Tour Harbin

Harbin
Harbin is the capital of Heilongjiang Province People's Republic of China, the northern part of northeast China's political, economic, transport and cultural center, is also China's largest provincial cities in the area, the population in second place in mega-cities. The city now commemorates both historical trauma, some of the darkest pages of China's history are represented including Japanese atrocities at the Japanese Germ Warfare Experimental Base Museum and the many serious floods at the Flood Control Monument, as well as historical triumph, including the Great Russian architecture in the northern Daoli District. For those a little daunted or unimpressed by these, there is skiing, hunting, leisure resorts on Sun Island Park and a Siberian Tiger Park for pleasure. Harbin is one of the most important industrial cities in China and a front-runner in industries like machinery manufacturing, food, medicine, and automobile. The city also has more than 13.3 million hectares of arable land and has the largest grain provisions in China. Meanwhile, Harbin has an advanced transportation network including one international airport, five railways and seven main highways that connect the major cities in China. It is also becoming the center for winter activities like ski, skate, winter-swimming, watching ice lantern and ice sculptures, etc. In 1998, the city was awarded as one of the best tourist city in China. Every year starting from January 5 and lasting for one month, it is the Harbin's Ice and Snow Festival (since 1985), lots of celebrations will be held during the period. Many tourists from home and abroad come to visit this legendary "Ice City". Now the "Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival" has become one of the world's four largest ice and snow festivals, along with Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada's Quebec City Winter Carnival, and Norway's Ski Festival.

St. Sophia Church
St. Sophia Church is one of the most easily recognizable landmarks in China. It is the largest Eastern Orthodox Church in Asia, standing 53.3 meters (175 feet) high, and is said to be so beautiful it is "as if it had been made by God's hands". It has a complex history. Shortly after the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), the Russian built the church of timber in March, 1907. Then, the Russian rebuilt it using masonry and timber four years later. The onset of a second reconstruction by Russian was marked on September 23rd, 1923, and a ceremony was held to celebrate laying the corner stone. It was completed on November 25th, 1932, after nine years, and was hailed as a monumental work of art. The Byzantine style church is so beautiful, it is said to look as if it had been made by God's hands. In fact, St. Sophia means 'God's wisdom'. The walls of the church are red brick. There is a huge dome on the top of the church that dominates the cathedral yard. Four tent-shaped arch roofs are distributed around it in different sizes. There are stairs to connect four buildings. It has four entrances in four directions, denoting the traditional shape of a cross. At the top of the main entrance is the Bell Tower with seven copper bells for only seven notes. The trained ringer strikes them with his hands and feet, giving the square a ripple of melodious ding. Nowadays, St. Sofia Church is used as the Municipal Architecture and Art Museum with exhibitions of the architectural history of the city, a photographic survey with captions all in Chinese. It plays an active role in tourism and the construction of a historical and cultural city.

Ice-Lantern Festival
The Ice-Lantern Festival, established in 1985, is held every year between January 5th and February 5th in the Zhaolin Gongyuan Park. All the roads and houses in the town are decorated with lanterns and carvings sculpted from ice. The park itself is covered in a sea of lanterns, statues, miniature houses, temples, animals, plants, boats and other vehicles, all made in ice by local artists. Harbin is the capital city of Heilongjiang Province and this is China's original and greatest ice artwork festival, attracting hundreds of thousands of local people and visitors from all over the world. As night falls, the gigantic sculptures light up in electric blue, bubblegum pink and other kitsch colors. By touching them and your hand will come away completely dry - the ice is so cold that even body heat won't shift it. Arrive before dark to watch ice- and snow-sculpting in progress. Today, Harbin Ice Festival is not only an exposition of ice and snow art, but also an annual cultural event for international exchange. Every year, there are many ice sculpture experts, artists and fans from America, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Russia, China, etc. gathering in Harbin to participate ice sculpting competitions and to communicate with each other in the ice and snow world. Also, Harbin ice lanterns have been exhibited in most of China's main cities as well as in many countries in Asia, Europe, North America, Africa and Oceania. For more than 40 years, Harbin's natural resource of ice and snow has been fully explored to provide joy and fun for visitors to the city. Now during the festival, many sporting competitions are also popular including ice-skating, sledding and so on. Weddings, parties and other entertainments are now very much a feature of this ice world, adding their own contribution to the celebrations of this great festival of art, culture, sports and tourism.