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…
Category: China
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.
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…
Hong Kong香港: Asia’s World City Part I Kowloon
Bright sunlight sparkled on the water amidst the bobbing solar panels scattered about the ocean. The Shenzhen skyline faded in the distance as my friend, Carol, and I rode a crowded double-decker bus early in the morning across the bridge to the palm tree-lined coast of Hong Kong (HK). Sounds of Cantonese had washed over…
Settling into China (Again)
This summer really flew by didn’t it? My last two months and a half were mostly spent traveling to see friends and family and spending time with my husband, Mark, and our little dwarf hamster. We were able to squeeze in a visit to a few places we had been meaning to go to such as…
Stephwaxpoetic 