filled with pork, cold soy bean soup, and two kinds of bread much the same texture as cornbread. What floored me was a huge pile of mashed potatoes in a tomato sauce. Even though I was not well, I still managed to eat the mashed potatoes with chopsticks. I drank very little of the liquor saving my sips for the multiple toasts at the meal. The hot water slipped down nicely and so when the entertainment began, I was back to myself.

Before our meal, while we waited for the others at the monument, our guide realized it was her birthday. With all the work and excitement of the conference, she'd forgotten. In Harbin, it is traditional to have a bowl of noodle soup on your birthday so during the meal, one was brought for her. It had a poached egg on top and looked delicious.

Even though we couldn't understand a word of what the performers were saying or singing as they paraded across the stage, we enjoyed the music and the laughter of the show. What we saw was a number of skits depicting the modern history of China. The Japanese were reviled and the heros cheered. The skit about Mao Zedong's Little Red Book caused the most laughter.

The influence of Russia was featured but the Russian dancers were awful and could not compete with the beauty and grace of the Chinese ones. The Chinese singers had good voices and one song was obviously beloved as the audience sang along. The singer gave the mike to the Associate Dean of Research and he thought nothing of belting out a verse.

The final act was a comedian who looked like a young Jet Li. He had the people at our table in stitches and after all their hard work, it was good seeing them relax and enjoy the show. Partway through his spiel, he asked our guide where we were from then he and Glen toasted Canada. Neither could understand what the other was saying but they bonded. I had thought Glen had had too much Chinese liquor but he confessed it was not as strong as it tasted.

The minute the show ended, all the lights in the house blazed and that was it, we were off to the bus. Chun-Xiao wanted to escort us to our rooms but we left her at the elevator. She told us we'd leave at 9 the next morning to see Shu-Lin's Genomics Lab adding, "Would you like to go to more gardens?" We nodded then let the elevator doors close.