The Northeast

Its been three months since I arrived in China in June. Except for 2 days in Beijing and 2 days in Inner Mongolia, I have been in Harbin (or at least Heilongjiang province) the entire time. I am learning so much about the northeast of China by being here and its much more than I thought there was to learn. The northeast is called the dongbei in Chinese (which actually translates directly as east north) and is a very distinct region of China. People here are dongbei more than they are Harbin. Its not just as though they live in Harbin, its that they associate where they live with the entire northeast of China.

Previously I lived in the southwest of China, but I called it Sichuan. There is a strong regional identity with Sichuan people. Although Guizhou and Yuannan are also provinces associated with the southwest, there are distinct provincial identities associated with each of the provinces. Throughout all of China, the northeast is Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning provinces. There is no questioning that other provinces may or may not be a part of the northeast. Compare this to the US where the northeast is New England to some people, and to others, it extends down to Washington D.C. It is slightly more ambiguous in the US.

The northeast certainly has an interesting history within China and Harbin itself, as an international city with Russian traders and a refuge for Jews, has been at the center of most of this history. I just ordered a book on this history and will get it soon (via a friend of a friend who is coming to China next week). I am more interested in what has happened since the 1930s when Japan claimed control over the northeast as Manchuria. My interest comes in the form of rice that is grown here that has connections with Korea and Japan, but more on that later. For now, I am trying to understand the collective identity that northeastern people have with one another. The identity here is used both from within China (as a northeast person) as well as external to China to claim a collective identity with surrounding countries. And because I study food, of course I am interested in the ways that food marks one's identity.

A few weeks ago, I was walking down a street in Harbin and saw a store named Northeast Consumer Goods. I was in a rush to get somewhere, so I only had time to glance in the store and see it was a store selling food products from the northeast. I took note of the location, thinking they had to have rice there. Northeast rice is very famous, after all. So prepared with my camera and a speech to give the manager about who I was and what I was doing, I went back and walked into the store this week. I was greeted with packages of fancy berries, honey, and mushrooms. They even had alcohol in this store, but as hard as I looked (its a small store) there was no rice! So I asked the saleslady who had followed me around since I came in where the rice was. She said they don't have rice. I had built up too much hope in this store holding answers to why and how dongbei rice is marketed that I was dismayed.

But it was interesting to talk to her about why they don't have rice. Rice is not a specialty product, rice is a necessity, she told me. This store caters to middle class consumers who want to give friends and relatives outside of the region gifts from the northeast. Rice is not considered a gift apparently because it is a staple crop, even if it is labeled high quality from the northeast. I should have thought of that. But now I know. And I also know the more special gifts from the northeast if I ever need to give a gift to someone outside of the northeast.