Khanka Lake - the Largest Freshwater Lake in Northeast Asia

Khanka Lake is a freshwater body located on the border between Heilongjiang Province and Russia. The area of the lake is 4,190 square kilometers of which 3,030 square kilometers are located in Russia, and 1,160 square kilometers in China. The lake supports high biodiversity (especially migratory birds) and is characterized by complex hydrology and naturally-occurring high turbidity, as well as a fragmented institutional authority responsible for its management. It is a remarkable site for nature protection, eco-tourism as well as scientific research (concerning bird migrations). Khanka Lake was once an inner lake in China. After the signing of Sino-Russia Convention of Peking in 1860, the lake became Sino-Russian Boundary Lake.

Khanka means the water flowing down from a higher to a lower place. Khanka Lake is composed of one large lake and one small one which are divided by a sandy hill. The trees on the hill are luxuriantly green and elegantly beautiful. The small lake is quiet and peaceful with fish swimming around and birds flying. Occasionally, there’re some sailboats traveling on the lake. The larger lake is with vastly mist-covered water and the boundless water seems blending with the sky. It was praised as the emerald of north China as its vigorous and boundless water. In 1996, Mr. Jiang Zemin, the Secretary General of China and Russian President Yeltsin subscribed the Sino-Russia Agreement on Khanka Lake Environmental Protection. Since then, Khanka Lake became a Nature Reserve protected by our government and Russian government.

Khanka Lake is beautiful around all years. In spring, Khanka Lake is a paradise for migrants. As it is the main route of migrant in the east, every spring, thousands of migrants fly past here, take a break and look for some food. In summer, the lake is a summer resort owing to the fantastic scenery. The lakeshore is a vast sand beach continuing hundreds of miles. Khanka Lake is also really colorful in autumn. Take an overlook from the top of a hill, green water, white clouds in the sky, red autumnal leaves and trees will come into your eyes immediately. On the sides of road leading to Khanka Lake, plump paddy lows down their hands in the farmland stretching to the horizon.

In summer, you can paddle in the lake and fight against the storming waves. You can enjoy the cool in the umbrage on the sandy hill; feel the wind breezing near your face; taste the delicious roasted fish while appreciate the wonderful scene which will make your mind suddenly enlightened. It will be a great experience if you could drive a boat floating on the lake, look over Bee Mountain and look down the plains and villages on the foot of mountain. All these euphoric view will make you seem to be in a dream. And in autumn you may encounter with Khanka spotted deer in the forests along the lake. The voice of deer, companied with the autumn wind, sounds melodious. In winter, Khanka Lake is covered by thick ice and looks like a silver kingdom. On the vast lake, ice covers with snows and expresses an extensive atmosphere. It is really a good place to go.

For more information, please visit http://top-chinatour.com

Harbin Central Street (Zhongyang Dajie)

Harbin is notable for its combination of oriental and European architecture styles. Many Russian and other European-influenced style building are listed special protected by national government. The architecture in Harbin brings the city the nickname of "Oriental Moscow" and "Oriental Paris".

Zhongyang Street, one of the main business streets in Harbin, is a remnant of the bustling international business activities at the turn of the 20th century. First built in 1898, The 1.4 km long street is now a veritable museum of European architectural styles: Baroque and Byzantine façades, little Russian bakeries and French fashion houses, as well as non European architectural styles: American eateries, and Japanese restaurants. You'll find some shops with Russian products, international restaurants, and two mega markets, Wal-Mart and the French Carrefour, that are located at the end of Central Street. The street is said to be the prettiest street in Harbin, and during the winter you can enjoy a dog sled or a horse sled ride. It is an easy shopping and dining highlight in the area.

