Cooler than a Polar Bear's Toenail

Sycamore

see below

simple stone carving
harbin train station at three
yellow stem and cap
young monk village from a tree
elderly dancers

Outcasts of Erlinglingqi Nian

Buddha's Heart

In the realm of Buddhism the swastika symbolizes Buddha's mind and heart. It is often found on His chest on statues. In China people traditionally consider the heart as the center of a person's existence much more so than most Westerners do.

A Walk in December

Dragon Powder

These piles are found behind walls everywhere. There are smoke stacks galore in Harbin. The smoke they spit out seems to cover each and every building, road, car, and person in Harbin. Everything is grungy.

Incense

The Temple of Heavenly Bliss

Incense, flame, and flowers are three main offerings that are essential to all Buddhist shrines.

The traditional offering of flowers (instead of food and bottled water) symbolized the fact that no person can escape death and that even though we are beautiful people now, we will become something utterly different soon enough. This scripture says it all:

These flowers, bright and beautiful,
fragrant and good-smelling, handsome and well-formed--
soon indeed discolored, ill-smelling and ugly they become.

This very body, beautiful, fragrant and well-formed--
soon indeed discolored,
ill-smelling and ugly it becomes.

This body of mine too is of the same nature,
will become like this,
and has not escaped from this.

The Temple of Heavenly Bliss

Buddhist followers have left simple everyday foods to Lord Buddah to symbolize their belief that a person should not partake of good things without first offering something to the Lord Buddah. On this alter there lies a variety of fruit (apples, sour oranges and grapes), a bottle of each water and tea, and a couple bags of dumplings.

Ferry to Sun Island

The dragon you see is actually a boat...

Do you really believe that I'm in China??

More 80 year old Russian architecture.

Gangsters

I could tell from the minute I saw them...

M E A T

Sorry if these pics ruined your appetite. I had the pleasure of spending several hours outside of a sausage shop observing this slaughter. I was walking along one morning exploring the city and noticed a live cow in the back of a small van driving down the street. It stopped a couple blocks in front of me. I was curious so I sat down on some stairs accross the street. A man and his apprentice began by sharpening their knives and slitting the cows throat. It's muscles were still twitching an hour later. In the second picture here the bovine's skin is the white cloth you see under its carcus. If the pictures and description disgust you...just know that I didn't even mention some of the gross parts of the process. Harbin is known in China for its beer and sausage.

Temples Galore

China is at a great advantage in that it does not have an exclusive religion. China has always patiently welcomed religions from all around the world. This Islamic temple has quite a nice presence in Harbin. The government does ban a few religions and since its laws are so strict, the followers of these illegal religions are putting themselves in a very bad position. Of all the cities in China, Harbin is the closest thing to a religious safe haven. Nearly 20,000 Jews fled Russia and Eastern Europe and settled in Harbin. Consequently there are several synagogues in town. There are also Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Buddhist, Hindu, and Confucian temples. Most interestingly, the city of Harbin has historically footed the bills (millions in USDs) for the restoration and maintenance of its temples. Because many of the temples don't appear to be tourist attractions at all, I believe that international diplomacy is their main motivation for doing this. The city is inviting to nearly all religious groups.

Flood Control Monument

The Stalin Park Flood Control Monument was build to commemorate those who helped stop the 1957 flood. The uncontrolled logging upriver from Harbin led to an even bigger flood in 1998. There were 500,000 government officials deployed to help divert the river. The water that was diverted away from the city was unfortunately diverted straight over the tops of all the villiages on the west bank. Between 2500 and 5000 people were said to have been killed in the 1998 flood.

Market Streets

This is a typical market street. On Bei Qi Daojie you can find fruits, nuts, household items, hot food, and cold beer. Each market street has its own unique combination of products. My favorite market street so far offers fish, dogs, birds, rats, and reptiles. These animals are being sold as pets and as food. The selection of turtles is amazing. There are some that are so small that about 500 fit into one small tub (less than two feet in diameter) in which they swim in continuous circles to stay alive. There are some other large dinosaur-like turtles like I have never seen before. Their tails are as thick as snapping turtles' tails and their shells are spiky. There are also market streets for plants, apparell, religious goods, etc... They are very interesting!

Urban Marigolds

The city of Harbin has an estimated population of 5.5 million which makes it the fortieth most populated city in the world. Despite the undeniable presence of significant poverty in and around the city, the city is scattered with multi-million dollar skyscrapers such as these. I have always beleived that one can always find vast amounts of beauty inside big cities. So far in Harbin, I feel defeated in that the only truly beautiful cityscapes that I have observed have relied on either the sky or the river as aids.

Songhua

My weekly strolls along the Songhua River have been delightful getaways from Harbin's drab cityscape and obnoxious traffic. This train bridge also serves as a way for pedestrians to cross to the opposite bank. The bridge that stands out as a small bright structure on the horizon is quite an impressive piece of architecture. Harbin boasts a significant collection of both traditional and modern architecture.