Harbin Puts the Magic in Winter

At the beginning of 2022, the success of the Beijing Winter Olympics presented a national image full of vitality, confidence, and modernization, which has become an indelible memory for the Chinese nation and people around the world.

At the end of 2022, the country staged the first major ice and snow event since the momentous Winter Olympics. Harbin, the city in northeastern China that encapsulates ice and snow culture, has once again opened its arms to welcome guests from around the globe.

Time-Honored Pageant

Around the solar term of the Greater Snow, Harbin's artists began to collect ice from the Songhua River to build sculptures.

With 60 years of history, the world-renowned Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival is the world's longest and most inspiring ice and snow event. Along with the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan, the Quebec Winter Carnival in Canada, and the Oslo Ski Festival in Norway, it is known as one of the four major winter festivals in the world.

From December 2022 to April 2023, with the theme of "60 years of ice and snow culture, embarking on a new journey together,” Harbin will launch more than 100 major events in eight sectors, involving history, tourism, culture, art, sports, economy and trade, fashion, and creative design. This is sure to attract legions of ice and snow enthusiasts from across the world.

In terms of art, the ice lantern show in Zhaolin Park, which has been held every year since 1963, is the world's oldest outdoor ice lantern art exhibition. In the evening, the ice lanterns are dreamlike and crystal clear, leaving people enchanted. The Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo is the birthplace of China's snow sculpture art, and every winter the beautiful works of art turn the landscape into an outdoor gallery.

In terms of entertainment, the Harbin Ice and Snow World, launched in 1999, is the world's largest ice and snow theme park, creating an ice-themed fairy kingdom for visitors every year. The ice and snow carnival presents a dazzling light show on the Songhua River, creating a colorful world of ice fantasy.

In terms of ski resorts, with a maximum snow retention period of 170 days, Yabuli has the world's largest ski resort, and offers the most enjoyable skiing experience for beginners, enthusiasts, and professional athletes.

Cradle of Winter Sports

Ice and snow sports, such as figure skating, ice hockey, and freestyle skiing, are the most popular pastimes of Harbin citizens every winter. They have been integrated into the life of local people, and attracted the attention of global enthusiasts, making Harbin the cradle of China's winter sports.

Harbin has long been known as a famous winter sports city in China, due to its advantage of having abundant ice and snow resources, a long history of ice and snow sports and a mass base of enthusiasts. It is a major source of top winter sport athletes in China. After the Beijing Winter Olympics, Harbin continued in its goal of building an international winter sports city, which is actually listed in its government work report.

The city holds more than 100 various ice and snow sports events and activities every year during the winter season, attracting sports enthusiasts worldwide. The most famous events are the China Cup International Ice Floe Open, the Finlandia Skiing Marathon, and the Winter Triathlon World Cup. The numbers of participants in Harbin's public ice and snow programs, such as teenage winter activities, ice and snow sports meetings, ice hockey games, and winter swimming competitions, all rank first in China.

At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Harbin athletes Ren Ziwei, Zhang Yuting, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong won a total of three gold medals, and Harbin was awarded the title City of Olympic Champions by the Chinese Olympic Committee.

Ice and Snow Crown

China's ice and snow culture has a long history, and there has always been poetry and literature to extol ice and snow. Winter sports can also be traced back to ancient times, and Harbin has always been the source of China's modern ice and snow culture.

Located in Northeast Asia, Harbin’s natural geographical conditions, special urban history and ice and snow culture make it unique. It was once the second largest cosmopolis in the Far East, praised by Hu Shi, a well-known philosopher, literary historian, and writer, as "the fusion of Chinese and Western cultures.” The successive integration of immigrants from the East and West has resulted in a local culture of openness and inclusiveness.

Harbin enjoys the titles of the world's ice and snow cultural tourism city and world music city. It is an important hub of the Belt and Road Initiative and the 17+1 cooperation mechanism between China and Central and Eastern European countries. It sits at the heart of a city cluster whose population exceeds 40 million. It is within two hours flight time to Russia, Japan and the Republic of Korea, and the air route between Harbin and the Americas is the shortest among all Chinese cities. The Harbin Airport has ranked first by number of passengers among the four major airports in Northeast China for many consecutive years.

It is also the core city of China's opening-up to Russia, and has established friendly relations with six cities in Russia, while also maintaining close exchanges with 19 states. The Harbin-Russia international road freight corridor covers 123 cities in Russia, the city accounts for one-third of China's e-commerce parcels to Russia, and the annual cargo volume of the Harbin-Russia freight train exceeds 90 million metric tons.

In winter, visitors can wander around the city’s central street, which was built in 1900, and is known as the Museum of Architecture of All Nations, and explore the Chinese-Baroque Historic Block. Foodies can delight at the delicious experience of unique-tasting borsch, Russian sausage, Russian rye bread, barbecue, and Harbin beer.

In addition, Harbin is a city of colorful melodies. Over the centuries, music has become a unique symbol of the city. The century-old Harbin Symphony Orchestra and Harbin Ballet have staged a large number of high-quality plays.

In midwinter, listening to a symphony and watching a ballet in Harbin will immerse visitors in the wonder and beauty of this ice and snow destination that exudes a warm heartfelt charm in an unrivaled white-winter wonderland.