The present Jiaoyu Bookstore (Education Bookstore) is the biggest form of Baroque architecture in Harbin and also the mark of the Central Street. The Mod-Er Hotel (formerly the Modern Hotel) and the Daoliqiulin Shop, built in 1906 and 1919 respectively, are fine examples of Art Nouveau architecture. The Fuer Shop (Women and Children's Shop) in 1917 was the former Xiehe Bank. This building reflects classic Renaissance architecture. There are many other exotic and appealing constructions there. All of them are well preserved and continuously play an important role in people's daily life.

The Russian Orthodox Church, Saint Sophia Cathedral, is also located in the central district of Daoli. Built in 1907 and expanded from 1923 to 1932, it was closed during the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution periods. Following its designation in 1996 as a national cultural heritage site (First class Preserved Building), it was turned into a museum as a showcase of the history of Harbin city in 1997. The 53.35 m (175.0 ft)-tall Church, which covers an area of 721 square meters, is a typical representative of the Byzantine architecture.

This street is a junction where both Harbin's modern and historical civilizations can be seen. It interprets the city perfectly and has witnessed the most brilliant European cultural development for 300 years.

As one of the longest pedestrian streets in Asia, whenever visitors come there, it will open up to them its charming vistas with its profound culture. It has been a comprehensive recreational place combining tourist pleasure with shopping excitement, and annually attracts thousands of visitors.

For more information, please visit http://top-chinatour.com

St. Sophia Church----- the Largest Eastern Orthodox Church in Asia

St. Sophia Church is one of the most easily recognizable landmarks in China. It is the largest Eastern Orthodox Church in Asia, standing 53.3 meters (175 feet) high 53.3 meters (175 feet) high and occupying an area of 721 square meters (0.18 acres), and is said to be so beautiful it is "as if it had been made by God's hands". In November, 1996, it was listed as one of the Key Cultural Relics under State Protection. Half a year later, the city government repaired it and renamed it as Harbin Art Gallery. It is a respectable landmark for Harbiners and for tourism.

The first St. Sophia Church was constructed from timber in 1907, but rebuilt in 1911 using both stone and timber. A third incarnation on the same spot was finished in 1932 built entirely from stone and was applauded as a great work of art. Over time, St. Sophia Church lost its place at the heart of Harbin and fell out of use completely: by the 1990s the magnificent murals had been allowed to crumble and the church was derelict. The government of Harbin began an extensive restoration campaign in 1997, which to date has returned the murals, lamps, onion dome & bell tower to their former glory.

 

The Byzantine style church is so beautiful, it is said to look as if it had been made by God's hands. In fact, St. Sophia means 'God's wisdom'. Having a Latin cross footprint, the church's original shape was preserved during reconstruction. The church has four floors and is accessible by a door on each side. Until the 1960's, the bell tower over the entrance housed 7 bells of different sizes and tones. When there were religious festivals in the past, a well-trained ringer would play musical progressions, tolling the bells with ropes tied to his hands and feet. The bells resounded to the skies.

The main structure is laid out like a cross with the main hall topped with a huge green tipped dome. It had undergone considerable decline. The church no longer was in use, and residential apartments and office buildings surrounded it. Magnificent Russian painted murals that adorned the church's arched walls were destroyed out of recognition. But as the original Russian murals were lost completely, they were replaced by topically new murals depicting the architectural history of the Harbin community. And crosses that were removed in six places were replaced. Now, the murals, pendent lamps, dome and the bell tower are restored to their original splendor. Under the bright sun, the church and the square area it lies on looks quite like the Red Square in Moscow.
For more information, please visit http://top-chinatour.com

Yabuli----- the Biggest Ski Resort in China

Located in Shangzhi City, 193 kilometers from Harbin City, the Yabuli International Ski Resort is the biggest and has the most complete facilities of any ski resort in China. During the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911), the resort was the hunting ground for feudal lords. Surrounded by mountain ranges covered with pine forests, it is a great place to escape the hot summer and have a ski adventure.

The resort has a 5 kilometer off-road track and special trails for snowmobiles and sleds. In the summer, the Yabuli International Ski Resort is ideal for a leisurely holiday and offers fishing, golf, and boating.

