Comments on: Harbin, initial thoughts and observations

By: Nik

Nik — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:31:21 +0000

Thanks for the insight Ben. I really appreciate it.

By: Swiss James

Swiss James — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:28:33 +0000

Ah yes, I believe there is a long and rich Jewish history in many parts of China, particularly in the Xinjiang region.

By: martin

martin — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:01:22 +0000

search in google for: photoshop portable.. must be around 70 mb

here u got a link for photoshop cs3
http://www.mywarezblog.com/2007/07/11/adobe-photoshop-cs3-portable-edition/

By: Vera

Vera — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:58:57 +0000

the best sausage sells in 秋林商场 qiu1 lin2, the brand is called 秋林红肠，you shouldn’t miss it, hehe. I think people in Harbin eat relatively size bigger meal than the people in the south, probably that’s why they looks more physically stronger. I’m from the south, studied in Harbin, and I even grew a little taller when I was in there. Me and my friends often eat out on the xuefu 4th street, the so called “corruption” street, because there are many universities on that street. That street is filled with many kinds of restaurants, hair salons and bars…if you get any chances, you may want to have some fun there.

By: Benjamin Ross

Benjamin Ross — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:52:28 +0000

@Nik
Without being totally ethnocentric, I’d say that compared to the overall American population (I can’t speak for other countries), Jews are highly-educated, liberal, grow up in the suburbs, and have a higher tendancy to relocate, be it within the country, or abroad. These characteristics tend to generally line up with many expats abroad, although there’s no way to empericaly confirm or deny this. Interestingly enough, when I used to go see a lot of Phish concerts in the 90’s, I noticed the same Jewish phenomenon.

By: Nik

Nik — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:56:41 +0000

Ben, I always wondered, why do you think that so many expats in China (at least those expats blogging) are Jewish? As a Jewish man, do you have any insight on this phenomenon?

By: faustina

faustina — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:55:30 +0000

have a fun there:)

By: Benjamin Ross

Benjamin Ross — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:56:10 +0000

@Vera

Thanks for the tips. I’m actually sitting in a net bar now which has a no smoking section! This is the first time I have ever seen one of those in a Chinese net bar, and I love it! Although without all the smoke, it kind loses a little bit of the Chinese net bar feel, which I do have a soft spot for.

Anyway, here are a few more random observations about Harbin I forgot to put in the original post.

-Harbin (as far as I have discovered) is home of the best sausage in China. It’s called 哈肉联 and if I am reading the little blurb on my tourist map correctly, it was the first European sausage product to be made in China. I will certainly be taking some with me on the road. In fact, I’m eating some right now as I type this comment.

-I continue to be amazed at how cheap everything is here. Although this also could just be a natural reaction to living in Beijing for a month, which seems a lot more expensive than I remember it being before. I still have yet to spend more than the equivalent of 1 US dollar on a meal here.

-Tomorrow I am going to check out the Jewish cemetery as well as a former Japanese military base where they did medical experiments on the Chinese. It is not converted into a museum. From what I’ve read, it sounds like an Eastern version of Dachau. I have a 7 o’clock train ticket to Yanji, a Korean autonomous prefecture, just a hop, skip, and a jump away from North Korea. However, I’m still debating exchanging the ticket, and heading furthur North into Heilongjiang. I’m open to suggestions if anybody has been before.

By: tony

tony — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:53:12 +0000

Need some pics!

By: maxiewawa

maxiewawa — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:18:05 +0000

Sounds like fun!