The morning started off with a breakfast that comprised of rice, cake, biscuits, vegetables, noodles and chicken. Luckily there was some toast and watermelon there to keep us going.

A quick 10 minute stop of to see a church turned into a half hour stop of practicing our CPR on the Chinese dolls with their paramedics. There were plenty of photo opportunities with the firefighters, police, navy and army there as we gate-crashed there community emergency services prevention and protection day. There dances and marches meant that we could have easily spent the day there however we needed to get of to the busy day at the tiger park.

On just under 400 acres of land, the Harbin Siberian Tiger Park is one of the largest tiger refuges in the world. Here we toured the area in a caged bus, with the tiger’s heads almost as big as the wheels. Feeling like we were the zoo animals, the tigers would surround us and jump up to eat the meat we were feeding them through the windows. Off the bus we could see white tigers, jaguars, pumas, lions and chickens. The chickens however weren’t for us to look at but instead to send through hatches into the lions den.  

A quick KFC was just what we needed to satisfy our British food cravings. We then went to Harbin theatre, a beautiful structure reminiscent of the Sydney opera house. We went up the 302 steps around the outside of the theatre. The mini workout was well worth it as when we got to the top the view was amazing. Looking past all of the selfie takers you could see all of Harbin (including what we missed the previous day due to the cable car incident), the marshlands, and blue skies. On our way down we stumbled upon a child’s bike race where kids no older than ten were taking tight corners at top speed and pelting it to the finish line. Needless to say the mums of the group instinct took over and were cheering as the smallest of the group tried his best to catch up to his competitors.

Next stop was the Harbin polar museum. Polarland is one of the first polar amusement parks in the world and something that the locals here are very proud of. We had the opportunity to see a large range of fish, penguins, polar bears, arctic foxes, beluga whales and arctic wolves. With the classic titanic songs playing in the background we watched as the whales twisted and turned, dancing alongside their trainers. Moving on to see the sealions and walruses, we were surprised to have a 30 minute saxophone performance from one of the members of staff as bubbles fell from the ceiling.

When catching the bullet train back to Daqing we were sad to be leaving such a beautiful city so soon but made the most of the 50 minute journey to catch up on a little beauty sleep.  The friendly faces and welcome as we arrived back at the university was enough to make us feel back at home. We all made the most of some down time by grabbing some proper takeaway Chinese food to take back to our rooms for a early night to prepare us for our final week in this amazing country.

Blog post by Faye Halpin on Tuesday 18th June

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After a hectic, but amazing weekend, at Harbin I believe I can speak for everyone when I say we all struggled to wake up and be ready for 8am. The first session we had was about tea ceremonies, this involved the lovely Miss Wei teaching us the different teas there is; ranging from the several different herbal teas to the strong Pur’ee tea, that was not recommend for beginners such as ourselves. I come to find a personal favourite of mine was the yellow mountain green tea, which was very refreshing.

Miss Wei, along with Chinese students, helped to explain how the process worked using different utensils and teas, making  sure the tea animals were included, This consisted of a dog, pig, dragon and “Gongfu” which is a small clay figure which can only be described as a toad that eats money? During the cultural session we got a chance to try the amazing “moon cake” which is traditionally ate during New Year’s and being considered a sweet delicacy to the Chinese. Even trying a Hawthorne slice, which in appearance looked like meat but turned out to be a berry flavoured biscuit. Which appeared to be a hit; showing appearance isn’t everything! The lovely students also brought in little gifts of jewellery for us to wear including hair clips and necklaces and helped us to tie our hair up in traditional Chinese hair styles.

After having our fill of the different types of tea it was time for us to go tea shopping. Daqing often surprises us but we were not prepared when we found out that they actually had a whole 4 floor mall dedicated to selling tea! There was so many shops for us to go into to see the beautiful delicate designs of the cups and pots, even being able to sit down in one shop for a “try before you buy” on their elegant tea tables!  Every “chief” within the shop wanted us to go into to see the different things they sold; they were all so kind and accommodating! One thing I did find out very quickly is that you need to be able to bargain, which luckily Miss Wei was an amazing at! So as I stood back red faced, convinced I should just pay the asking price, Miss Wei took the lead managing to sort out not only my gift but two cups as an added extra!! She was certainly a hero to all of us as she battled through the prices like an expert!!

After this we were took too see the traditional Chinese dresses, after a lovely welcome from them all, the accommodating staff took us around the building which included not only dresses but a hair salon, acupuncture facilities and a café, explaining the history of the Chipao dresses. Then it was time for us to try the dresses on! This was an experience quite a few of the students were worried about as the dresses were all so tiny in size over here. However for the students who went and tried on their dresses and suits looked fabulous posing for photos on the beautiful bridge whilst the staff made them pose like models. It was experience that I believe everyone would enjoy! Whilst the students who did not feel comfortable sat and had coffee, making sure to get there coffee fix before we carried on our journey. Before we left, the staff generously gave us each a key ring which lit up and had a little Chipao dress inside, it was very cute and I plan to attach it to my keys when I get home. A gift that lasts forever.

