A new kind of Christmas
The only way I can describe my month of December was that it was both the quickest month and also the longest I’ve experienced so far in China. The longest possibly because the freezing weather has made doing the most mundane outside activities an almost painful experience. Going to the market (市场 – shìchǎng) , walking the whole 100m to the school building and going to buy dinner (晚饭 – wǎnfàn), you’re going to need at least 7 layers, plus a scarf (围巾 – wéijīn) and gloves (手套- shǒutào). My massive winter online shopping haul came just in time as within a week the temperature had dropped from a mild 7 degrees to a horrific -11. Without the fur-lined leggings, thermal layers and multiple hoodies I don’t think I would’ve even left my room (I swear you can practically see icicles hanging in the corridors).
However, this was nothing compared to the -18 degrees Harbin (哈尔滨 - hā ěr bīn) had to offer. Harbin is the capital of the most northern province in China, Heilongjiang (黑龙江) and due to the heavy influence of Russian architecture because of the construction of the Trans-Siberian express, it was almost like a Chinese Russia with the beautiful mix of the cultures and architecture throughout the city. We arrived in the city the morning of the 21st after a night on the train, thankfully a sleeper train (I don’t think I could make it through another train experience like the train to 西安 ), so we actually had the luxury of beds! Six to a cabin so it was quite cozy, but honestly nothing to complain about.
We arrived feeling pretty refreshed and hopped on our bus to our first destination - Volga Manor and its grounds. Beautiful imitations of traditional Russian architecture spread over beautiful gardens. We didn’t really get to see much of the garden as it was under about a foot of snow, but it was an absolutely stunning winter landscape. It really didn’t feel real, it was almost something out of a movie. At the manor we had the chance to sledge down this massive snow slide from the top of the building which was absolutely amazing! I wish I could comment about the view, but we were honestly going so fast and the spray from the snow was pretty much blinding us on the way down. After having a little time to explore the grounds, walk over the frozen lakes and of course muck around in the snow we returned to the bus to go and have a traditional Harbin lunch, with plenty of rice for the veggies.
After lunch we took a short visit to the St. Sofia church in the middle of the city, but because it was under some kind of construction, we only stayed to take pictures for about 15 minutes before going to Central Street, the longest and largest pedestrianised street in all of Asia, reaching about 1,450 meters. It’s known throughout Harbin and famed for its variety of European style buildings. It really was just like walking down Buchannan Street at Christmas!
The next day after checking out of the hotel, we visited Laodawei, or the Baroque Street, known mostly for its distinct European style of architecture and tourist shops, where I have to admit I bought about a year’s supply of chocolate from. Normally, buying chocolate in China is pretty expensive, but in Harbin because of the Russian influence we had the best selection of chocolate ranging from premium white chocolate to 100% dark cacao bars. I didn’t quite brave the 100% dark chocolate, I stuck with my comparatively wimpy 85% chilli chocolate instead.
Around midday we went to Songhua River, the largest part of the Heilong River. In summer it’s an incredibly busy bathing area, however in winter, once the river is totally frozen over (the ice is 1 meter thick) it’s a great area for both locals and tourists to skate, ice sail, ride in horse drawn sleighs, and swim! Although the swimming is reserved for the locals. It was incredibly cold by the time we got to the river and even with my multiple layers of thermals, hat, gloves and two scarves I was still absolutely frozen, however it didn’t stop me from exploring a bit and sampling Harbin’s spicy tofu dish. That wasn’t nearly as impressive as some of the boys who decided to try fried crickets on a stick.
After lunch we visited a model Russian town, mimicking the traditional small-town architecture of the early 1900s. We tried to have a conversation with one of the old Russian ladies working in the town, who was modelling traditional dress, but between her lack of Mandarin and our lack of Russian the most we managed to establish was that we were from London. She didn’t understand the word Edinburgh, so we just had to go with the UK capital city. Points for trying, I guess!
After many photos and once our hands became suitably numb, we hopped back on the bus to our final destination, the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival, (哈尔滨国际冰雪节 - Hā'ěrbīn Guójì Bīngxuě Jié) which celebrated its 34th year and is known worldwide as the world’s biggest winter festival due to the impressive size, scale and details put into the sculptures which often reach 46 meters in height. It was an incredible experience and absolutely the highlight of the entire trip. Although, the -18 degrees did cause us to go and seek refuge in the local KFC to heat up with mugs of coffee (咖啡 – kāfēi) half way through!
Returning to Tianjin the following morning it was Christmas Eve (圣诞前夕 - shèngdàn qiánxī) and despite the weather being suitable Christmassy in Harbin, everything else back in Tianjin was distinctively un-festive. Christmas (圣诞 - shèngdàn) is not really widely celebrated over here. So when the 25th rolled around it was a bit of a shock I think for everyone, as it was just so unlike the massive build up to the holidays we have back at home with lights, adverts and Christmas markets starting the minute Halloween is over. However, our trip to Harbin definitely got us feeling more festive and we managed to make Christmas a bit of a deal anyways. A Secret Santa was organised so that took care of present opening in the morning and then a few of us decided it would be a nice idea to go to church. Although I’m not religious, it was something I wanted to do as I felt like it brought me a little closer to my family, despite the 4,800-mile distance. We should have maybe double checked the time of the service though, as we arrived and were told how it had changed to 7pm instead of the 11am which we’d arrived for.
Although we didn’t have a specific Christmas service it was really nice to see the beauty of the church and just spend a little time reflecting on everything. We then made our way across the road onto yingkoudao (basically a massive shopping street) to have a Christmas brunch together. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon, eating cake and pastries, drinking coffee and hot chocolate and just chatting about our families and normal Christmas traditions back home. It actually felt like Christmas. A quick subway ride and then we were back home, and it was about the time our families back home would be waking up and ready to open presents (I still don’t think I’ve managed to wrap my head around the time zones). I had a lovely video call with my family and chatted to my friends for a little bit before starting to get ready for Christmas dinner. The common area on our floor, much to the cleaners’ dismay, was decorated in tinsel and fairy lights, and we shifted the tables round to make it one huge one, so we were able to sit around and have food all together. Because of the lack of cooking facilities, we decided not to risk food poisoning by attempting to cook a turkey in the microwave and so opted to just order in a take away. I have to say that was definitely my first time having noodles (面条 – miàntiáo) for Christmas dinner, but in all honesty it beat dry turkey and brussel sprouts any day!
Christmas in China will definitely be one to remember for a long time as I felt like it really had the true values of Christmas, being with family and friends, and friends that have become your family, and even though it was still tough as it was the first Christmas away from home for many, we managed to turn it into an amazing day.