Christmas in China! - 圣诞在中国！

Entering the month of December most definitely brought about some very cold weather, with temperatures regularly falling below -10 degrees. Unlike Scotland, China is very well equipped to deal with cold temperatures, and life went on regardless. However, Tianjin couldn’t prepare us for our trip up to the northernmost province of China, called Heilongjiang. ( 黑龙江)

The trip began with an overnight train from Tianjin to Harbin (哈尔滨), which lasted around 10 hours. As the train began to near the province of Heilongjiang where Harbin is, you could see the snow (雪）covering the fields. It was a strange sight to see snow, as back in Tianjin it is too dry to snow. So far, it has only rained a handful of times.

Our first activity in Harbin was to visit a Russian style snow village. Due to the historical links between Russia and the city of Harbin, the Russian influence on Harbin’s architecture is very apparent. At the snow village, we visited beautiful Russian churches and buildings, and even got to do some tobogganing! Tobogganing in temperatures below -20 degrees was an interesting experience, comparable to getting a blast of cold air at the dentist.

The next day we went to see Harbin’s main attraction, The Snow and Ice Festival. The festival is very famous, and people come from all around the world to see it. Artists create ice sculptures of famous monuments from both China and the rest of the world. The sculptures are then lit up at night, in an array of different colours. Try and work out the monuments in these pictures!

After the festival, we got back on the train to return to Tianjin and arrived on Christmas Eve, very excited for Christmas Day. 

The day after, we celebrated a very unorthodox Christmas (圣诞. Not being able to follow the traditions we normally would, it was a very strange Christmas. The day consisted of a lot of food, with everyone deciding to splash out for the occasion. My Christmas dinner consisted of Burger King and KFC, which was quite the change from my usual roast dinner. Although we had a lovely day, I did miss my family (家人). Luckily enough, I didn’t have long to wait to see them...

The day after my mum (妈妈) and sister (妹妹) arrived in China. I met them in Beijing, and we managed to do a lot of sightseeing. Despite having lived in China for over three months, I was still yet to see many of China’s main tourist attractions, so these places were as new to my family as they were to me.

We visited the Temple of Heaven (天壇), The Forbidden City (紫禁城) and the Great Wall (长城). These places were so interesting, and being able to do it with my family made it even better.

It was strange to see my family bemused by the many eccentricities of China, as they had become so normal to me. It reminded me of my first few weeks in China, and how everything seemed so strange. 

Just like Christmas, it was very strange bringing in the New Year without my family and friends from back home. Furthermore, the lack of New Year’s fireworks and general excitement around the city meant it didn’t really feel much like New Year’s Eve. Despite this, I had a great time with my new ‘China family,’ and we made New Year’s Eve in China our own!

Next month looks to be yet another busy one, with exams and the start of the month, and leaving to begin travelling around South East Asia at the end of the month! I look forward to writing to you again soon.