Once we had finished our window shopping, due to the high prices, we left to go have some tea where we were took to a wonderfully different BBQ restaurant called “Yao Yao”, this restaurant had a game were all the members could play, so we linked up to our phone and whoever shook the phone the most was able to win the race! But that wasn’t the only surprise… we had knife and forks!! Having not held them in our hands for 9 days we were all very confused, when we saw them next to our plates but we appreciated them once the food arrived! The delicious food consisted of different meats some spicy and some normal, Vegetarian salads for our lovely student, who stated it was very nice! Not only this but they had chips and what looked like an egg but students soon found out was actually mayonnaise with an egg yolk on top! And most surprising of all pizza! It was safe to say we all had our fill of food and there was plenty of food left over! There was just so much! The food was incredible. 

Now the toilets in this restaurant was certainly an unexpected surprise, China had jumped from one extreme to the other as we have gone from using toilets much like a troth to a jet wash up the derriere. We certainly made sure each of us all went to the toilet to test out the buttons which provided different levels of service for us. The button conceited of a button for washing your front bits and two for your behind depending on if you want soft or high pressured. They even had the foresight to provide a dryer to dry your area for you afterwards. Everyone one of us tried the toilets and I heard no complaints from them as they came out. Some of the group even went twice! It was certainly an experience.

Once we all gathered, we decided to take a walk across the lake which was all brilliantly lit with lights, as we crossed we got the most perfects views. Which I believe everyone fully enjoyed! Due to the weather still being nice we all stood and had photos together but I don’t believe the photos can do it justice. It was a view only china could provide and they did it, it was breath taking.

Blog post by Jordan Dolan on Monday 17th June

After a crazy night of rice wine, singing and ‘bottoms up’, we all managed to drag ourselves out of bed to meet at the foyer for an exciting weekend away at the city, Harbin. We all grouped off into different cars and set off to the train station, all very excited to experience the bullet train. As we approached we were all amazed at the size of the station and after the help from lovely Yang organising everything, we got through the security and onto the train without any hassle. The short 50-minute train ride was lovely and smooth but after listening to the sound of phlegm and spit from a few other passengers we were all glad to arrive at the beautiful Harbin city.

The weather reminded us a little of back home as we were all feeling the breeze but that didn’t stop us from having an amazing time visiting the temples. Megan was particularly excited to find out that they were in fact Buddha temples, so big that it was like a small village in the middle of a busy city. The temples were so overwhelming and beautiful. We all had the chance to use incense sticks and were then shown how the locals pray to their Buddha; by holding the lit sticks in front of your fore head and bowing three times whilst praying. Some members of the group even had the opportunity to take selfies with a monk, who was also eager to take selfies on his own phone with us all. There were a lot of monks gathering at one particular temple and after being abruptly stopped from walking in we found out that the monks were in fact inaugurating into monk hood.

Some of the girls had the pleasure of experiencing a different type of loo whilst visiting the temples and they could only describe this as “one long trough”. They had trouble figuring out the “trough etiquette” and didn’t know which way to face without having to make eye contact with one another whilst doing their business.  

After our wonderful visit at the temples, we arrived at the beautiful Pavilion Gardens. We were lucky enough to get a small buggy to drive us around after Yang and director Chu haggled the driver and agreed a great price for us students! We admired the picturesque scenery and had the chance to take lots of photos. We have all become used to getting random people taking photos of us, but we were surprised when Rachel was whisked off for a private photo shoot with a group of Chinese women. She was shocked to hear that one of the lovely ladies was touching her chest whilst the photos were being taken, Rachel didn’t mind ha!

2pm and our growling bellies were glad to hear it was time for lunch at the restaurant called maomao smoked meat house where we ate delicious meat and veg filled pancakes from the traditional lazy Susan. It was then time to check into our hotel and whilst waiting for our room keys Allyson buzzed with excitement as she spotted the coffee machine. The hotel rooms were spectacular to say the least, the beds felt like jumping into a cloud and we were all very grateful for an hour nap to rejuvenate ourselves before carrying on with the rest our of our fun filled day.

The sun finally came out, just in time for our next activity riding the cable cars across the river. The views of Harbin were amazing. The group of us in the first cable car were unsure whether to get off on the other side as our trip is getting planned for us but we soon came to realise that we were supposed to get off, so we experienced sun island from the views of the cable car haha! Yang found this hilarious! Following this we took a long stroll along the water front where we enjoyed dancing with some of the locals and listening to some great singers whilst the sun set. The night was still young when we made our way to ‘Orient King of Dumplings’, where some of us experienced dumplings for the first time and we left a lot of empty plates… yummy!! We walked our dinner off and watched some amazing street performances and popped into a couple of souvenir shops. After a long but fantastic day, we were all eager to climb into our comfy hotel beds and rest up for another great day at Harbin.

