An Overview of Harbin, the Capital of Heilongjiang, China

A city where snowmen are the size of buildings. Harbin is a city located on the north-eastern border of China in the Heilongjiang province. Harbin’s freezing temperatures reaches -30 degrees Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit) (Harbin Weather 1) hence the title “The Ice City.” Harbin is a different China with different prospects of life than the rest of China. With different cultures infused into Harbin’s own special culture, it truly made it stand out from all the other cities in China. Blessed with such paradise and ranging from beautiful architecture to extreme climates, people of Harbin flourish with its aesthetically pleasing features.

Everyone could foretell Ice City’s climate by its title. Even though Harbin has one of the most freezing temperatures in the world, it still has all of the four seasons; the winters are very long and extreme with the snow season lasting as long as half a year, unlike spring and autumn which go by really fast. Summers in Harbin are very beautiful and does not go overboard with the sun’s heat (Harbin Weather 2).

Some food stalls in Harbin sell real spicy food and with it goes with the ‘Yin Yang” theory where in cold climates you would need spicy food to balance the Yin Yang. That theory is pretty accurate due to the fact it warms the body and gives it a neutral balance between the inner and outer temperatures (Fang 412.)

“Romantic feelings” is the world largest sculpture in the world that is made of ice and snow, the sculpture is located at Harbin’s International Ice and Snow Sculpture festival.

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The Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival is a festival that was first established in 1963 but started to become a competition-festival for the past 15 years. Artists and sculptors from all around the world gather in Harbin months before the festival starts in order to complete the masterpieces of sculptures that are usually range from the size of cars to buildings. The “Romantic feelings” sculpture required 600 sculptors from 40 countries, it is 35 meters tall and 200 meters long (Guinness World Records 1.) The sculpture obviously stands out in the

International Ice and Snow Sculpture festival from its size and the aesthetically pleasing features of the lady in the sculpture.

Harbin could potentially be labeled paradise on earth with both its natural and man-made landscape, town scenery and architecture. With Russia sharing a border with Harbin, you could clearly see the Russian culture influence on Harbin’s culture. Russian architectural designs are very evident with Harbin’s buildings such as the Saint Sophia Cathedral that is located at central district of Daoli, Harbin City. The green-corroded out copper colored domes evidently traces back to the influence of Russian architecture, which is also influenced and affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church (Shen 77.)

Other than the Russian physical influenced features, Russia has a significant influence in the consumption of alcohol. The Chinese culture already has an extreme drinking culture, where the alcohol percentage could be either really weak or really high. The combination of Russian and Chinese drinking culture adds up to a unique drinking culture in Harbin. The bars are almost everywhere in Harbin, and try to compete with each other by trying to have good costumer service.

One bar in Harbin that attracts many customers is the “Ice Palace bar”. Its walls and ceilings are made out of ice slabs to represent the extreme icy and cold climate and temperatures of Harbin (Ice Festival Harbin 2.) The icy Ice Palace Bar has a popular drink called the “Kvass” which is imported through the China Far East Railway. Russia and Harbin have an excellent trading system and routes.

The China Far East Railway is not the only link that exists between Russia and Harbin, there is the Trans-Siberian Railway as well. Since Harbin was formerly known as a fishing village, they began to prosper as the largest commercial center of North Eastern Asia. That triggered the market of fish trade between Harbin and Russia (Shen 85.) Even though Russia majorly influences Harbin, people of Harbin still manage to maintain their culture.

The Chinese festivals are celebrated with the most colorful fireworks and poster art all over Harbin during the festivity.

With the influence of other cultures in Harbin, the Chinese culture is a bit condensed compared to the other provinces and cities in China. This creates a good transition to the tourists and immigrants that want to experience the Chinese culture. Harbin has a lot of attractions for tourists including The Siberian Tiger Zoo which have tigers, lions and ligers. The lions, tigers and ligers come in all sort of shapes and sizes. The ligers are very well fed and maintained, that’s why they are high in density in The Siberian Tiger Zoo.

Life in Harbin for foreigners and tourists would not be as difficult as living in other parts of China. A huge percentage of the people that don’t originally originate from Harbin is there for education. A university that many people attend to from all around the world is “Harbin Institute of Technology”. Harbin Institute of Technology was founded in 1920, it has a really beautiful campus with scenery that motivates the student to attend class. With it’s elite reputation and efficient workforce, Harbin Institute of Technology ranks high in many university ranking websites. The Chinese culture insists on education since it is the key that unlocks every door.

This ideology is heavily enforced in Harbin, every kid should have the right to be educated, therefore this explains the abundance of public and private schools of all educational levels in Harbin. Teenagers usually take part-time jobs throughout their high-school lives in order to be able to afford their college tuition. The examination system that is provided to the citizens of Harbin is generally the same examination system that is provided for the rest of China. This examination system is very challenging and requires a lot of work and attention. Manynscholarship opportunities is provided to both local and international students when it comes to college tuition fees.

Harbin is the city that everyone would want to settle in. A blend of a lot of cultures with a focus of Chinese culture is what truly defines Harbin. The weather itself is big advantage point to whoever loves the cold temperatures. As small as Harbin might be, anyone who visits Harbin could potentially never run out of things to do. A small city with people with big hearts. Harbin is a different kind of China with different people, food and culture. Harbin, the city to be in.