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IXAT
Want a ixat? Heilongjiang province is the most northeastern province in China with a population of 39 million, about 4 million in Harbin. Some interesting tidbits about Harbin: it has the tallest free-standing tower in Asia; Harbin Industrial University is the 6th largest in China and has many Russian students; the first department store was built in 1901; public schools are named by number, and usually don't have names; it costs about 100 Yuan to attend public school, about 5000 to 18,000 for private school.
Ginseng, mink fur and deer antler are known as “three treasures of northeast China”. Some people called frog fat from a kind of frog the fourth treasure. The Chinese name of this frog is LingWa (literally translated as Bell Frog) because the croaking sounds it makes. It migrates from the mountains to the river bed every year and they are trapped by nets so that their fat can be extracted to make cosmetics and other stuff. I wonder when the locals will no longer hear the croaking sounds of these frogs when the last of them is slaughtered for its fat.
This morning we went to Taiyandow Park (Sun Island Park). It's really a park on
a peninsula in Harbin, situated north of Songhuajiang River, with an area of about 38 km^2. We checked out its indoor Ice Palace with many indoor ice sculptures, man-made waterfall, squirrel park, sun god, and various sights which are better appreciated with photographs. There were quite a few couples taking wedding photographs in the park. I thought it was somewhat unusual on a weekday, but it was a good day in Chinese calendar.
Later we visited JiLe Temple, one of the four most important Buddhist temples in northeast China. The temple was built in 1922 by Master Yanxu and took 2 years to complete. It's quite large, but not significantly different from many others I have visited. I suppose it's like cathedrals and castles in Europe: after a while they all look the same. I was somewhat surprised that we had to pay admission to get into the temple; not sure if it's just for tourists or the locals too.
Back to Changchun tonight.
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