The resort provides great skiing with high mountains and good snow. Local skiers enjoy the high elevation and the fact that the snow is neither too hard nor too powdery. The lowest temperature is -47.2F. Because of the high elevation, snow falls for a long period of about 170 days. The period from November to late March of the next year is the best time to ski at Yabuli Ski Resort.

The ski resort includes two distinctive areas: the competitive section and the leisure skiing section. The alpine competitive skiing section reaches an altitude of 1,374 meters (approx. 4,508 feet). Built according to international standard, this section provides an excellent environment for professional skiers. In the leisure skiing section, the highest altitude is only about 1,000 meters (approx. 3,281 feet), and the area provides a comparatively safe environment for leisure skiing. There is also a German built slide where tourists can enjoy sliding down from the top of the snowy mountain. Doing skiing on the slide is easy and safe, bringing visitors a thrilling experience.

The resort is the biggest training centre for alpine skiers and the mountain hosts of many professional skiing competitions. In 1996 the 3rd Winter Asian Games was held here along with numerous the National Winter Games and other national and provincial competitions. There, 8 snow-making machines imported from Canada help Mother Nature to produce more snow for skiers. Yabuli Ski Resort was the venue for the 3rd Asian Winter Games.

Besides skiing, visitors can also take advantage of the other entertainment facilities at the resort, such as the mini golf course, tennis court, turf courts, hot-air balloons, para-gliders among others. The courteous professional coaches at Yabuli Ski Resort know how to nurture first timers' love of ski and teach those who are looking for improvement with skilled instructions. They are all ready to offer help at any moment. The combination of activities, the beautiful forest and comfortable facilities offer tourists a relaxing and fun vacation. In winter, the ski resort is a fantastic place for skiers; in summer tourists can escape the heat and enjoy fun outdoor activities. All year round the resort offers beautiful scenery.

For more information, please visit http://top-chinatour.com

Zhaolin Park

Located at northern end of Zhaolin Dajie in Daoli District, central Harbin, Zhaolin Park Zhaolin Park is the first park in the city built in 1906 in memory of the General Li Zhaolin. It was originally named "Daoli Park" and changed to present name "Zhaolin Park" in 1946.

Zhaolin Park covers an area of 8.4 hectares of land and faces the city's Songhua River. After improved in 1985, the park has become a nice place with enchanting scenery. In the east, there is Huaguo Mountain. In the west, there lies Rose Mountain. Xiaonan Islet is located in the south and glass flower cellar is found in the north. A man-made lake flows around in the center with five small bridges cleverly link the water area. In the park, there are arbors, the open-air theater, children's playground, skate land and flower and fish exhibition hall.

The best seasons to visit Zhaolin Park are summer and winter. It is charming throughout the year, especially in spring and summers when the flowers in the park are in full bloom with the birds are twittering. In summer, here is pleasant scenery with tree-lined, full bloom flowers. The unique garden park "Bei Garden", "Lunar Reflections Garden", "Little South Island," "Clove Garden" are with different features and truly fascinating. It is really a good summer resort to escape from the hot summer.

In winter, the park will become a wonderful new world of ice and snow. The ice festival and ice lantern show renowned at home and abroad are held every winter here. When the night fell, the ice lanterns in the park combine light, sound and action in one, resplendent with a great variety of colors. The vivid and fanciful designs collect the beautiful scene in the world. By taking the nature-endowed advantage of ice and snow,  and using modern science and technology, the wise and industrious people make a number of exquisitely-carved ice and snow art work in different forms and shapes. They are praised as three-dimensional paintings solidifying notes and colorful poems. The charming scenery makes visitors immerse in fantasies and forget to return home.

