I am in the remote city of Qiqihar (chee chee ha er). Getting here took all day yesterday: I left Shenyang at 10:00am, and arrived at 5:00pm.
I’ll be here for a few days on an outreach visit. Consular officers are each assigned two cities to visit and get to know. The idea is to understand smaller cities in the region, so that when we are interviewing visa applicants, we can be better judges of their applications.
Today I will visit the local government foreign affairs office, then visit some companies in the area, and finally give a presentation in a local high school.