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Itchy Boots rides from Inner Mongolia to Harbin, where the skyline and architecture reflect the city's Russian and European influences. Russian workers arrived in the 1890s to extend the Trans-Siberian Railway, and the city later became home to people from many nationalities and language groups. After reaching the center by taxi because motorcycles are not allowed there, she visits Saint Sophia Church and the Unit 731 site. The museum documents Japanese wartime experiments and biological attacks, including harm to Chinese civilians and other prisoners. The visit is difficult but leads her to reflect on Harbin's history and the importance of remembering it.
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Riding into Harbin
Itchy Boots leaves the roads of Inner Mongolia and rides toward Harbin on her Yamaha Tenere. The drive is long and hot, and the motorcycle begins sputtering before she finds a petrol station. After reaching the city, she notices the skyline and Russian-European architecture, which feels very different from the places she has seen elsewhere in China. Harbin began as a small fishing village; its name is explained in the video as meaning “place for drying fishing nets.”
The city changed during the 1890s, when Russian workers arrived to extend the Trans-Siberian Railway. By 1917, 40,000 of the city's 100,000 residents were Russian, and people from 53 nationalities speaking 45 languages lived there. The Russian and European influence can be seen in the churches, facades and squares. The video also notes that new Paris fashions reached Harbin before Shanghai. Motorcycles are not allowed in the city center, so Itchy Boots takes a taxi to reach the central sights.
Saint Sophia and Unit 731
Itchy Boots visits Saint Sophia Church, then goes to the Unit 731 site on the outskirts of Harbin. Unit 731 was a Japanese biological-warfare facility during the 1930s and 1940s. The museum documents experiments carried out on Chinese civilians, as well as Mongolians, Russians and Koreans. Prisoners were called “marutas,” a word meaning logs or pieces of wood, and were subjected to cruelty in the name of research. Itchy Boots describes feeling sick after seeing the exhibits.
The episode says historians estimate that between 300,000 and 500,000 Chinese civilians died because of biological attacks connected with the facility. The site was burned by the Japanese before the end of World War II, and many people responsible escaped punishment after sharing research data with the United States. Itchy Boots reflects that this history was not covered in the school curriculum she experienced in the Netherlands. The visit changes how she understands Harbin and China's relationship with Japan. She leaves with a reminder that travel can involve confronting difficult history as well as seeing a city's architecture and daily life.
The account also gives a sense of Harbin's changing population: by 1917, 40,000 of 100,000 residents were Russian, and people from 53 nationalities speaking 45 languages lived there. Unit 731 was hidden in plain sight outside the city, and the museum includes evidence about experiments on prisoners from several backgrounds. The prisoners were called marutas, meaning logs or pieces of wood. The episode says the Japanese burned the facility before World War II ended, and many people responsible escaped punishment after sharing research data with the United States. Itchy Boots notes that this history was missing from the school curriculum she experienced in the Netherlands and says the visit changed how she understands the past.
FAQs (From the traveler's perspective)
- Q: Why did you visit Unit 731?
- A: I felt it was important to see the site because of its place in Harbin's identity and in China-Japan relations. I usually share lighter travel experiences, but this history matters and should not be ignored.
- Q: What surprised you most about Harbin?
- A: The city looked more like Moscow than anywhere else I had seen in China. I learned that Russian workers arrived in the 1890s to extend the Trans-Siberian Railway, and that people from 53 nationalities and 45 languages later lived there.
- Q: Why weren't you riding your motorcycle in the city?
- A: Harbin has a local rule that does not allow motorcycles in the city center. Electric scooters are common, but I took a taxi to reach Unit 731.
- Q: What was the most disturbing thing you learned at the museum?
- A: The scale of the abuse was disturbing. Prisoners were called marutas, or logs, and the exhibits describe freezing, disease infection and mustard gas experiments. The video also discusses deaths from biological attacks.
