Harbin

Land of Extreme Freeze, Ice Sculptures, Snow Sculptures, and Siberian Tigers

If you have ever looked up winter festivals or ice sculptures, then the images of Harbin are probably the first ones that popped up.  This festival has the world’s biggest ice sculptures as well as snow sculptures.  It is among one of the most well known winter festivals in the world joining the likes of winter festivals in Sapporo, Quebec, and Norway. 

This is one of the biggest winter festivals in the world and temperatures can get down to around -30 degrees.  It is not out of the ordinary to see people like myself, walking around with 4-5 layers of clothes on to keep warm.  It is also worth noting that unless you have your mobile phone next to your body for heat, then it will probably shut off because of the extreme cold. 

Ice and Snow World

This attraction is usually attended by people at night.  2-3 feet blocks of ice are used to make structures which are then lit up.  You can walk through some of the buildings, or slide down some of the ice slides onto a pile of snow, or just simply enjoy the scenery and enjoy them from afar.  As it is very cold out here at night, I would say 2-3 hours is a good time to spend to walk around and see everything.  You can always go into heating tents or restaurants to warm up.  Sculptures are done from people all over the world and there is a contest on different aspects of the sculptures.  The pictures below show just small part of the Ice and Snow World as your imagination can get lost …..

Sun Island

This is the second major attraction in the winter in Harbin.   Instead seeing different ice structures, you will end up getting lost in the amazing snow sculptures.  Some of sculptures ranged from 10 feet by 10 feet, to a couple hundred feet wide and exhibit an amazing array of craftsmanship.  The sculptors are from all over the world and all of them have a little piece of culture in them from the countries they originated from and are quite beautiful. 

Siberian Tigers

Seeing as it is always cold here, there is a Siberian Tiger Park which has hundreds of Siberian tigers.  While it is not a zoo, you can drive around in a vehicle to see the tigers moving around in an open environment. 

Food

Of all the food in China I have tried, I believe Harbin to have the best mixture of varieties of food.  You can have everything from what I have deemed “The Best Dumplings in China” to varieties of spicy hot pot, to Russian food, to German food.  What makes the food here unique is that it is very meat based for every meal which is different than other parts of China.

Streets

Walking the streets of a town or city is where you can really see the culture.  The Architecture here is unlike anywhere else in China with a massive Russian influence (as seen in the pictures below of St. Sophia Russian Orthodox Church).  It is not uncommon either to see signs in English, Russian, and Chinese as they experience a high number of Russian tourists.