In Which We Hit the Road Again
It’s a wrench leaving Harbin, more than I’d thought it would be, and in the week running up to leaving I’m almost in denial. I...
Tagged: harbin
Getting the Seasons Wrong in Wudalianchi
“Can we see the cranes?” I ask Zhang Wei, in my still resolutely rubbish Chinese. “They’re not here,” he replies, driving at a pace so...
A Swimming Date in China
The lesser spotted tween, and its larger relative, the greater spotted teen, are elusive creatures in urban China. You might glimpse one between 6 and...
One Benefit of Learning English in Chinese Schools
Handwriting has never been a strength of Zac’s. He’s a lefty, and started writing aged three. Then, because current British thinking is that young children...
On Doing Maths in Chinese
I knew, of course, that maths as taught in Asia is some way ahead of the UK (and, for that matter, most of the West)....
First Day of Chinese School
We’re both fairly quiet in the taxi to the school. What had seemed like a really good idea at the time – put Zac in...
Trains, Stations and the Narrative of Power
Harbin Xi railway station sits way out in the west of town. It’s an enormous red brick affair, a grandiose arch that towers over windswept,...
We Find a Chinese School
A bit of English language Googling around bilingual schools in Harbin finds a site for teachers of English as a foreign language, and a job...
The Other Doctor Mengele – Unit 731, Harbin
Among the unremarkable apartment blocks of Ping Fan, an unremarkable suburb of Harbin, sits an unremarkable low brick building, muted against the snow. This...
The Quest for Chinese School
“I called the school for you,” Huaze reports back. My Chinese really isn’t good enough to do anything but the most basic of basic conversations...