Results tagged “harbin”

Baby pandas usually get the lion's share of the attention, but did you know China had a serious Siberian tiger breeding program in place as well? A center located to the northwest of Harbin, in Heilongjiang, has been working on churning out tiger cubs since 1986.

Los Angeles Sol signs Chinese player

And while you're visiting the ice festival in Harbin, why not consider taking a dip into the chilly river with these guys? This video sure makes swimming along to Chinese techno music look fun!

If you are stumped for things to do for Chinese New Year and the thought of Siberian-like cold and a hot bowl of borscht seem more appealing then the beaches of Boracay, perhaps Harbin is a city you might consider visiting. Harbin's annual ice and sculpture festival started this week and runs until the end of February, weather permitting.

Zookeepers at Polar Land in Harbin, China have observed a pair of gay penguins trying to dupe other straight penguins by placing stones in front of them before waddling away with their eggs thinking no one was watching. Eventually, the straight penguins realised what their gay friends have been up to and started to actively ostracise them from their social club. Keepers had to intervene by segregating the pair of three-year-old male penguins (how cruel!) "to avoid disrupting the rest of the community during the hatching season". The odd behaviour of the gay penguins has been explained as being a manifestation of the strong paternal instinct of male penguins that exists irrespective of sexual orientation.

Warning: Video contains some disturbing images.

Here's an English news link:

CHINESE police have rescued 33 intellectually disabled people forced to work at a building site by slave labour merchants after the apparent suicide of a detainee alerted authorities.

The Chinese press offers some information. For example, the report above says that about 2/3 of the 33 people discovered were mentally disabled, and that they came from all over China. The ringmasters behind this operation go to train stations around China and target people who are mentally disabled and lure them to Harbin with a promise of the princely sum of 60 RMB a day. Most of them were recruited in recent months, and everyday they were taken to and from the construction grounds where they did hard manual labor, like piling brick and moving sand. They were only allowed to eat porridge and vegetables, or leftovers from restaurants. And if they got out of line, there was always someone there to beat them back into submission.

By James Creegan