Unit 731 Museum, Heilongjiang, China

5Jedai79 5:00 PM May 20, 2017

If there is a 6-circle rating, we'll give it 6-circle without hesitation
This museum is not for visitors who only enjoy shopping, eating & seeing beautiful sites. It is a little serious & academic in nature. For those who love museums and war museums especially, will enjoy this. It is better than Auschwitz Camp (Poland) that we went in 1999 in terms of clarity and details. On 13 May 2017, we were deciding between Unit 731 War Museum or Volga Manor, chose Unit 731 eventually. No regrets. May go Volga Manor during winter when we visit Harbin again for its ice festival, if we dare to brave the cold. Transportation to and fro 731~ （see below) Time spent : 3-4 hrs. Can finish within 2hrs if you browse through briefly. We read thoroughly, thus it took us a longer time. Ticket Price ~ Free Building ~ Nice modern architecture designed by mainland Chinese architect 何镜堂（He Jing Tang）which stands on the actual site where unit 731 was in the 1930s-1940s. Exhibition~ Fully English and Chinese explanation. Unit 731 Museum's English explanation is one of the best in China museums. It is clear and grammatically correct. Don't need audio guide. Found the research & description more detailed than Auschwitz Camp in Poland. The mainland Chinese not only built an impressive modern building with three long structures that look like a memorial, the interior was equally modern, the presentation of the materials had a logical flow, the exhibited items were partially real and partially mock-up. We have been very impressed with one China War TV channel and now with this War Museum too. Very educational and also felt very sad/furious over certain facts/happenings. Maruta or Vivisection was a cruel act. From this exhibition, we also came to know of Head of Biological Warfare Unit, Shiro Ishii (石井四郎）. Although we heard of stories of the Japanese occupation from our grandparents, nothing could beat watching the numerous video clips at the museum to gather first-hand knowledge from the ex Unit 731 Japanese officials & other mainland Chinese who have helped the Unit 731 Japanese. From the exhibition, we also learnt about biological warfare research centre in Singapore. Transportation to and fro 731~ 1. Took a cab to 731. Read in TA, it's about ¥40 but ours turned out to be ¥83, may be our point of boarding the cab differed. We boarded our cab at Shang Zhi Jie 尚志街，parallel to Zhong Yang Main Street (中央大街), opposite MyKal Shopping Mall. We took public bus number 338 from 双拥站(Shuang Yong Station)back to main train station (or 324, I think, can't really remember now, only 3 numbers, 338, 324 and 220; take 220 if you wish to go the West Train (哈西站）Station. Bus fare: ¥2 per pax, you pay ¥1 when boarding and another ¥1 while alighting. Time: 1-1hr 15mins. 2. Direction to Unit 731 Museum if you wanna take a bus. Board 338 or 324 (324, u have to check again, I'm unsure) at Harbin Train Station (哈尔滨火车站／哈站）, alight at 双拥站, about 2nd or 3rd last stop. Alight, turn left & turn right at the first traffic junction. Unit 731 Museum should be coming into your vision on your right. To return to Harbin Train Station, catch the bus at the bus stop opposite from the one you alighted at. Refer to GPS for more details. Well, it's easy to grab a cab to go there but it's tough to get one to return to the city.

4FarAway26756 5:00 PM Jan 25, 2005

Makes you look on your life in a totaly different way
yesterday, i visited Unit 731 Museum in harbin. it is a place where chinese people were tourtured by japanese experimentators. victims were exposed to various deseases, poisonous gases, and other dreadful tourtures. a whole complex was built for this. at present you won't see most constructions. they are destroyed to the basis except for the administrative building and some barraques in the backyard. to get there you take a taxi showing to the driver three numbers (731) or take one-and-a-half-yuan bus 343 showing the same numbers to the conductor. the price of a ticket is 20 yuans ($2.5) you may also see a documentary movie there. the personell doesn't allow anyone to take pictures, but if you stand right under cameras (not appearing on their monitors) and turn the flash off on your camera, you might take some photos. after having visited the museum, i had a whole bunch of mixed feelings.