A group of FCE students and academic staff participated in a summer study tour in Harbin from 6 to 15 July, 2024.
A 10-day exchange and learning study tour was held in Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), Harbin, China, with the theme "Computational Urban Science 2024: Urban Historical Spatial Computation and Modeling Workshop".
The students also had the opportunity to explore the city's landmarks, such as the remnants of Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army, enriching their understanding of Harbin's history, culture, and unique urban landscape.
From 6-15 July 2024, a 10-day exchange and learning study tour was held in Harbin, China. A group of five students from the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) participated in this summer tour to Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT). This study tour was co-organized by the Department of Land Surveying & Geo-Informatics (LSGI) at PolyU and the School of Architecture and Design at HIT, led by Dr. Xintao Liu, Associate Professor, and Dr. Xiaolong Mi, Research Assistant Professor at LSGI. The tour targeted students studying in the fields of construction, building, computing, or architecture, with the theme "Computational Urban Science 2024: Urban Historical Spatial Computation and Modeling Workshop".
The study tour began with an opening ceremony and ice-breaking activities, followed by a campus visit and a series of lectures on urban computational science delivered by HIT. The students also had the opportunity to explore the city's landmarks, such as the St. Sophia Cathedral, Harbin Grand Theatre, and the remnants of Unit 731 of the Imperial Japanese Army, enriching their understanding of Harbin's history, culture, and unique urban landscape. At the end of the tour, a summary session and a teacher-student exchange meeting were conducted, where the students presented their learning outcomes through free discussions, group collaboration, and group leader reports. With the experts' feedback, the students were able to further summarize and internalize their learning experiences, and apply what they had learned, achieving the goals of this summer learning journey.
To conclude, this summer study tour to Harbin offered a unique and memorable cultural and learning experience for the Hong Kong and mainland students. This cross-cultural learning journey served as an excellent platform for exchange and cooperation between the PolyU and HIT. We believe this invaluable experience not only sparked the participants' understanding of the traditional and modern elements in China's dynamic urban landscapes, but also broadened their academic horizons.
Here are some students' sharing on their Harbin study tour experience:
YIN Ruo Xin, Rose (LSGI)
During the Harbin Urban Science Study Camp, I deeply felt the unique charm of this city. From the Harbin style of Central Street and the St. Sophia Cathedral, to the historical warning of the 731 Unit Museum, all left a deep impression. The visit to the Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) History Museum and the Aerospace Museum allowed me to experience and learn about HIT's excellent spirit of "strict standards and skillful execution." The lectures and workshops during the study camp broadened my academic horizons, allowing me to learn knowledge in cross-disciplinary fields such as architectural preservation, BeiDou navigation, and Large Language Models (LLMs), which greatly inspired the direction of my future learning and research.
CHAN Kin Wang, Brian (BEEE)
I am delighted to join this tour to Harbin this summer which makes me understand more about different cultures and lifestyles. This is my first time to be in the Northeast China, which I found it very special and unique. Unique architectures are everywhere along the city. The style of urban planning and architectural design were very different from other cities across the country I visited before. After attending different seminars, I had a better understanding of the history and the urban development of Harbin. The most unforgettable experience to me was to travel to Hengdaohezi Railway station. The architectural style of this railway station is full of history and retains some ancient architectural elements. I really appreciate the traditional station building and platform in the station and feel the charm of the past railway era. I was glad to have a chat with a Russian architect along our tour, which he shared a lot about the architectural style of the town, very similar to the towns across the Russian empire in the past.
YU Chi Cheong, Joe (BRE)
The meeting with my mentor and fellow students during this 2024 Harbin Exchange Tour was very fruitful, and we had in-depth discussions on the challenges I have encountered in my studies. My mentor gave me a lot of valuable advice to help me better understand my strengths and weaknesses, as well as how to make a more realistic development plan. Also, through my interaction with my mentor, I realised that we need to focus on ESG, i.e. environmental protection, including climate change, pollution and waste management, renewable energy; social responsibility, including human resource development, responsibility for product safety, stakeholder veto; and corporate governance, including business ethics, competitive behaviour, stability and transparency of the financial system. This has given me a clearer picture of where I want to go in the future. I plan to keep in regular contact with my tutors and seek their guidance and support when discussing my learning plans and development.
Overview of students' reflections on the Harbin study tour
