Regarding my personal experience working at the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology (IGA) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), I was impressed by the friendly disposition of my colleagues and students. During the first year, I went to Changchun, Northeast China’s Jilin Province, where I had an office with a meeting room and internet access. They had a good schedule for each workday. Each student gave a presentation on their work progress and we could discuss their data analysis and share ideas. I had a very unforgettable discussion while cooperating on Jingjing’s data analysis and writing ideas. During the discussion, I found students full of ideas and that we were able to inspire one another. I gave them a presentation about my work in the Netherlands, and they asked me many questions, especially about how to measure the quantity of nitrogen cycling genes using q-PCR, and what kind of primer we use.

The living conditions were perfect. I was provided a fully-furnished comfortable apartment and had access to a co-worker canteen and other facilities, including a separate office with a meeting room and internet access. I could choose to work in the office or in my apartment. After working for a long period, I'd take a walk around the institute. It's a really big institute that includes a small hill, a lake, many experimental fields, and a gym. When I visited in summer, it was really beautiful that there were beautiful flowers everywhere. Sometimes I would climb the hill to pick wild strawberries and cherries with students. They also taught me how to play table tennis. Despite each student being able to play ping-pong very well, they played very patiently with me and tried to get me the ball.

When I first arrived, they took me to the institute's canteen to eat. I found that I really like Chinese food, especially all the different kinds of tofu. Sometimes Professor Tian would take me to a traditional northeast Chinese restaurant, and all the dishes were delicious. I can still remember the taste of “Guobaorou”, which is the most famous dish in Northeast China. Chinese hot pot is also one of my favorites. They took me to a special hot pot restaurant where we could wear traditional Chinese clothes, and we took a nice picture of everyone wearing traditional Chinese clothes there. I showed the picture to my family and my colleagues, and they liked it very much. They asked me to take them to the restaurant in the future, when they have a chance to accompany me to visit CAS’s IGA.

The most unforgettable thing for me was going to “Wudalianchi” to survey and sample with Professor Tian. The name “Wudalianchi” came from the fact the five inter-linking lakes were formed due to volcanic lava blocking the White River, which is a branch of the Nemoer River. We found that the vegetation types here were mostly made up of the lichen, including lichen moss, fern, grass, shrubs, sparse forest, and lichen larch forest. Professor Tian and I decided to collect different soil samples ranging in distance from the crater to explore the structure of the microbial community of different distance samples and try to figure out the role of microbes in forming soil.

I really enjoyed the time I spent at CAS’s IGA. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the students and teachers who worked hard to solve all my administrative problems, as well as for their attention and care during my time in China, which made the whole experience very pleasant and unforgettable.

Source: Eiko Kuramae,

Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology,

Chinese Academy of Sciences