Studying in Harbin

[free_radical]

Hi all

I am going to Harbin Institute of Technology in September to study Chinese and I was wondering if anyone has been there? If yes, could you let me know your impressions of the accomodation, teaching, class size, city etc.

Thanks

[venture160]

hey, are you directly enrolling or going through CET academic programs? Either way I will be at HIT as well in the fall,

[free_radical]

Hi venture160

I am applying directly, the CET program is a bit too expensive for poor me

I take it you are applying via CET?

free_radical

[woliveri]

you guys are going to freeze your tails off I hear. It's cold cold cold up there.

[venture160]

i've heard its really not that bad if you bundle up, I've been up in northern alaska backpacking in the winter... I should be ok

[wushijiao]

Buy some warm clothes, don't be a pansy.

I know nothing about HIT, but I think it's great that you are going to study in Harbin, probably my favorite city in China. The people are friendly, and it's easy to strike up a conversation with almost anyone. If you speak even just a few words, they'll be amazed, which is good for your confidence. In the winter the city has a beautiful ice sculpture festival that I visited in 2002. In the summer they have a great beer festival (pitchers at 10RMB and 15RMB for dark beer) that I went to last year. We spent some cool summer nights eating meats on sticks, trying roasted bugs, chatting with hearty locals, and getting wasted on delicious beer.

As far as learning putonghua, Harbin probably doesn't have the learning resources that a city like Beijing has. But I think if you want to integrate yourself with locals and have a good time, then I think Harbin is a great choice, assuming you don't mind the brutal winter. If you are a bookworm, if you can get yourself to the point where you can read in Chinese, then you can go to Chinese bookstores, and almost any city becomes livable. In any case, Harbin does have malls, Walmarts, fast food...etc, if you want that.

By the way, it's worth noting that most places south of the (长江) Yangtze River don't usually have heat in the winter. So in some ways, sleeping in a heatless Shanghai apartment. at 2 degrees C is colder than a heated Harbin apartment in January.

[roddy]

I spent a year teaching in Harbin, and still think it’s a great city. Winter needs to be approached with a certain robustness, but as long as you are somewhere with good heating and stock up on clothes (layers, layers, and more layers) you’ll be fine. If it was a choice between the –XX degrees, but windless and clear Harbin winter, and the blowy, wet, overcast, hovering-just-above-zero winter of the West coast of Scotland, I’d choose Harbin every time.

I never studied in Harbin, but I spoke to people studying at HIT, Hashida and Heida, all of whom were happy enough. I’m not sure if any of them were on CET programs. The Chinese is as clear as you are likely to get anywhere (and don’t bother listening to the residents of every city NE of Beijing, all of whom claim to have the ‘most standard’ Chinese).

It’s been 3 years since I lived there, but even then there was a fantastic range of Chinese restaurants, some great Korean / Japanese / Russian restaurants, a small but lively bar scene.

Roddy

[BeijingSlacker]

I never studied in Harbin' date=' but I spoke to people studying at HIT, Hashida and Heida, all of whom were happy enough. I’m not sure if any of them were on CET programs. The Chinese is as clear as you are likely to get anywhere (and don’t bother listening to the residents of every city NE of Beijing, all of whom claim to have the ‘most standard’ Chinese).

Roddy[/quote']

Harbin? yes. "every city NE of Beijing"?, hell no.

In everyday settings, people in Harbin probably speak more clearly (closer to standard Mandarin) than Beijingers. When Beijingers speak (in informal settings), they tend to slur many sounds together (called sound reduction?), which can be unclear even to some Chinese folks from the south. I guess Harbin can be a better place to study Mandarin.

Also, Roddy, I do not think "every city NE of Beijing" have standard Chinese, nor have I heard anyone claim so. Have you ever heard QingdaoHua or Dalian hua? Dongbeihua? They are very different from standard Mandarin, A LOT more so than Beijing accent or Harbin accent.Dongbeihua is widely used in comedy shows partly because a lot people (including me) find their accent(s) funny. I guess you know who Zhao Benshan is. You think he speaks standard Mandarin?

