Notturno in Manciuria: A Night Train Journey Through Heilongjiang

In a personal narrative published on doppiozero, writer Leandro Pisano recounts a night train journey from Tongjiang to Harbin in China's Heilongjiang province. The train compartment, divided into four berths, is shared with two researchers from the Changbai Spring program and an unknown traveler with whom Pisano has no common language. The story captures the intimate, forced familiarity of shared night travel: the sounds of eating, the glow of smartphone screens, and the quick descent into sleep. The landscape outside remains invisible in the darkness, but Pisano notes the rice fields, rivers, and infrastructure that connect China to Russia and onward to North Korea. The narrative, co-authored with Anita Romanello, is a reflective piece on proximity, solitude, and the unseen geography of Manchuria.