黑龙江省

This post is about my trip to HeiLongJiang (黑龙江, "black dragon river") province in North East China. I have never been anywhere like this, even the other rural places in China I have visited. The ostensible purpose of our trip was to visit wetlands, an increasingly rare ecosystem that is being replaced by agriculture and development. According to our host, Jiu Laoshi, approximately 80% of Chinese wetlands have been destroyed in the past 50 years, severely impacting the habitat of migratory species such as the Asian Crane. Our mission was to visit the remaining vestiges of this imperiled ecosystem. We flew into 佳木斯, a northern coal mining town. Right away, I knew this was uncharted territory. Skirting the north of the town as we instantly departed by tour bus for an area near the Russian border, I was struck by industrial flavor and otherwise dumpy nature of the surroundings (I later saw a much more modern and entertaining part of 佳木斯, complete with bars, stores, restaurants, hotels, etc). This was no picturesque country village as I had seen in Hunan province. It looked more like the small villages I had seen in Baja, Mexico: trashy, rundown and poor, but not without a peculiar charm.

On our first day, we encountered 兴凯湖, a largish lake.

Skirting the edge of this lake, we made our way to our first destination, a demilitarized area bordering Russia. As we passed through a gate with multiple signs in Chinese, Peng Gong informed me: "You have now entered an area prohibited for foreigners!" Great. "Will that be a problem?" I asked. "I hope not," was the non-reassuring response. A short time later, the bus became stuck in the mud at an army checkpoint. I was told not to get off the bus. I decided it was best if I temporarily hide, as it became apparent that some soldiers were being summoned to help dig the bus out. I quickly drew the curtains, put sunglasses on, and lowered myself in the seat, whilst maintaining a lookout through the cracks. I heard some official sounding Chinese, some marching, shoveling and then the bus roared into life and got underway again. As we retraced our route on the muddy road, I breathed a sigh of relief. Peng said it was probably a good thing I hid, as they were able to avoid some potentially unpleasant explaining.

Our first night was spent in a sketchy hotel with no soap and a foul stench in the communal bathroom. Peng Gong’s son Edward and I made a night time trip to a little shop in the remote village to get soap, shampoo and 花露水 (HuaLuShui, or literally “flower dew”), a pleasantly scented bug repellent for which I have developed an odd fondness. Scenes from the town where we spent our first night:

View from the hotel room window:

The next day we were on the road again. This time, we actually saw some wetlands. Wow. It was so cool. I saw an owl and cranes galore!! It was like being on a safari. A tour guide, all dressed in camo, came on our bus and guided us through the wetland. He was interested in me. Upon learning I was American, he asked if I was rich. I told him, no, I wasn’t. We stopped at some cages where we could check out some cranes up close. They were afraid. Some swans were in there with them for some reason. As I took photos, one of them “aggressed” me as Peng said. It was fun. Next stop: another wetland! Great views of wetland, birds on the wing.

Professors with agriculture in the background:

Gate to the first wetland:

An "agressing" swan:

A captive crane (it's BIG):

On safari:

Gong Laoshi and wetland in the background:

The trip was mostly driving. I was possibly entertained more than anyone else and slept little compared to my companions. I was very surprised to find the vegetation and landscape quite similar to New England. There were times when, if I hadn’t known otherwise, I could have though we were passing through a rural or agricultural area of Maine. Of course, much of the agriculture was once wetland. Engineers were charged with draining this ecosystem, bringing it into production, then pumping groundwater to feed the farms. It’s all rice, watermelon, and other crops, now. I was also very dismayed at the level of development in these remote areas. There are houses literally made of mud, with roofs of grass. There is no running water (maybe a hand operated pump outside), no showers, no internet. Dirt roads, maybe electricity if you’re lucky. So obviously the commies have put the $43 Billion spent in Beijing for the Olympics to good use. It sure did these poor people living in dirt houses lots of good. I’m sure their national pride is just swelling with joy right now. I saw a foreigner on TV the other day saying, “People who would criticize China should come to China. China is this beautiful park [indicating part of the Olympic complex].” Indeed. What a jackass. This is also China: