After seeing all the major sites, most visitors to China head west to Tibet, the Silk Road, or Inner Mongolia or head to the south and the Kunming area - certainly great areas to explore. Few visitors head Northeast to check out the former Manchu Kingdom and the major cities of Haerbin and Shenyang. While the area is still Chinese it feels distinct from the rest of country and a bit more rugged / adventurous than other areas of China. On nice summer days the people of Northeast China are out in full force taking advantage of the warm weather by dancing, swimming, drinking, and dining.
The area's remoteness means there are fewer English speakers and less extensive subway systems thus you may need to rely on buses for transit. The hostel scene and public infrastructure are less limited than other parts of China. Haerbin has a single metro line, which fortunately connects with the city's train station, so you'll want to find a hostel near one of the metro stops. Shenyang had two metro lines when I visited. My advice would be to save Northeast China towards the end of your trip. I visited these areas after traveling through China for fifty days and it helped that I knew what to do when arriving in cities, knew what to do when leaving the hostel for the day, etc. and didn't get frustrated by a more complicated area to travel through compared to other sections of China. I sat back and enjoyed the area for what it was - a remote and unique slice of China.
The area's remoteness means there are fewer English speakers and less extensive subway systems thus you may need to rely on buses for transit. The hostel scene and public infrastructure are less limited than other parts of China. Haerbin has a single metro line, which fortunately connects with the city's train station, so you'll want to find a hostel near one of the metro stops. Shenyang had two metro lines when I visited. My advice would be to save Northeast China towards the end of your trip. I visited these areas after traveling through China for fifty days and it helped that I knew what to do when arriving in cities, knew what to do when leaving the hostel for the day, etc. and didn't get frustrated by a more complicated area to travel through compared to other sections of China. I sat back and enjoyed the area for what it was - a remote and unique slice of China.
HAERBIN
Haerbin has received international attention for its annual winter festival, a festival so reknowned that Anthony Bourdain timed a visit to Haerbin around its occurrence. I visited Haerbin in the summer and this to be a great time to visit too. Zhongyang Street is Haerbin's primary gathering area.
A few blocks off Zhongyang Street is St. Sophia Cathedral, a Russian, onion-dome style, Cathedral. At St. Sophia Cathedral you get the distinct feeling that you aren't in China any more. The Cathedral was incredibly small - it looks large in the photos but it’s quite miniscule up close and probably because the church is one a large open square. While the church is a little disappointing, this area in general is interesting to walk around. It has a colonial-type, old town type feel that you don't find in many of China's major cities.
I returned continued my walk to the Songhua River and passed a group of people dancing - which happens quite a bit in China - but then the music switched over to Russian waltz and the dancing became a lot more formal. There were some very good performances and men balanced women as they bended backwards. Throughout the dancing I could hear a cracking whip sound echoing in the distance. As I reached where the sound was I saw people swinging a stick with a whip attached at a top like object. The whip would strike the top and send it spinning. After a few well connected whips the top could spin unassisted for five minutes. Certain whippers were hackers and went up blindly swinging away but others had a rhythm to their swings.
|
|
The Chinese retirees have it pretty good. Ping pong in the park. Waltz dancing in squares.
I eventually reached the Songhua River and walked upstream where I came across a couple thousand people swimming in the river - more as exercise than recreation. People would dive into the river, which was quite brown looking, then try to swim upstream, give up then float downstream. I noticed that the exercisers didn’t seem to be in great shape for all the effort they were making but then I saw those who had completed their daily exercise were sitting in their swimsuits at tables drinking beer and smoking. As soon as others finished swimming they joined the table. I grabbed a beer myself and skipped over the swimming portion.
And then there's this guy:
The citizens of Haerbin seem to take full advantage of the warm days and there were several “beer gardens” or “beer culture squares” set up. I had another Harbin Beer, one of China's major national beers and the pride of Haerbin. I walked back up Zhongyang Street which was much more crowded than earlier in the day. I then took a long walk back to the metro station and returned to the hostel.
One of Haerbin's top attractions is a Siberian Tiger Reserve. The reserve is relatively small, especially once you consider it holds over five hundred tigers plus a few lions, pumas, leopards, and ligers. I boarded a bus with caged windows with a bunch of excited children and their parents. We drove through an open tiger mouth gate and as soon as we entered the gated area a tiger strode past. The mini bus continued through several large, reserve-style caged areas a with 20 to 30 tigers prowling around.
Unfortunately the safari ride only lasted about twenty minutes before we were dropped off at an enclosed walking path. From this walking path visitors could drop meat into the tiger pen or use tongs to slide meat between the fence openings. There were at least 100 tigers in these dilapidated pens. It’s a shame the pens were in bad shape because otherwise it was a pretty awesome experience seeing this many tigers in one spot - the "wow, there's a hundred tigers here" kind of overrode any thoughts of animal cruelty. I’ll say this much though - after seeing how active the tigers were at this reserve compared to those in Thailand, I'm saying the tigers in Thailand are definitely drugged. Similar conditions, lots of people around, unusual sleeping patterns but these tigers were much more active and unpredictable. You’d have to be nuts to get a photo leaning on a tiger here. I was too nervous to even feed the tigers.