For more information, please visit http://top-chinatour.com

Sun Island Scenic Area

Area located on the North Bank of the Songhua River in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, the Sun Island Scenic Area with a total area of 38 square kilometers is famous to people from domestic and abroad. This dainty area, surrounded by blue water, boasts crystal lakes, wooden rockeries, beautiful flowers and exotic buildings. In summer, the comfortable weather makes it the first choice to avoid summer heat, and in winter, the spot is a paradise for ice-snow travel. Every year, the Harbin International Snow Sculpture Art Expo held here exhibits enthralling ice or snow sculptures and architectures, attracting thousands of visitors.

Sun Island Scenic Area consists of the Sun Island and some other small islands. With more than twenty scenic spots, it can be divided into three parts. Animals' world is located in the north and west. The centre of the garden is featured by flowers, lakes and ice-snow beauty. And in the south, ice and snow series, exotic Russian series, a gallery and a memorial garden can be found. The amazing Sun Gate is composed of five white ellipse gates, with four small gates on the sides and a big one in the center. In front of the gate lies the symbol of the scenery-a tremendous stone named the Sun Stone.

The Deer Garden, the Swan Lake and the Squirrel Island in the north and west make the zone an animal's world. The Deer Garden is like a natural painting: some spotted deer run or walk on the slope while the others drink water from the stream. Facilities like slides, swings and the labyrinth lead children to a wonderland. In the Squirrel Island, visitors can feed the lovely squirrels in person. Near the Squirrel Island, elegant black swans, whooper swans, tundra swans, mandarin ducks, swan geese and other aquatic birds are fostered in the Swan Lake. With a man-made karst cave, the flying Sun Waterfall is near the paradise of animals.

The Flower Garden near the Sun Gate may attract many people witch is divided into twelve parts according to the signs of the zodiac. Walking clockwise from north to south, every visitor can find out his own constellation in the garden. Twelve breeds of cloves in the Clove Garden blossom from May to July, driving birds to sing for them. And there is an Ice Sculpture Garden recapturing many awarded works in the Harbin International Snow Sculpture Art Expo.

The picturesque Cloud-water Gloriette is a must-see scenery spot. This gloriette relies on the Sun Lake and has two storeys on the water. In the gloriette, visitors get a whole view of the lake and the Sun Hill while breeze gently brushes their faces. In the center of the Sun Island, five lakes surround an isle and connect the Sun Hill. Weeping willows and the gloriette reflect in the clear water, making the area more charming. Near the Cloud-water Gloriette, visitors can enjoy the Japanese flavor in the Harbin-Niigata Friendship Garden. This garden is a typical Japanese courtyard featured by streams and a wooden bridge, blooming with flowers in spring and being quiet and graceful in summer.

Exotic Russian series are situated in the south of the Sun Island. Dining in the Russian restaurant, strolling on the Russian style streets and buying some craftworks are unexpected surprise for visitors. The Russian Artist Village shows Russian paintings while a gallery near the Ice and Snow Culture Exhibition Hall displays Chinese paintings. As the largest private collection exhibition hall in China, the Russian Art Exhibition Hall presents many pieces of Russian artworks. Visitors can watch Russian films and dances and listen to the Russian songs in the Russian Royal Golden Theater.
For more information, please visit http://top-chinatour.com

Ice Lantern Garden Party

Covering an area of 6.5 hectare, the Ice Lantern Garden Party in Harbin City is the earliest and biggest artistic exhibition of the ice lantern in the open air in the world. It is listed as one of the 35 national 'absolutely rare and wonderfully beautiful' scenic spots by National Tourist Office. The Party was initiated in 1963 and from then on it has been held every winter in Zhaolin Park, which shows about 1,500 pieces of traditional ice lanterns. It is considered as a beautiful name card to Harbin City.

The Ice Lantern Garden Party is a remarkable accomplishment of people in Harbin who make full use of the local natural resources. The artisans in Harbin utilize the ice from Songhua River to create the wonderful artworks of ice sculptures. Almost all the artworks take on a vitality and charming view.

