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Harbin Travel Guide
Harbin Ice & Snow Festival
Harbin is a sub-provincial city and the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province in northeast China. It lies on the southern bank of the Songhua River. Harbin is the tenth largest city in China (pop. 9.87 million), serving as a key political, economic, scientific, cultural and communications hub in northeast China. Harbin is originally a Manchu word meaning "a place for drying fishing nets". Harbin has very cold winters and is often called "Ice City". Harbin is well-known for its beautiful ice sculptures in winter and plays an important part in China's trade with Russia. In the 1920s, Harbin was considered China's fashion capital as new designs from Paris and Moscow reached there first before arriving in Shanghai.Harbin is also a potential candidate for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Harbin Geography
Harbin is located in southern Heilongjiang, on the southeastern edge of the Songnen Plain. The city centre also sits on the southern bank of the middle Songhua River. As the prefecture is rather large, its latitude ranges from 44º04-46º40, the longitude 125º42-130º10. Neighbouring prefectures are Yichun to the north, Jiamusi and Qitaihe to the northeast, Mudanjiang to the southeast, Daqing to the west, and Suihua to the northwest. In the southwest is Jilin Province. The terrain of the city is generally flat, with an average elevation of around 150 metres (490 ft).
Harbin Ski Resort
Harbin Climate
Under the Koppen climate classification, Harbin features a monsoon-influenced, humid continental climate (Dwa) with hot, humid summers and very cold winters. Its "Ice City" nickname is well-earned, as its winters are dry and bitterly cold, with a 24-hour average in January of only 18.4ºC (1.1ºF). Yet the city sees little precipitation during the winter and is often sunny. Summers can be hot, with a July mean temperature of 23.0ºC (73.4ºF). Summer is also when most of the year's rainfall occurs. Spring and autumn constitute brief transition periods with variable wind directions. Extreme temperatures have ranged from 41.4ºC (43ºF) to 39.2ºC (103ºF).
Harbin Winter culture
Harbin is located in Northeast China under the direct influence of the cold winter wind from Siberia. The average temperature in summer is 21.2 degrees Celsius, 16.8 degrees Celsius in winter.
The annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival has been held since 1985. Although the official start date is January 5 each year, in practice, many of the sculptures can be seen before. While there are ice sculptures throughout the city, there are two main exhibition areas: Enormous snow sculptures at Sun Island (a recreational area on the opposite side of the Songhua River from the city) and the separate "Ice and Snow World" that operates each night. Ice and Snow World features illuminated full size buildings made from blocks of ice. Winter activities in the festival include Yabuli Alpine Skiing, winter-swimming in Songhua River, and the ice-lantern exhibition in Zhaolin Garden. Snow carving and ice and snow recreations are world famous.
Harbin Ice & Snow Festival
The "Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival" is 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.
Every November, the city of Harbin sends teams of ice artisans to the United States to promote their unique art form. It takes more than 100 artisans to create ICE!, the annual display of indoor Christmas-themed ice carvings in Nashville, Tennessee; Kissimmee, Florida; and Grapevine, Texas.
Harbin Winter Sports
The third Winter Asian Games took place in Harbin in 1996. The city of Harbin bid for hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics. The Alpine skiing events would have taken place in the Yabuli ski resort. In the frame of this campaign to assert its role on the world scene, Harbin was the host city of the 2009 Winter Universiade. Harbin planned to spend US$ 1.5 billion in construction and renovation of its sport infrastructure for this Universiade. Harbin also bid for the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics, but was passed over so still has its sights on the Olympics, perhaps in 2022.
Harbin has produced many world-class winter sports champions, including short track star and six-time Olympic medalist Wang Meng, 2006 pairs figure skating silver medalists Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao[16] and 2010 Vancouver Olympics figure skating gold medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo.
How to get in Harbin
By Plane
Harbin Airport (IATA: HRB) has services to more than a dozen domestic destinations in addition to Hong Kong.
International services are available to Khabarovsk and Vladivostok, Russia, Niigata, Japan, Seoul, South Korea and Los Angeles, USA.
The airport is not located in the city center and is about a 45 minute drive outside of the city in the middle of soybean fields. If you are flying out of Harbin most ticket agencies can arrange transportation to be included in the cost of the ticket. Another option is to take a taxi, which costs around RMB 100-120. Always negotiate this price before the ride, though. Drivers will make their meters read more for the ride otherwise or try to get you to pay for the highway ticket in addition.
There is also a bus service to Downtown Harbin and the rail station. Tickets cost RMB 20.
The airport is small, but there is a small restaurant and snack bar selling local delicacies, Chinese and western food, and a nearby hotel if you happen to get stranded.
By Train (Haerbin Zhan)
Taking a train to Harbin is very easy and most are overnight trains, including a new rapid service from Beijing. Different ways to travel include chair, "hard berth", or "soft berth". Hard berth compartments generally have six sleeping bunks which open onto the main passageway going through the car; soft berth usually has a four person compartment, softer mattresses, and a compartment door you can close. Hard berth is roughly 55% of the price of a soft berth ticket. The bottom bunk is where all your neighbors will want to sit and eat with you when you are not sleeping.
The main station is located at Tielu Jie, between Nangang and Daoli districts. When leaving the train, make sure to keep your ticket stub as you need it to exit the train station.
When you get out of the train station there are literally dozens of taxis waiting. Make sure to take a cab that is in the official waiting line and have them turn their meter on. In some cases these drivers have been waiting all day here and want to get as much money as they can.
By Car or Bus
Harbin is connected to the rest of China via the China Highway 102 via Changchun. Harbin is also connected via road to Inner Mongolia, Russia, and Jilin.
The main long-distance bus station (Changtu Keyun Zhan) is located across the square from main train station.
The majority of cities in Heilongjiang can be reached via bus.
Traveling to Russia
Vladivostok, Russia-takes about 12 hrs.
One daily departure which leaves early in the morning. Buy tickets in the Russian travel agency on the second floor of the bus station. The price is basically the same as going through Mudanjiang/Suifenhe on your own.
Given that you have all your papers sorted the border crossing is straightforward. Guard(s) on the Chinese side speak fluent English and might be curious of non-Russian/Chinese passports. You are required to take all your items with you when crossing the border, do not leave bags on the bus.