The city of Haerbin has started to expand around the park and there are views of high rise apartment complexes in the background of a tiger. The facilities seemed pretty old so hopefully the fences don’t break someday because the streets of Haerbin would be out of control. To reach the Siberian Tiger Reserve get off at the Tian Long Li metro stop. Exit 2 across the pedestrian walkway cut through gas station or around the sharp corner and cross street. Intersection is Xinbin Jie and Dongzhi Lu. Bus stop is Shi Lao Nian Yi Yuan. Reserve stop is Hu Lin Yuan. The Reserve is near the city center but as you can tell from the directions I've provided it's a bit tricky to reach.
The city of Haerbin has started to expand around the park and there are views of high rise apartment complexes in the background of a tiger. The facilities seemed pretty old so hopefully the fences don’t break someday because the streets of Haerbin would be out of control. To reach the Siberian Tiger Reserve get off at the Tian Long Li metro stop. Exit 2 across the pedestrian walkway cut through gas station or around the sharp corner and cross street. Intersection is Xinbin Jie and Dongzhi Lu. Bus stop is Shi Lao Nian Yi Yuan. Reserve stop is Hu Lin Yuan. The Reserve is near the city center but as you can tell from the directions I've provided it's a bit tricky to reach.
SHENYANG
Shenyang was the capital of the Manchus from which they lead their invasion of China. The Manchus conquered Beijing and the Ming Dynasty and established the Qing Dynasty. The Mukden Palace is the residence of the Qing Emperors who shortly after building the palace complex headed south to conquer the Ming and moved into the Forbidden City, which was a bit of an upgrade.
The term Manchuria comes from Manchu and is not exactly a favored term in China because the Manchus are an ethnic minority in China, only about 10,000,000 strong, yet they ruled China for the final 300 years of the emperor period. The Manchu's Qing Dynasty was China's last dynasty until the Sun Yat-Sen led revolution in 1911. Previous dynasties were primarily Han Chinese, which is the main Chinese ethnic group. The Han kind of look down on the Manchus.
The term Manchuria comes from Manchu and is not exactly a favored term in China because the Manchus are an ethnic minority in China, only about 10,000,000 strong, yet they ruled China for the final 300 years of the emperor period. The Manchu's Qing Dynasty was China's last dynasty until the Sun Yat-Sen led revolution in 1911. Previous dynasties were primarily Han Chinese, which is the main Chinese ethnic group. The Han kind of look down on the Manchus.
The Mukden Palace complex is much smaller than the Forbidden City but this allows for a more intimate setting and you are able to get a feel of what it was actually like to live in a Chinese palace - there was actually furniture inside rooms! There was the royal residence area, a dining “tower”, a library, and a building where the Emperor met to discuss military matters, etc. The palace also had a surrounding protective wall and a few temples similar to the Forbidden City.
In the evening I headed to Beiling Park where it was just starting to get rocking. Over the next two hours I was in for a delight of all the Chinese open space experiences. A group of “marching ladies” wheeled a large speaker into position on an open courtyard and the march was soon under way. Across the way a coordinated group of dancers performed their whimsical sways. Further down from the square was another set of marching ladies. In the corner of the square the paddle and ball exercisers started performing their evening routines. To top it all off, huge and multiple groups of people miliary marched through the square. 1,000s of people walked around enjoying the scene as much as I was. I only wish I knew what they were saying.
|
|
Outside the Beiling Park gate was another new phenomenon - Asian Rope Skipping Federation. At least 100 people were jumping rope in sync and in other areas young children were being taught the “dance” steps associated with skipping rope.
Many Chinese cities have some sculpture or memorial to Mao Zedong. Shenyang's statue, officially known as Long Live the Victory of Mao Zedong Thought, is located on Zhongshan Square and stands thirty feet high making it one of the largest Mao statue's in China.
Two more photos from walking around Shenyang - Zhong Jie Street and a very cool firehouse.
What I also remember about Shenyang is that I arrived at night and only saw one other Westerner the day I spent wandering the city. I arrived at night and needed to reach a hostel that was not near a metro station so there was a bit of a walk from the train station. Without WiFi I was kind of blind and reached the vicinity of the hostels location which was a cluster of tall, dilapidated buildings. It didn't look like a residential area and I checked several building's directories without seeing any signs for a hostel. I was starting to panic. I was thinking I'd need to find a hotel or head back to the train station. Then, lo and behold, some random Chinese person came to my assistance. As a foreigner walking around with a backpack in this neighborhood at 10:30 pm, he knew exactly what I was looking for and lead me to the hostel, which wasn't much of a hostel, but hey at least I had a bed for the night.
For additional Haerbin photos see FLICKR ALBUM. For additional Shenyang photos see FLICKR ALBUM.