Vanessa is from Harbin and her boyfriend is from Shenyan.  She is a graphic designer and he makes 3D cartoons or something like that.  They have been to Beijing for less than a year, but plan to stay.

By the way, Harbin is one of my favorite places in China.  Feed a duck to the tigers in Siberian Tiger Park.  The suspense is intense as the tiger awkwardly paddles through the pond in pursuit.  The ducks just nonchalantly cruise along as if there is no monster cat a meter behind, but they sometimes do even escape, unlike the chicken or pheasants who have no chance.  Also make sure to have a shot of an obscure vodka at the Russian Café, on Zhongyang Lu, probably my favorite café in the world.  Shenyang is not such a must-see, though it does have a very manageably-sized mini-Forbidden City built by Nurhaci as well as several late-90s examaples of provinical “shock-architecture.”