ABSTRACT
I would have planned the day rather differently—not worn faded jeans and a sweatshirt, for example—had I known I would be having a formal lunch and downing ganbeis at a brand new upscale hotel with the Party bosses, one of the provincial secretaries, half the university directorate, and at least one general of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. But that’s how things tended to go those heady first few weeks in Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province of The People’s Republic of China.
