Christmas with a difference
圣诞快乐！Shèng dàn kuài lè！Merry Christmas!
The weather has become almost unbearably cold since autumn turned to winter at the end of November. We have all invested in down jackets and thermal leggings to keep us warm even for the 75m walk from our rooms to the building we have our classes in. Yesterday this short walk proved too be too long exposed to the elements as my freshly-washed though only slightly damp hair froze as I walked from one building to the other.
The weather in Tianjin is incredibly cold but very dry and often with a little wind, so it is very unlikely to snow at all in winter despite temperatures being as low as -11°C. This has meant that the water which surrounds the Tianjin TV and Radio Tower has frozen; hundreds of people were skating on it last weekend.
The cold has also meant that if we want to go out to get dinner in the evenings, we have to layer up so much we look like Michelin men. Instead of this, we have opted for the rather more comfortable (some would say lazy) choice of ordering food in using an app. Tianjin is a huge city, so there is plenty of choice for everyone; you can even order ice cream and it arrives still frozen! The best bit is undeniably staying cosied up in bed instead of venturing out for food.
Christmas this year in China was of course rather different from previous Christmases I have had back in Scotland. Since China is an atheist country with no official religion, Christmas is not celebrated. However, it is becoming more trendy for young people to give gifts to their friends but it is still not widely recognised. Apart from some lights on some pine trees and the occasional sticker in a shop window, there was nothing to suggest that Christmas was just around the corner. Back home, family and friends were updating us with their countdown to Christmas as they opened advent calendars, made Christmas puddings and wrapped gifts, but I could not have felt any less Christmassy.
Despite this, we all succeeded in having a very special Christmas Day. With not all of us receiving parcels from home for Christmas, Secret Santa ensured that everyone had a gift to open. My secret Santa very thoughtfully bought me a fluffy jumper (which was very much needed) and some crunchy peanut butter (which was also very much needed!).
We had a very relaxing day together; we went to a nearby church in Yingkoudao 营口道and had brunch in Paris Baguette – a South Korean bakery chain we all really like as they sell many European treats like croissants and Danish pastries. It was one of the strangest things to walk through one of the city's main shopping areas and see hundreds of people going about their daily lives, oblivious to the significance of the day for us. “Do They Know It’s Christmas” sprang to mind.
Kayleigh did a wonderful job of decorating our common area: we had Christmas tablecloths, paper plates and bowls of Oreos and various chocolates put out for everyone. We only have a microwave to cook with so unfortunately we couldn't have turkey with all the trimmings. Instead, we all brought our own food (ordered in, of course); I must say I never thought I would be eating tomato noodles and falafel for Christmas dinner.
A few days before Christmas on the 21st, fourteen of us took the sleeper train to Harbin 哈尔滨, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province 黑龙江省 in north-east China. It only took about 10 hours, and was much more comfortable than our 19 hour journey to Xi’an in October as we had bunk beds this time! Harbin is famous for its bitter winters, and I was told beforehand that the Harbin cold will redefine the meaning of cold with temperatures plummeting to as low as -40°C; even the maximum temperature in January is -15°C! Harbin is also renowned for its culture, which is influenced by Russian customs, and the International Ice and Snow Festival 哈尔滨国际冰雪节. The city was founded in 1898 after the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway, pivotal in inciting a Sino-Russian trade relationship, and many Russians have settled there since, bringing their traditions and customs with them: in every shop on the main street you can find Russian chocolates and bread; Russian dolls and vodka. All the signs on the main street were in Chinese and Russian – there was no English.
We spent the first day visiting traditional Russian-style villages and the city's symbol, the Saint Sophia church; we definitely felt like we weren’t in China anymore. We also walked on the frozen Songhua River, the main river in Heilongjiang Province. On Sunday, we visited the Ice and Snow Festival for its opening evening. It is one of the most popular winter events in China, and in 2018 attracted around 18 million visitors. The main features of the festival are snow sculptures and life-sized ice sculptures of buildings both in China and in other parts of the world; the large blocks of ice are taken from the Songhua River, and artificial snow is used in creating snow sculptures. The ice sculptures are all lit up during the dark and it looks absolutely magical; like nothing I have ever seen before!
In December I also visited a Chinese traditional medicine practice. I was able to observe acupuncture and cupping techniques, and I also helped with a technique which involved burning dry plant material until it smoked. The burning leaves were then put into a wooden box with holes in the sides for the smoke to escape and the box was held a few inches from the patient’s body, normally someone’s stomach or back. The treatment is good for giving heat to the body, as in traditional Chinese medicine it is believed that cold is bad for one’s health.
In January, we will have a month’s holiday for Chinese New Year. I am going travelling with six others to Hong Kong, Singapore, Bali (Indonesia) and Koh Phi Phi, Chiang Mai and Bangkok (Thailand). We are all incredibly excited and looking forward to some sunshine, though we should probably have booked our Thailand accommodation by now…
新年快乐！ xīn nián kuài lè ！Happy New Year!