Harbin Travel Forum

Ni Hao Pengyoumen:

I am going to visit UNIT731 museum on January 10 or 11, 2005.

I have important questions from American-Chinese professors for staff at UNIT731 museum.

My question is:
Can I expect someone at UNIT731 museum to speak English?

and, if not,

What is the best way to find an English student to accompany me? Should I go to Heilongjiang University?

Thank you.

First of all, let me begin by stating that I have never been to that particular museum near Harbin. I do not know any staff at that museum and so I hesitate to guess that you will find a guide there who can address your questions in English.
However you should not take any chances. I suggest you immediately begin trying to contact museum staff or local university faculty to arrange for a private tour. If you just drop in with your questions then you might find that after the staff scrambles to find the nearest English speaker then that person may not be best qualified to address detailed historical questions. One might assume a museum of such international importance would have hired English and Japanese interpreters to work on site but don't count on it.
Instead you might have better luck first contacting the Chinese university professors at the local university in Harbin. Avoid the English department and try to stay away from China International Travel Service guides.
Your objective should be to meet a Chinese history professor fluent in English to accompany you to the museum. This will make your trip more rewarding than if you simply hire a cheap interpreter to translate the Chinese captions.
Your American-Chinese professors will appreciate gaining the contacts from colleagues at a potential sister university and you will gain a sense of satisfaction from accomplishing a complicated educational mission.
Good luck!

It was a few years back that I was last at 731, and there was very little English on the exhibits, let alone a guide who spoke English.

The camp is actually now (well, the only building that still remains) a high school (my wife went there, very scary) so there if a chance of students or teachers from the school who could help.

But the best bet would be to try Hei Da, Gong Da (HIT) or Harbin Commercial University. You might have to pay a bit, perhaps 20-40RMB an hour for a translator, but it will be better to get someone good, as the type of material you probably need to ask will be beyond most.

Good luck