Monday 26 August — Daily life in Qiqihar
I sleep on Van Bo's sofa. Heading to the morning market. According to my friend, those who comment on me mention my height and wonder about my origins.
We go to open a bank account for me. A good thing I have a Chinese SIM card first, says the bank agent.
We talk about retirement problems linked to the ageing population in China, while the bank is full of elderly people coming to withdraw their money.
He tells me that India now has a larger population than China.
He is Christian, like his parents and grandparents.
We finally go out, bank card in pocket.
We go to a good barbecue restaurant. At the end, I am filmed as I give "greetings" on the premises, in French.
We walk to a lake. People play cards in groups or do sport.
We go home and talk about history, politics and Russia-China relations (tensions and cooperation).
We communicate 90% of the time via a phone translation app. Or in English.
Since I depend on friends to transfer money to me in China (in yuan), I look for a way to do it independently. That is how I discover that cryptocurrencies are banned in China. Wise seems to be a reasonable option.
Tuesday 27 August — Films and culture
We watch historical videos, 2, 3.
I watch a lot of videos about Wukong. Many series exist about this famous Chinese myth.
Wednesday 28 August — Exchanges
We talk about everyday things, and I take notes.
When I ask questions, he often answers using the first person plural (We like this, we do that, etc.). But all of this goes through a translation app.
We watch the 3 Chinatown Detective films. The stereotypes presented with humour in the films are interesting and, I think, revealing in some ways.
Listening to a podcast with a former professor, and reading an article - 2021 also by former professors.
I made a mistake with my SIM cards, and the credits ended up on a high internet bill, and I lost my ability to connect to the usual networks.
Thursday 29 August — VPN and culture
I ask my mother to get me a VPN from France and I realise it does not work in China.
Tor works, slowly, allowing access to some websites. This might be illegal here, I don't know. Van Bo uses Skyline+, a legal Chinese VPN, to bypass internet restrictions.
Watching "Vanquish", a classic gangster series from the early 2000s where a watermelon is sliced, just like the guy who sells them.
His father and his girlfriend's father introduced them to each other. He told me a few days earlier that young people no longer tend to marry.
I practise writing a few Chinese characters, using this site which shows the stroke order of characters.
Van Bo cooks a delicious meal for us. And we make funny videos for his social media.
Friday 30 August — Leaving Qiqihar
We talk about Uyghurs and propaganda, in front of this video. Then a bit of history involving the French and British armies.
I leave Qiqihar later, by train, to return to Heihe.
On the train, a little girl speaks a bit of English with me and takes a photo. I also meet Wang, an engineer in the energy sector who speaks English. We have a conversation and exchange contact details.
I start reading a translation of Journey to the West. It is a rather long story.
Transition to the night train. I took a berth this time. There are three levels of berths in the train, not two.
Saturday 31 August — Back to Heihe
When I get off the train and its doors close, I realise that the small box in which I keep my bank cards and my Russian SIM card has disappeared. Damn.
I go to sit in a park, waiting for the right moment to go to the hotel and rest. I observe what people are doing. Mainly elderly people playing Chinese chess, chess or cards. Only men play Chinese chess. An old lady gives me a piece of paper, a kind of Christian tract, and says "hallelujah". I hear fireworks, and a few guys make noise with some kind of whip. People pick grapes from the surrounding vine.
Arrival at the hotel. Rest.
Barbecue and money transfer with a Chinese friend to reimburse my WeChat account.
Sunday 1 September — Swimming in the Amur
In the morning, I return to a place where I saw what seemed to be a swimming club.
To cut a long story short, I meet members of the club and when I ask if I can come and swim with them in the river, they agree. Later, we take a bus that takes us upstream, and we swim in the river towards the large Chinese flag.
I am then invited to dinner with the swimmers, in a restaurant.
Drinking what seems to be homemade baijiu, an excellent meal, and I am driven back to the hotel by car. Incredible day.
By the way, this call for papers arrives in my inbox, I could make something of it to get a finished product from this second ethnography. I will try not to write two days before the deadline this time.