Blog post by Emily Adair on Saturday 15th June

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Our day actually started the night before, as several of us were kept awake by a spectacular thunder storm. I however was so relaxed after our extreme foot massage, that I had the best night’s sleep so far!

After our regular toast for breakfast, we assembled in the foyer to wait for our transport to the Northeast Petroleum University. For once, we were all on time, and set off on the short journey to the university. We were met with another lovely Chinese welcome, which included a photo session. We are all very used to smiling for group photos, and are now able to arrange ourselves fairly quickly whenever we’re asked to pose. 

A walk around their exhibition centre allowed us to see some of the art students’ work and we admired their painting, craft and architectural design. Little did we know that we were about to be challenged by the traditional art of paper cutting (and five flights of stairs!). The history of paper cutting was explained and we were shown some beautiful pieces of extremely intricate work. Armed with a special pair of very sharp scissors and a knife we attempted to produce two pieces of art; a Chinese symbol for happiness and a pig (as 2019 is the Year of the Pig). Most of us needed help from the Chinese students, and some pigs needed to be “rescued” (we won’t mention names), but we all eventually managed to produce works of art that a reception class child would have been proud of!

Lunch involved a trip to the uni canteen and to the delight of the English students, chips were on offer. With our bellies full, we headed off to the Mammoth Museum to encounter life sized mammoths. Excavation in the Daqing area has resulted in an abundance of fossilised mammoth skeletons being discovered and the exhibition gave us a fascinating and realistic glimpse into the past.

Ice lollies in hand, kindly bought by our leaders, we walked back to the uni, dodging muddy puddles from the rain of the previous night, apart from Emily who ended up with rather muddy sliders. After a quick loo stop (us girls are gettingreally good at using Chines toilets!) and only two flights of stairs we entered the music department. We were divided into two groups and given a practical lesson on the Gu Zheng – a traditional stringed instrument. After a bit of practice, we were able to play two pieces of music (ok, so one was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) but new talents were discovered and we were really proud of ourselves. 

Our first non-accompanied visit to the Harbin Uni canteen for dinner, required loads of hand gesturing and the use of our Google Translate app but the term “vegetarian” didn’t seem to be understood. Our trusty Chinese students were phoned andthey rushed to our aid. Our new Chinese friends are so kind and nothing is ever too much trouble.

After our meal, we met with the Chinese exchange students who will be coming to the Edge Hill University in July. We were able to chat to them about the U.K. and what to expect. Their biggest concern is speaking English, but they all have such a good grasp of the language, putting our Mandarin ability (which probably only consists of a handful of words) to shame.  An impromptu visit to Zoo Coffee, a local coffee shop, further cemented friendships, and ten very tired but happy Edge Hill students headed off to bed.

Blog post by Allyson Blundell on Thursday 13th June

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Just as we thought the days could not get any better we encountered calligraphy, Chinese takeaway, Chinese culture lessons and a “foot massage”.

We dragged ourselves out of bed at 7.30am after a slight lie-in and made our way to a calligraphy lesson taught by the University’s Director of Finance. He presented us with a brief history on Chinese writing including all the different writing styles (they all looked the same to me!)

We were then let loose with a “shu fa bi” (“shoe far beer”), ink and some rice paper to try our hand at Chinese writing! With the help of the amazing Chinese students/volunteers we translated our names into the Chinese symbols. We were very impressed with our calligraphy skills and I think we all mastered this skill…. Ok maybe not quite but we definitely enjoyed it! You know its bad when the Chinese students (as politely as possible) compare your work to that of a child.

After our wonderful calligraphy session (which also included finding out our multi-talented ODP student Allyson could play the Cheng!) we had lunch as usual in the Canteen which was very busy! Megan and Tasha had the delight of ordering a milkshake which translated as ‘strawberries and cheese’- which we quickly realised was just like strawberry cheesecake at home so not as bad as it initially sounds.

Our afternoon consisted of a Chinese Culture lesson taught by a wonderful lady called Xiuye. We felt very looked after with bottomless Chinese tea and cake and it was a consensus that lectures should be more like this back at Edgehill *wink* *wink*. Xiuye taught us about the different cultures surrounding marriage, religion and festivals. I think we all came away from this having a much better insight into what principles Chinese families follow and what is expected of the man in marriage proposals.

Unfortunately, one of our members did not have the best of days and lost her battle against the mosquitos – at least she was the first to see inside a Chinese Hospital though (I am sure she will explain more about this in her blog later in the week). Thankfully though, she is on the mend and made it back in time for the next item on the agenda which was a well needed “foot massage”.

