from north asian countrytown...
Good morning.I am staying in the town of Fangzheng, in Heilongjiang province, northen China. Here is 180 km east of the city of Harbin, towards China-Russia border.Fangzheng, a small country town with only 35,000 population, has very close relationship with Japan. Historically, tens of thousands of Japanese migrated to this area in the colonial period. They started growing rice paddies just as they did in Japan. As the results, Fangzheng became famous "rice town" and known locally in the province.Tragedy happened during the later part of World War II. Thousands of Japanese settlers, mostly women and children, died here in the midst of warfare with Soviet Union, plague, starve and extremely cold winter. Small number of survivers, mostly kids, were taken care by local Chinese families. They grew up as Chinese with Japanese nationality. In 1980s Japanese government start accepting them and as the results, thousands of them migrated back to Japan. Alongside, so many local Chinese women also migrated to Japan through marriges with Japanese men. It is said, about 20 something per cent of Fangzheng locals live in overseas and most of them are in Japan.I was amazed to see, most of local shops has got Japanese characters together with Chinese (which is very uncommon in China). This is because of many historical reasons.It is great place to visit for Japanese tourists. But please do not expect locals to speak Japanese. Most of them only speak in Chinese..Highway towards FangzhengHuge farmlands!!Petrol stationFangzheng hotelVery new, cozy, spacious... costs 138 RMB only! (1700 yen)