These answers are not exhaustive or even comprehensive. Each answer could be an article in its own right. As always if you require further clarification just drop me a line.

	Photos by Stewart Dillon

1.Where do you live in China?

I live in a city called Harbin. Harbin or Haerbin as it is sometimes spelt (the reasons for this would also necessitate a separate article) is the provincial capital of Heilongjiang, a province in the north east of China.

China borders many countries (including Afghanistan which must have lead many Chinese to wonder if the US would "accidentally" bomb them - again) but it is my luck to live in the province that borders with Russia. Not only do we have Russian weather (it snows in October) but countless expatriate Russians wandering around like characters in a Martin Cruz Smith novel. Still, if it were not for the Russians, the upstanding men of Harbin would have to rely totally on Chinese prostitutes for gratification.

2. What is your city like?

In some strange way Harbin reminds me a lot of the grimly industrial cities of north England, except it is a lot bigger and a lot, lot colder. In another strange way (if you are going to use cliches than at least be consistent) it also has a very rural feeling to it.

It is a uncomfortable mixture of workers, peasants and office fodder. Chinese cities are more porous than their English counterparts and the division between urban and rural is blurred, especially with Harbin.

Only in a city like Harbin will you see buses, taxis, tricycles and donkey-driven carts using the same roads. The city could never be called beautiful, unless your idea of beauty is endless concrete blocks but thanks to the Russian influence there are some buildings of redeeming beauty.

Harbin is attempting to fight its brain drain (everybody wants to go down to the costal cities with their strong, technology driven economies) but dirty, polluted, overcrowded and bitterly cold in winter it has some work to do to persuade people to stay.

3. What are the people like?

Harbin is not Beijing or Shanghai, Shenzhen or any of China's other metropolitan citied. Despite the Russian influence Harbin is very much a provincial city with an insular and parochial mentality.

Physically the people are bigger than their compatriots in the south. The men are taller and broader, the women are taller and more buxom (which is no bad thing if you are tired of willowy females).

There is a tendency to corpulence though, aggravated by a heavy diet of meat and beer and a disinclination to regular exercise. The Harbinese are (in)famous for their short tempers and willingness to use violence.

This includes the women, a mystifying phenomenon given that it is rare for Chinese women to drink alcohol. They will argue, scream and rake each other's faces at the drop of a hat, be it a bus a supermarket or the street.

	Stewart Dillon

If you're a shy, sensitive, retiring type then Harbin is probably not the best place for you to visit. One final point to make. When describing the habits of others one must be aware of cultural relativity. One can't expect people to behave as you would behave. I accept this so I make no comment about Harbinese people spitting (including spitting on the floors of buses, restaurants and shops), or dropping litter everywhere or smoking in public places.

What I really don't understand, even with cultural relativity, is the attitude of Harbinese people towards urinating in public. If a man's bladder were bursting then I might accept the need to urinate but even a drunkard in England would make an effort to find a secluded place. Not so here. In full view, almost proudly, penis in one hand, ubiquitous cigarette in the other, you can see any time of day and night men urinating in full view.

The public toilets here are bad I know but it can be a distasteful sight and is unhygienic to boot. I can only guess it is some deep atavistic urge to mark their territory.

4. Are there many foreigners in your city?

One of Harbin's few advantages over the cosmopolitan cities is that the Chinese spoken here is considered to be the standard, unsullied by dialects or accents.

Accordingly many foreigners come here to study Chinese. Due to its location there a lot of Russian and Korean students. There are also a number of English and Americans studying or teaching English (or both). There are even some Japanese here even though most Harbinese hate the Japanese (even more than they hate the Russians) and would probably like to save on winter fuel by using them instead.

If you are heard speaking English you are likely to be taken for an American. This is not a bad thing though if George W. Bush carries on the way he has been, expect more Americans to learn the Chinese for "No, I am English."

5. What are you doing in China?

As stated before I am a teacher, a teacher of English as a foreign language, to be exact. Although Harbin is not most language teachers' first choice there are a large number of language schools here, all eager to meet the ever increasing demand for English language learning.

This might cause a problem for less unscrupulous business owners, the lack of qualified teachers but the proprietors of these schools are nothing if not inventive. If you can find a qualified teacher give them a job.

If you can't, find a native speaker and give them a job. If you can't find even a native speaker then find a foreigner with white skin and a reasonable grasp of English and give them a job.

Though I hate to take the bread out of someone else's mouth this is the main reason English teaching abroad is held in such low esteem. Teaching is not as easy as one might think.

6. Are you able to speak Chinese?

No. I have picked up a few phrases but have never settled down to learn it systematically. I used to explain my failure to learn on laziness and poor time management but I have now come to realise that my reasons for not learning are subtler and darker than I admit. These may (or may not) be explored in a future article.

7. Do you miss England?

Only when I am having a particularly bad day in Harbin. The sort of day when it is cold with heavy rain and the ground has been transformed into a quagmire.

The sort of day when people grab your arm begging for money or trying to sell you something. The sort of day when the legions of unemployed workers, who sit on the edge of the kerb all day, look at you as if you were in a zoo.

If I am not having a bad day then I don't miss England. Harbin is not London or NY but look at what happens to world-famous cities - they get bombed.

I wonder if Osama Bin Laden has heard of Harbin? In the depths of winter the temperature here can drop to minus 40. People have to wear so many clothes you can only see their eyes..

Put him in a Russian overcoat with a sack of sunflower seed to sell on the pavement and nobody would give him a second glance. After all he used to live in freezing conditions in a mountain cave - he'd feel right at home here.

8. Do you make a lot of money?

It's a relative question. Compared to England my salary is laughably meagre. Working in a private school I can earn about 400 pounds a month. Working in a university (as I have done) you can earn even less, about 300 pounds.

What makes it bearable is what I call the "hidden" salary. I have an apartment in an upmarket district of Harbin paid for by my school. They also pay all the bills including the telephone. I even get free meals in the school. I also don't pay tax. It should also be mentioned that 400 pounds is way above the monthly average in Harbin. I may complain about many things but I never complain about my wages. Having seen real poverty here I know how lucky I am.

9. Do you have a girlfriend?

I have a fiance, which is a sort of evolved girlfriend. She represents the younger educated generation of Harbin who see the West as a positive force but don't feel the need to abandon their Chinese roots.

She speaks very good English despite having lived in Harbin all her life and despite a poor childhood which involved eating tree bark for nutrition. She works for a construction company, a job she professes to hate. I find this surprising since she does very little work and gets a sumptuous free lunch, no small thing in Harbin.

Her main interests are her dog (named after the dog in "Silence of the lambs"), studying English and spending money, preferably mine. If ever there were an Olympic event for spending money on clothes she would be bringing the gold back to Harbin.

Unfortunately she would only get silver in the complaining event - her mother would have already taken the gold. (I am only joking of course; she is really the most wonderful person in the world and I am not fit to receive the dust from her shoes as she uses my head for a foot stool)

(Copyright © Stewart Dillon 14.10.02.) Stewart is a journalist and english teacher living in China.

You can contact him at stupaud@yahoo.com