Outbreak in Harbin & Teasing North Korea

I set out last weekend on a trip with the whole of the CET program here to a city called DanDong, across the Yalu River from North Korea.  On Friday, before we left, rumors were flying that H1N1 had been confirmed at our school (HIT).  Some people said classes were being canceled by professors, while others claimed that the H1N1 that was at our school was more resilient and people were getting sicker.  Still others said that our campus didn't even have H1N1, and it was the other campus that had an outbreak.  There were no public notices to confirm or deny anything, and we were off on our trip anyway.  The program outfitted us all with cloth face masks and advised us to wear them in the train station and other public places.

We had a hard sleeper heading east--a slow train.  It took us about 12 hours to get to DanDong, and we set out immediately for some group touring.  I'm not used to traveling with so many people, and the pace was certainly far too slow for my tastes.  After spending some time by the river and visiting a half-bridge, which had been dismantled by the North Koreans, we headed a few hours inland to a somewhat touristy Manchurian village to spend the night.  It is interesting to see the resources of your surroundings so directly turned to nourishment.  Walking around, I saw ducks, corn stalks, the skins of a recently-slaughtered lamb.  It was easy to see what would be on the menu that night.

But there were also some surprises.  DanDong and its surrounding area are known (sometimes infamously) for their seafood.  We were also served tiny shrimp-like things, fried and served whole, and a local fish.  After dinner and a performance, they roasted the lamb over a bonfire, and had us pull pieces right off the spit.  The next day we visited a lake and then went hiking.

After enjoying nature, it was time for a 3.5 hour bus ride back into DanDong.  We made it in just after dark, and just in time to be dazzled by the nighttime spectacles of this border city.  I should note that most Chinese cities are abound with flashing lights and weird sculptures, but from my experience so far, DanDong takes the cake.  As the city came into view, fireworks sparkled in the distance.  The first buildings to zoom by were high-rises, black against the night's sky with horizontal flashing white bars like some great mainframes out of the Matrix.  Driving along the river, we saw that the dark and empty space above and beyond the North Korean riverbank was being teased by the thriving Chinese city.  A tower in the middle of the city, shone a thick green laser beam out as far as the eye can see, rotating out over the city, across the river, and into the black expanse of North Korea.  One can't help but think that it is an intentional jab at the North Korean people living in poverty in the shadow of Chinese development.

We strolled along the river, where children were running with sparklers, men were setting off flying lanterns, and small stands were pushing North Korean cigarettes and money.  There is one bridge across the river in this part of the city, a suspension bridge, which is immediately beside an older half-bridge.  Like the other half-bridge that we'd visited, this one had also been dismantled by the North Koreans.  Interestingly, however, prior to being dismantled, the bridge had been accidentally bombed by the US Air-force during the Korean War.  By the bridge, a ragged man with very plain clothes came up to us, and asked us to take his picture with North Korea in the background.  He apparently spoke no Chinese, and his camera was an old film camera.  Supposedly thousands of North Koreans attempt to cross from North Korea into China every year, and we wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if this man was a North Korean who had made it across successfully.

The next morning we set out on a boat to approach North Korea, and took a bunch of photos of men and women working outside of factories, children playing by the river, fishermen on small boats, and a Ferris wheel, motionless (I've read that the Ferris wheel is only used a few times per year).  Later that day, when I was resting in my hotel room, I heard a series of loud bangs immediately outside my window--my window was open, and I could hardly hear myself say "what the F*** is that?!?".  What had startled me out of my sleep as some sort of imagined attack by the North Koreans turned out to be fireworks and firecrackers set off in honor of a wedding being held at the hotel.

On our way back to the train station we were informed (in English, signifying the importance of the news) that while H1N1 had originally only been on our secondary campus, that a number of people on our campus had been confirmed with the virus, and that classes would be canceled for the rest of this and the following week.  The train got back into Harbin at 3:30am, and we piled out onto the platform with our masks on.  Upon returning to our dorm, the security guard checked all of our temperatures with an infrared thermometer.  New signs on our doors advised us not to visit anyone who might be sick.

Anyone with a fever is being unconditionally quarantined in the building next door for at least a week.  We've been told that if we're quarantined, food and drinking water will be provided, but that there is no access to the internet or a shower.  I've been wearing my mask in crowded places, buses, etc. to hopefully avoid any quarantining.

In the meantime, this week was also 10/1, the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.  Chinese flags and red lanterns are in every direction, and a lot of people have gone home.  In honor of the holiday, I went to see the new movie "建国大业" ("The Founding of a Republic").  It is a very long movie about the power struggle between the KMT and the CPC, and the eventual founding of the People's Republic.  There's not quite as much propaganda as you might expect in the film, seeing how it was a national effort, but it does typically glorify Mao.  The film is full of cameos by famous Chinese actors, the only one of which I recognized was Jackie Chan, who showed up as a mustachioed Hong Kong reporter.  Overall, the movie seemed as if it was not ready to be released, and it was forced out of production in time for the holiday.

While I don't have class for the next week, my teachers have all loaded me up with homework.  Still, I plan to take the time to explore some of Harbin's sites and relax.  This weekend I'll head to the Siberian Tiger Park, the Jewish synagogue and cemetery, and possibly to 731 - the Japanese germ warfare experimental base.  I have only three weeks till my program here is over, and I'm still looking for an apartment in Kunming.  So, it seems I have have plenty to do to fill my time.  While I'm glad to have a little more time to relax, I can't help but feel that one of my three remaining weeks wasted is anything but counterproductive.  Still, there's not much I can do about that.

I will be posting photos from DanDong and North Korea soon, along with some random videos, so check back!