May 19th, Harbin Botanical Garden

A day at the Botanical Garden in Harbin.

On May 19th we went to the botanical gardens. Wenpei and his son Benjamin picked me up a little after 8:00 a.m., and we drove right over to the gardens while there were still parking spots. I had walked over to the gardens on May 15th, but it was a very long walk. Benjamin is a student at Hong Kong Polytechnic, and he has just recently returned to join his family during the summer break. He came along to help some faculty children practice their roller-blade skating, as he has been something like a coach for them. When we arrived at the gardens Xiuli and some colleagues with their children met us there.

The gardens are vast, and when Wenpei and I walked around I doubt we saw even a quarter of the gardens. This was the first day of the Tulip Festival, and so the gardens had waived the normal 10 or 15 RMB fee for students, and the place filled up with young college and secondary students much like the Missouri Botanical Gardens would during the Japanese Festival in September or any fine weekend in May. Well, actually it was even more crowded at the Harbin Botanical Gardens.

With the Tulip Festival starting, there were some special activities. For example, when we went to the scenic tower a small orchestra was there to perform a concert. There was a very abridged version of the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto 梁祝小提琴协奏曲. There were also some fine marches played, but we had already been in the garden for several hours, so we left the area and headed back toward the gate during the concert.

While in the gardens we met a few people, some were friends of my hosts (students and faculty at Heilongjiang University for the most part). A few were simply interested in knowing more about me or having their photographs taken with me. Now that I have an account with Renren 人人 (“Everyone” a sort of Chinese version of Facebook), I was able to tell people how to contact me.

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	One of the many educational posters put up to warn visitors about global climate change and threats to our shared natural environment.	After our time at the gardens we returned to campus and I was able to enjoy some zucchini pancake and spicy tofu in the restaurant in my residence hall.	Xiuli’s dear daughter (Yunhan) is very attached to her mother, and keeps a close eye on her mom.


	The perilous bridge, a set of swings hanging by chains over a shallow pond. People really do fall from this and get wet.	This couple looked very cute posing in front of a Manchurian Crab Apple tree. As I had already taken a photo of him crossing the perilous bridge a couple hours earlier, I took another photo of him.	Some children were practicing their drawing skills and studying the red tulips.


	We played graces for a while.	Parents and children played together with the graces game I brought.	The children were able to play graces even while roller-blading.


	This young girl (Nana), a friend of Xiuli’s daughter (Yunhan) and also the daughter of one of Xiuli’s friends (Yali), was especially photogenic.	An action shot Nana while playing graces.	Nana experiences the joy of success in catching a hoop.


	Here you can see the children wearing their roller blades.	Yunhan had a squirt gun, which she used to cool us with occasional sprays of water.	The botanical gardens rented tandem bicycles, but as the gardens became densely crowded with visitors, I’m not sure people were able to go many places with their bikes.


	Xiuli and her daughter Yunhan crossed one of the dangerous bridges a couple times.	A safe journey across the pond. Yunhan is a bit of a tomboy, and enjoys daring, risky physical activities and sports.	Concentration and anticipation as Yunhan reaches the end of the bridge.


	Many groups of students were posing for photographs, and I couldn’t resist taking some pictures of their happy faces.	The girl on the right was wearing a beautiful dress, the most striking and lovely thing I saw anyone wearing that day.	It was a very hot day, and some people played in the fountains, and got wet.


	Xiuli’s dear friend Yali, who spent the whole day with us, she is a professor in the philosophy department.	The women who were in charge of the children’s amusement park rides were well covered.	The braver students enjoyed some thrills on a terrifying ride.


	Spring flowers carpeting the ground.	Riding a tandem bike down the trail.	Beautiful girls, cute children, and handsome men pose near the lovely tulips.


	This is a frien of Yunhan and Nana, and his shirt says “I Love MJ” This reminded me of my Korean friend M.J.	I posed with the children.	The scenic tower.


	A children’s amusement ride with some interesting portrayals of wildlife such as these penguins.	Yes, we were having a good time.	The gardens were carefully tended. The uniformed man in the background holding a bullhorn 扩音器 was very strict and officious, keeping people on the trail. With such immense crowds, I imagine he feared that if even a few people were allowed to step off the trail, chaos would break out and the flowers would be trampled, so he was quite aggressive in enforcing the rules.


	It’s a pleasure to be photographed with delightful flowers, and many were taking advantage of the opportunities.	Here I see Wenpei getting down to get some good pictures of the yellow tulips.	There were many photography enthusiasts present to document the blooming tulips.


	Tulip. 郁金香	Grape Hyacinths. 葡萄风信子	花園裡姹紫嫣紅，十分絢麗 The flowers everywhere are a blaze of color.


	Yunhan and Chen Dze-Hao paint together.	My favorite picture of Xiuli’s daughter.	Groups of students and friends were setting up tents and spreading ground covers to enjoy picnics and good conversation on this wonderful day.


	Yunhan on a shaking, spinning wheel ride.	The children and some young adults had a great time on this padded wheel ride.	Just look at how much fun she is having.


	A friendly visitor wanted a photograph with me, and I was pleased to pose with her.	I wear a 63 or 64 sized hat (metric), and there aren’t many who can put one of my hats on their heads without it falling over their eyes, so I was impressed when my new acquaintance wore mine without difficulty.	Here is another friendly person we met in the gardens. He helped me practice my Chinese. His name translates into English as Star King, which is certainly a cool name.


	The band ready to perform for the Tulip Festival.	I enjoyed the displays of photography.	Xiuli was looking for me as I was examining the environmental posters.


	Later in the day the college students had made the perilous bridges especially difficult to cross by swaying back and forth, shaking people loose.	It appears there is something on the table that displeases Dze-Hao. Actually, I enjoyed all the food we had.	An impromptu game of kick-the-plastic-bottle.


	Having finished our garden visit and our lunch on campus, we loitered around the playground and waited for Dze-Hao’s mother to get off work and join us.	Here she is with her son, who is happy to see his mother again.	A nice pose.

I thoroughly enjoyed my day at the gardens. I’ll probably walk back there myself sometime to take another look at the flowers when it won’t be so crowded.

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