Harbin is a sub-provincial city and the capital of Heilongjiang Province inNortheast China. It lies on the southern bank of the Songhua River. (Harbin isoriginally a Manchu word meaning 'a place for drying fishing nets.')
Harbin today is still very much influenced by its Russian past.(A city onceunder Russian rule, it is now a center of trade with that country.) Called theOriental St. Petersburg, Harbin is one of China's most beautiful cities. Thecity is well-known for its unique, Russian and European-influencedarchitecture.
Zhong Yang Street (also known as Kitaiskaia St.), (one of the main businessstreets in Harbin,) is a perfect remnant of the bustling international businessactivities at the turn of the 20th century. The 1.4-km long street is averitable museum of European architectural styles, including Baroque andByzantine fa?ades, Jewish architectural wonders, little Russian bakeries, Frenchfashion houses, American snack food outlets, and Japanese restaurants. TheRussian Orthodox church: St. Sophia Cathedral is also located in this centraldistrict of Daoli. (St. Sophia took nine years to build and was completed in1932.) It has now been made into a museum as a showcase of the multi-culturalarchitecture of Harbin.
Harbin is also known as 'Ice City' for its long and cold winter.
The annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival has beenheld since 1985. It starts from January 5th and lasts one month. (There are icelantern park touring activities held in many parks in the city. Winteractivities in the festival include Yabuli Alpine Skiing, winter-swimming inSonghua River, and the ice-lantern exhibition in Zhaolin Garden. Snow carvingand ice and snow recreations are world famous.)