On entering the building for our ‘foot massage’ I can only describe it as being ‘papped’. We were greeted by 6+ staff members, a red carpet (which could have been there all the time but I’m sure it was just for us) and so many people taking pictures and videos. I kind of understand what it feels like to be famous now, just a little bit.

We were then guided into a room with 6 beds and a pair of pyjamas folded on the pillows. After a nervous wee we sat on the end of the beds eagerly awaiting what was to follow. The ladies came in with bowls of water and using no English at all managed to tell us to put out feet into the scalding hot water whilst we sat there and gritted our teeth. The next two hours developed mixed reviews of either the most relaxing of your life or the most excruciating. It involved kneading, pulling, slapping, kneeling, shaking, manipulating, bending, pinching, twisting, punching, rubbing, elbowing, scratching you name it – they did it. You should have seen the look on our faces when they brought the fire and proceed to ‘cup’ our feet. However, I am almost 100% sure that despite the experience everyone will feel the benefits of it tomorrow as it was so intense- it was amazing. It can’t have been that bad if it ended in one of the lecturers snoring can it?!

It must be noted that the only male in the group received extra special treatment from one of the ladies who treated him to a pedicure- maybe she just wanted to make his feet look pretty as she cut and filed his nails and everything!

This trip just keeps getting better and better and I literally cannot wait for what the rest of the week has in store!

Blog post by Lao Lun (Lauren Cumston) on Wednesday 12th June

The day started promptly at 8am, where we were introduced to the neonatal department and were informed about the importance of infantile touching, acupuncture and the traditional baby massages used within the Chinese culture. I believe I can speak for all of us when I say, we were astounded by the quality of English spoken by the lovely Jan, our nursing instructor, who was more than happy to accommodate for our lack of skill in speaking the wonderful Chinese language! The session itself was very informative and it was fantastic to see how different the Chinese methods of treatment are to those in England. Jan had the loveliest of natures and was very passionate in what she was teaching. It even made us feel relaxed just watching her demonstrate the acupuncture/ baby massages! We received some lovely gifts from Jan as the session came to a close; it was unexpected but so very much appreciated.

11:30 was fast approaching, so we all decided to head over to the canteen, escorted by the lovely students who had taken time out of their days to chaperone us on our action-packed adventure. One of the students asked what my favourite foods were, in a bid to help me narrow down the options which were provided to me in abundance. Lunch is always a fantastic opportunity to shape up on our Mandarin and to build friendships with other students.

After lunch, we eagerly rushed off to our accommodation, which is absolutely gorgeous might I add, to freshen up and get ready for our tour of the Ironman Museum. We were all just about to make a move to the bus patiently waiting outside for us, when we heard a rumble above our heads, loud enough to set a car alarm off, quickly followed by torrential rain! Our initial reaction was to quickly run to the bus to avoid getting soaked, however a selection of the students grabbed their umbrellas and kindly sheltered us from the rain, which to our amazement was another example of how truly generous and considerate the Chinese culture is.

The drive to the Ironman museum was a pleasant one as we got the chance to see more of Daqing and to take plenty more pictures. When we arrived at the museum we saw a group of young children in pristine uniforms, which we could only imagine were our equivalent to ‘scouts’ or ‘brownies’.

Once inside the Museum we felt honoured for the guided tour of the history of Daqing’s oil rigs. We learned that Daqing means ‘Great celebration’ and that they were so thankful and proud of Wang Jinxi as he was the leader of the drilling team, deputy director of Daqing revolutionary Committee amongst other titles. He was known as ‘the iron man’ for his dedication to the oil fields. We found it extraordinary that he used his own body to mix the cement and mud together regardless of his injured leg.

We topped off the day with a student conference; we were completely overwhelmed with the effort and preparation that went into the presentation given by the students. The presentation was followed by a game of ‘pass the flower’ which was an ice-breaker where the person holding the flower when the drum stopped had to stand up and choose 1) whether to introduce themselves, 2) Sing a song or 3) Answer a question on the Chinese culture. As well as that, they performed for us and we were absolutely blown away with how talented and confident they all were. We tried our best to join in singing along in Chinese, whilst linking arms with them. After receiving such powerful, moving performances we felt the need to give something back so we decided to dance to the Cha Cha slide and involved them all. Michael took the lead and started off our presentation by offering a speech and singing the Liverpool chant ‘ Si Senior ‘.

Soon after, a small group accompanied us for typical Yorkshire tea, otherwise known as a ‘proper brew’, this was very beneficial and emotional due to the lovely friendships we have made and will continue to form.­­­

With love, from China x x

Blog post by Natasha Gaskell on Tuesday 11th June 2019

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