The original ice lanterns of Harbin were rough and simple in history. From the very beginning, they were once used for lighting at night when the fishermen were fishing in the Songhua River, then and used as decoration in front of the gates. As time goes on, the ice lanterns are gradually accepted as an art-form in Harbin. They embodied very unique cultural features and artistic fascination. Now it has evolved into a local traditional festival in that city called Harbin Ice Festival held on January 5th every year.

Nowadays the ice lanterns have become the pride of local people. The art of ice lantern making has reached maturity. It is a unique art exhibition of ice and snow which gathers multiple subjects such as gardening, architecture, sculpture, theatrics, Chinese painting, Chinese literature and Chinese music, which causes great influence both at home and abroad. Meanwhile, modern science and technology are applied to show us the multicolored and exquisitely carved ice lanterns. So many different artworks are strewn at random around the Ice Lantern Garden Party to create a perfect world of ice and snow.

Harbin Lantern Garden Party officially gets going on 5 January and runs for more than two months. During the period of the party a competition of ice carvings will be held in Zhaolin Park. The craftsmen from America, Japan, Singapore, Canada, Russia and altogether more than 10 countries will be invited to join in the competition with the enthusiasts all over China in purpose of interchanging their craft of ice carvings. It is a party for friendship more than a party of competition. So we say the party is the cradle to the craftsman of ice carvings.




For more information, please visit http://top-chinatour.com

Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival

The annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival is an annual winter festival that takes place with a theme in Harbin, Heilongjiang, and now is the largest ice and snow festival in the world. Officially, the festival starts on January 5 and lasts one month. However, exhibits often open earlier and stay longer, weather permitting. While there are ice sculptures throughout the city, there are two main exhibition areas:

Sun Island is a recreational area on the opposite side of the Songhua River from the city, which features an expo of enormous snow sculptures. During the festival, there are ice lantern park touring activities held in many parks in the city. Winter activities in the festival include Yabuli alpine skiing, winter-swimming in the Songhua River, and the ice-lantern exhibition in Zhaolin Garden.

The city's location in northeast China accounts for its arctic climate which provides abundant natural ice and snow. Subsequently, the 'Ice City' of Harbin is recognized as the cradle of ice and snow art in China and is famous for its exquisite and artistic ice and snow sculptures. The fabulous Ice Lantern Festival was the forerunner of the current festival and is still the best loved part of the overall event in the opinion of all who go to that city each year.

Zhaolin Park is a 'must see' during the Ice Festival because it has a traditional program that shows the most excellent ice lanterns. With water, lights and the natural ice from the Songhua River running through this city as the material, the ice lanterns are made by freezing water, piling up ice or snow, then carving, enchasing, decorating, etc. The ice lantern park touring activities have been held here annually since 1963 and is said to be one of the most wonderful 35 tourist attractions in China. There are numerous pieces of ice artworks in the park arranged in groups according to different themes depicting Chinese classic masterworks, European folktales and customs and so on. A great variety of objects such as buildings, gardens, flowers, waterfalls, European-styled churches, lions, tigers, dragons are carved from ice. In the daytime, the ice sculptures are magnificent and verisimilitude. Moreover, with the interspersion of the sparkling colored lights embedded in the sculptures at night, the park becomes a glorious and amazing ice world.

Today, the Ice Festival is not only an exposition of ice and snow art, but also an annual cultural event for international exchange. Every year, there are many ice sculpture experts, artists and fans from America, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Russia, China, etc. gathering in this city to participate ice sculpting competitions and to communicate with each other in the ice and snow world. Also, Harbin ice lanterns have been exhibited in most of China's main cities as well as in many countries in Asia, Europe, North America, Africa and Oceania. For more than 40 years, the city's local natural resource of ice and snow has been fully explored to provide joy and fun for visitors to the city. Now during the festival, many sporting competitions are also popular including ice-skating, sledding and so on. Weddings, parties and other entertainments are now very much a feature of this ice world, adding their own contribution to the celebrations of this great festival of art, culture, sports and tourism.

For more information, please visit http://top-chinatour.com