NORTHEAST CHINA

4 min read

Harbin’s Frozen Beauty

IIn the winter Harbin comes alive-sculptures and buildings rise up out of the ice that rips the city. Snow, ice castles and a frozen river it’s glittering spectacle that’s well worth the risk of little frostbite.

If you tell a Chinese person you’re going to Harbin, they’1l most likely shudder and encourage you to alter your plans: Too cold, they’1l say. Despite that, it’s not too cold for the three million ion people who live in this city perched up in far northeastern Heilongjiang Provin Tradition has it that China is shaped like a rooster, Heilongjiang being the head and Harbin the eve and the city retains important unique features and a peculiar charm that you won’t find anywhere else in the country.

Harbin was just a tiny town in China’s northeast for hundreds of years until at the end of the 19th century the Russians decided they wanted to build a railway from Moscow to ladivostok. The railway was laid in 1896 when the Chinese government was forced to grant Russia a concession at Harbin, which quickly grew to dwarf the old Chinese town. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, thousands of White Russian refugees crossed the Black Dragon River, bet in the west as the Amur River. At one stage around 160, 000 foreigners living in the city and they set up well over 1, 000 companies including China’s first beer brewery in 1900. The city soon became known as the “Moscow of the East, and at only seven days train journey from Paris was proud to know the latest Much of the Russian architecture remains standing today and one of the prime attractions of the city is walk along the Central Street(zhongyang dajie).

There are buildings of most European early twentieth-century styles along the length of this cobbled stre which remains today the most popular shopping area of the city. While McDonalds, KFC, and Western stores have redecorated most of the interiors, there are some buildings that have survived that kind of unfortunate modernization and still look and feel Idin quite European.

Central Street is found in Daoli District which was where the majority of the foreigners settled. It is now the center of the municipal government offices and the site of most of the best sightseeing opportunitie in Harbin. Strolling around the area you will find a little Russian chocolate shop, Russian gift-stores, coffee shops and some of the most expensive restaurants in town.

To the east of the Central Street, surrounded on all sides by modern department storyou will find the Church of St. Sophia( shengsuofeiya jidotang), lovelys, Orthodox church that is Harbin’s most famous landmark. It was badly damaged during the cultural revolution but later restored to its original 1907 splendor. Inside there is a little photographic exhibition tracing some of Harbin’s history, but most people report being disappointed with what they get to see for their RMB 20. There are a number of other Orthodox churches you will find around the city center that are worth a few minute’s look,though none are as impressive as St. Sophia’s.

Walking along the river is entertaining any time of the year and whether you’re watching the locals paddle rented boats in summer or trying to remember how to ice-skate in the winter, there’s plenty to do to occupy a few hours. There’s the odd toboggan for hire if you’re feeling brave. A more sedate pursuit is to wait for the old woman with scissors to find you for just RMB or 2 she’11 cut a perfect profile of you in some colored paper. For those with antifreeze for blood, you can speak to local guides about finding a hole in the ice for swimming but there are no saunas here to run into after your dip, so it is fairly likely you will catch severe hypothermia. In case you were thinking that it was a tradition, then be assured that the locals think the winter swimmers are all feng le crazy.

Across the river, taking either the ferry or a taxi, you’ll find Sun Island Park

residentsin yuan), which was once the retreat of choice for Harb (taiyang residents in the hot summer. A huge park with plenty of green to counteract the gray palette of the city’s apartment blocks it’s pleasant to stroll around when sunny, though it really comes into its own when snow falls and the yearly sculpture exon moves in.

This is the artistic high point of the winter season with the snow sculptures (ice covered 30-foot-wide panoramas, the artists try to outdo each other year after year. There are also a number of “ice-games” you can play in the park, and for a few RMB you can hire sleds drawn by huskies.

at Sun Island Park.

If alnimals are indeed your thing, then you might want to take a look at the Siberian eihu linyudn). little more than9 miles(155 km further north than Sun Island Park. Here you can find about hundred Siberian tigers, lions and other big cats. There are only an estimated 500 Siberian tigers left in the wild, so Harbin’s park is an important breeding base, though rather unusual in that it allows shak icKen, assg antes bus, watch the tigers enjoy their practice associates tourists with feeding-time.very important but highly unpleasant site for the people of Harbin is the Japanese.