Added: 05/31/2006 |
Harbin for summer and winter holidaysHarbin is a comparatively young city in comparison to numerous other cities of China, established centuries ago. The city is renowned for its unique architectural style - a blend of European and Russian tradition. It is also a center of ice and snow sculpture and turns into the city of ice palaces, snow cathedrals, castles and pyramids every winter. As winter has gone, Harbin changes its sparkling attire for green foliage, blue waters and white sand, becoming a comfortable summer resort.
Harbin is renowned for its architecture style, influenced by the best European and Russian traditions. Zhong Yang Street, one of the main business streets in Harbin, is the best example of mingling architectural styles. Baroque and Byzantine facades, Jewish architectural delights, little Russian bakeries, French fashion houses, American snack food outlets and Japanese restaurants decorate the one point four kilometer long Zhong Yang Street.
The highlight of the Russian architectural and cultural influence is the St. Sophia Orthodox Church. The church is a very impressive structure, in fact, the biggest Orthodox Church in Asia. The fifty three meter tall church is built in a famous Byzantine style: the main structure of the church is laid out as a Latin Cross with the main hall, topped with a huge green tipped roof.
Known as the Ice City for its long and cold winter, Harbin is an epicenter of the world's ice and snow culture. The annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival has been held since 1985. It is one of the world's largest ice and snow festivals, along with the Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada's Quebec City Winter Carnival and Norway's Ski Festival.
The activities of the festival include Yabuli Alpine Skiing, winter swimming in the Songhua River, and the ice-lantern exhibition in the Zhaolin Garden. Snow and ice carved figures, sculptures, and buildings adorn the city's parks and frozen rivers during the festival. You may see many world-renowned monuments, such as the Great Wall, Pyramids, Palaces and Cathedrals of more than imposing sizes.
The festival runs for two months and, totally, it highlights over one thousand figures and sculptures, grouped according to several themes, such as Ice Architecture, Ice City Tour and Children's Garden. New themes and new ingenious designs are added regularly.
Harbin is also home to the premier ski resort in China, Yabuli International Ski Resort. Yabuli has many down hill and country trails, ranging from runs for begnners to highly challenging ones as well as the longest Tobaggan run in the world. In 1996, the resort was chosen to host the 3rd Asian Winter Games. Today, Yabuli claims to host the Winter Olympic Games 2010.
In addition to skiing, there are also other recreational activities, such as snow motor racing, and horse-drawn sledding and sleighing. Several hotels provide comfortable and affordable accommodations.
As Harbin takes away its winter attire, it turns into popular summer resort with a very comfortable climate. The Sun Island, lying on the other side of the Song Hua River, attracts visitors with its white sand and blue water, lush foliage and beautiful plants. The Sun Island has several resorts, wonderfully set amidst unspoiled natural beauties.
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