[roddy]

and don’t bother listening to the residents of every city NE of Beijing, all of whom claim to have the ‘most standard’ Chinese

Oh, I didn't mean 'don't bother listening to them because their Chinese isn't standard', I meant 'don't bother listening to their claims to have the most standard Chinese, because it doesn't make a huge amount of difference.' Wasn't clear, sorry.

I've had residents of Dalian, Tianjin, Harbin, Shenyang, and I think Changchun claim to have the clearest Chinese. Personally I have no idea, and am entirely unconcerned - once you reach mutual comprehension I really don't think it's worth worrying about unless you want to get into the linguistics.

Roddy

[free_radical]

Thanks everyone for all the feedback.

I just love the cold and the snow which is one of the reasons I am going to Harbin and not back to Beijing, I'm going to try out the ski slopes whilst I'm there too.

Take it easy

free_radical

[venture160]

yea ill be in the CET Harbin program until at least Dec starting this June. I am really excited to go back to China, I spent a semester at Shandong University in Jinan, which is dirty, polluted, backwater Chinese city, but i actually loved it. Does anyone know what the nightlife in Harbin is like? Also how does it compare to Beijing cost wise? When and where is this beer festival?

[Harvey]

I am applying directly, the CET program is a bit too expensive for poor me

Hey guys, what is the difference when applying directly to HIT, or to CET?

[fenlan]

Apply direct to HIT = cheapo, non intensive course. I doubt they'll let you on the CET course if you don't pay the CET price.

[Harvey]

CET looks cool. There are many scholarships available as well.

http://cet.truepresence.com/www/docs/591.150/cet_scholarhsips.html

It sounds like CET would really be worth the extra cost!

[venture160]

hey I am in the CET program right now, there is no way you can get in on an CET class if you are not a CET student, they are closely monitored by CET staff everday, plus the classes are always under 5 people. so if you just showed up, it would be quite obvious and extremely embarrassing. Also, I am not sure if you can even get into the HIT normal program, because CET has an exclusivety clause that if you are from north america, and I think parts of Europe, you cannot enrol at HIT unless you are a CET student, UNLESS you have a scholarship to be there. But yea, its an awesome program, I love it, but be prepared to WORK.

[Guest]

Hey Roddy! You said you've lived in Harbin. Is it hard for a 6ft tall westerner w/ size 12 feet to buy winter clothes then? Any idea? Are there any walmarts?

[stephanhodges]

My summer teacher's family is in Harbin, and she just returned from there about 5 weeks ago. She described a giant Walmart store there. Don't know which part of the city it's in, however, and don't know about sizes.

[roddy]

There's a Walmart there, and a Carrefour, plus when I was there at least there were two hundred million other clothes shops, including a number specializing in stuff like the big green army coats for winter.

I think you'd be fine for clothes if you have time to hunt around, but shoes could be trickier. Also depends on when you are arriving - if you are turning up in the dead of winter, then bring the winter gear with you, or else your first impression of Harbin will be utter misery as you scurry around shops looking for thermal underwear.

It's also worth bearing in mind that your winter gear will get used every day for maybe three or four months - so it's worth spending a bit of cash on getting decent stuff.

Roddy

[atitarev]

Harbin is a favourite place for graduates of Russian universities with majors in Chinese (one of the biggest is in Vladivostok, called DVGU). I chatted with a girl quite recently from Harbin. I am not one of them, BTW. Harbin was chosen by Russian immigrants who escaped Communism after the revolution in Russia. They didn't know Communism would come to China later. Anyway, it's not about politics.

The link in my signatures is a forum where all things Chinese are discussed (sorry, it's in Russian)). I heard a lot of nice words about Harbin and I would like to go there some day.

[jobm]

Hello, guys. I am planning to go back to China to study Chinese. Would you like to share your experiences in HIT?  How are their advanced classes? Are there classes on 古代汉语?