Harbin

Harbin is one of the coldest cities in China with temperatures as low as -30° C. It is essential for safety and comfort to dress very warmly when traveling to Harbin. You can see here I’m wearing a jumper, a jacket and another coat on top.

Harbin started as a Russian town in 1895 to serve the construction of a Russian-financed railway. This Russian influence can be seen in the architecture St. Sophia Church Cathedral. One of the few still standing Orthodox churches in the city now converted into a Harbin Museum of Architecture. Inside there are exhibitions of many photographs from old times.

More evidence of Harbin’s international past can be found on Central Street, the main shopping street in Harbin. This 1.4-km long cobble stone street is a museum of European architectural styles, including Baroque and Byzantine façades and french fashion houses. In winter,you can find some ice sculptures and statues along the street. Here you’ll find food stalls and restaurants serving delicious and unique local cuisine including russian bread, russian sausage, ice lollies, beef skewers, ice blocks that you line up for and shredded chick with stew.

The main attraction of Harbin is it’s Snow and Ice Festival. It is the largest of it’s kind attracting over 10 to 15 million visitors annually. The festival began in 1963 and has been running for over 60 years.

Every December when Songhua river will completely freeze over, workers mine over 120,000 cubic metres of ice blocks. These are then used as raw materials stacked on top of each other as building blows. Then it takes 15,000 workers 16 days to carve out an ice sculpture .

Ice and Snow World features illuminated full-size buildings made from blocks of 2–3 feet thick crystal clear ice. Small holes are drilled created a tunnel to fit the LED lights which illuminate structures in bright colours at night. You can climb up this ice castle and this train sculpture nods to Harbin's long railway history. The park also includes an amazing winter wonderland show with dancers and ice skating.

Zhaolin Park displays about 1,000 smaller ice sculptures and ice lanterns as part of a competition in the park. It features fun attractions like sledding and skating.

Sun Island Scenic Area displays snow sculptures that can be only visited during daytime. The beautifully carved snow sculptures are created by large amounts of snow compacted together and carved into intricate shapes. There is even a small cafe made of snow where you can have a sip of coffee.