Siqi and I didn’t travel as much this year as last year (that would be pretty hard to do, actually), but we did get to travel together both within China (Wuyi, Ningbo, and Shenzhen) and internationally (Madrid). Separately, I went to Harbin and Beijing for work and also went to a conference in San Diego and visited with family in San Diego and Atlanta.
February 1 to 3 – Wuyi, Zhejiang Province, China
During the Chinese New Year holiday period, Siqi and I went with his parents on a short road trip to Wuyi, a city with a museum devoted to fluorite, which is mined nearby. (I was inspired to visit a source of fluorite when we visited the Hangzhou geological museum last year.) Strangely, we had trouble finding shops selling fluorite products, but eventually we located a guy who had a shop in a unit in his housing complex, and I bought a ton of stuff from him.
May 31 to June 2 – Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China
During the Dragon Boat Festival period, Siqi and I went with his parents on another short road trip in Zhejiang Province. We visited a famous historical residential complex housing an important collection of books. We also went to the former residence of Chiang Kai-shek outside Ningbo.
June 5 to 8 – Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
I was invited to give a talk at the International Quantum Academy in Shenzhen. My boss and another colleague came along and we got to take a tour of the lab. Afterwards, Siqi and I spent the weekend shopping in Shenzhen.
September 30 to October 9 – Madrid, Spain
During the long China National Day holiday, Siqi and I went to Madrid. We mostly just walked around the city visiting bookstores and enjoyed the food!
October 23 to 29 – Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China and Beijing, China
I went to join some colleagues at a conference to help staff the booth promoting the journal we work for. Harbin, in the northeast part of China near Russia, is famous for its ice festival, and it was indeed noticeably cold in October, but there was not yet any snow or ice.
While in Harbin, I visited the Chinese equivalent of a Holocaust museum: The Museum of Evidence of Crimes Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Army During the Invasion of China. A movie about this unit just came out this year, but I have no desire to see it…. the Wikipedia page for Unit 731 is horrifying enough.
I joined some other colleagues in Beijing for the Science Partner Journal Forum. I also had the chance to spend a morning at Beijing Capital Museum, a history and culture museum within walking distance of the hotel.
December 1 to December 14 – San Diego, USA and Atlanta, USA
I attended the 2025 NeurIPS conference in San Diego and sat at the booth for our journal and explained it a bit and handed out free stuff. When the conference was over, I met up with my dad, who was in town visiting a friend. My dad and I toured the USS Midway aircraft carrier and enjoyed some Christmas festive spirit and authentic pizza in Little Italy. Then I got on yet another plane and went to Atlanta to visit more family.
Post Script: List of 2025 China holidays
Longer holidays are created in China by designating a couple of weekend days before and after the holiday as workdays. It’s strange. Also, when everyone in the country (though not retail/tourist staff) has the same days off, all the attractions are crowded. Spring Festival, in particular, is an acute challenge for transportation systems across China, even across the region. After three years of this, I still find the whole system unintuitive, and the November/December holiday period, when there are no holidays in China at all, feels weirdly boring. On the other hand, I like having a week-long holiday three times a year.
- New Year (January 1)
- Spring Festival (January/February, multiple days)
- Qing Ming (April, 1 day)
- Labor Day (May, multiple days)
- Dragon Boat Festival (June, 1 day)
- Mid-Autumn Festival + National Day (October, multiple days)
