Having been to the Beijing zoo and seen the terrible housing conditions the animals suffered there, I was a bit worried coming here. In all honesty, we probably would not have if it wasn’t included in our Ice World tour. After visiting the facility, we can firmly recommend not going for reasons I detail below….
Author: Stephwaxpoetic
Harbin 哈尔滨: The Provincial Museum, Monuments, and Other Attractions
Hongbo Square 红博广场 and the WWII Russian Victory Monument Hongbo Square used to be the site of the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas which was destroyed by the Red Guards the Cultural Revolution. Today, there’s a large roundabout above ground with a pretty decorative sculpture in the middle. Some buildings in the area, like the KFC…
China’s Auschwitz: A look at the WWII Japanese Germ and Warfare Base 侵华日军第 731 部队遗址
Harbin housed some gruesome secrets during the Japanese Occupation (1931-1945), when the area was known as the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army covertly developed and tested lethal biological and chemical warfare at this site under the guise of epidemic prevention and water purification works. What took place on…
Harbin 哈尔滨: What to Expect at the Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival
Beautiful powdery snow cascaded down from a container attached to a crane high above the giant white structure. My husband, Mark, and I watched from inside a cafe, cozy and warm with cups of steaming hot cocoa, as workers set about firmly packing the snow down into artful shapes. We were on Sun Island, one…
Harbin 哈尔滨 Part 1: A Merry Christmas in the “Moscow of the Orient”
My husband’s visits are always a special time of year. Having done the whole long-distance thing on and off for almost a decade since we’ve known each other (that’s about a third of our lives!), this is when both of us really get to spend quality time together. We also love to travel, and this…
Holiday Season Recap and a Visit to Shanghai
It’s been a whirlwind past couple of weeks! Where did November and December go? Now that my classes are finished (as in my classes were co-opted for test review), I actually have free time to blog. Thanksgiving The AYC Thanksgiving this year was held by my friends, Dani and Rachael, as is the tradition for…
Why 666 is a “Lucky Number” in China
It was 2017 when I first heard “666” in my classroom. I was taken aback; my sweet students were shaking their fists with their thumb and pinky out, chanting “six six six” in English at their classmates doing a grammar racing game on the chalk board. I left class that day feeling bemused and more than a little perplexed. After this initial observation, I began noticing 666’s positioned seemingly randomly around town. Pretty sure not everyone was a Satanist, I set out to investigate what was going on.
Halloween 万圣节 2018
The week of October 19th-24th, I gained permission from my school to take a break from our readings to teach solely about one of my favorite holidays, citing it as an “important part of Western culture.” The students seemed to get a kick out of my costumes, and were pretty attentive for the duration of…
Xia He Tower 廈河塔
I could catch glimpses of the clear silhouette of the skinny pagoda, visible against the green backdrop of the mountains, and as I zigzagged through traffic, I decided to just go for it. My bike was running on a full night’s charge, and I was feeling good after successfully picking up my train tickets. I…
Hong Kong香港: Asia’s World City Part II Hong Kong Island and Lantau Island
Hong Kong Island Across Victoria Harbour, lies the urban jungle of Hong Kong Island. One can find many of Hong Kong’s big skyscrapers here, including the angular bamboo-esque Bank of China designed by I.M. Pei. Many of the buildings feature an architectural aspect special to Hong Kong: Dragon Gates. Dragon Gates One of the…
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