Harbin

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Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Central Street, Harbin 21, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Xiangjiang Park 2, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Pamyatnik sovetskim voinam, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Harbin West Railway Station, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

About Harbin

Harbin wears its winters like a crown. When the Songhua River freezes and temperatures sink far below zero, the capital of Heilongjiang builds whole palaces of ice lit in neon colours, and millions travel north to see them. The rest of the year it is a relaxed river city of onion domes, cobbled streets and summer beaches on Sun Island.

The modern city was born in 1898, when Russia began building the Chinese Eastern Railway and chose a fishing settlement on the Songhua as its hub. Russians, including thousands who fled the 1917 revolution, Jewish families, Poles and Chinese merchants turned it into a cosmopolitan boomtown, and their churches, shops and mansions still shape the centre. Harbin Beer, founded in 1900, is among the oldest breweries in China.

Today the core sights sit close together: Central Street, Saint Sophia Cathedral and the riverside Stalin Park, with Sun Island, the Ice and Snow World and the tiger park just across the water. Laodaowai's Chinese Baroque lanes and the sobering Unit 731 museum add more layers to a full visit.

Best seasonLate December to February for the ice festival, if you can take the deep cold; June to August for mild, sunny riverside days.

Ideal stayTwo to three days: one for the historic centre, one for Sun Island and the ice sculptures, and time for the Unit 731 museum.

ArrivingHarbin Taiping International Airport lies southwest of the city; high-speed trains link Harbin West station with Beijing, Shenyang and Changchun.

What to See in Harbin: 12 Favorites

Neighborhoods 2

Central Street, Harbin, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Central Street, Harbin

Laid out in 1898 and paved with granite setts, this pedestrian street runs for well over a kilometre from the Songhua River into t...

Laodaowai Chinese Baroque Historic District

In the Daowai district, Chinese merchants of the early 20th century built shops and courtyard homes that mixed European Baroque fa...

Landmarks 2

Saint Sophia Cathedral, Harbin, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Saint Sophia Cathedral, Harbin

Built between 1923 and 1932 to replace a wooden church for Russian soldiers, this red-brick Neo-Byzantine cathedral with its great...

Harbin Opera House, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Harbin Opera House

Rising from the wetlands on the north bank, this flowing white building by MAD Architects was completed in 2015 and seems to have...

Events 1

Harbin Ice and Snow World, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Harbin Ice and Snow World

Every winter since 1999, workers cut blocks of ice from the frozen Songhua and build a temporary city of castles, pagodas and towe...

Parks 2

Sun Island Scenic Area, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Sun Island Scenic Area

Across the river from the old town, Sun Island is a large park of lakes, birch woods, lawns and summer beaches that becomes the ho...

Stalin Park, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Stalin Park

Stretching along the south bank of the Songhua at the end of Central Street, this riverside promenade has Russian-style pavilions,...

Wildlife 1

Siberian Tiger Park, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Siberian Tiger Park

North of the Songhua, this breeding centre for the endangered Amur, or Siberian, tiger holds a large number of the big cats in ope...

History 1

Unit 731 Museum, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Unit 731 Museum

In the Pingfang district south of the centre, this museum stands on the site of the base where the Japanese army's Unit 731 carrie...

Temples 2

Harbin Confucius Temple, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Harbin Confucius Temple

Completed in 1929, this is one of the largest Confucian temples in northeast China, laid out in classic style with gates, courtyar...

Jile Temple, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Jile Temple

Founded in the 1920s, Jile Temple is the city's most important Buddhist monastery, with incense-filled halls holding gilded statue...

Family 1

Harbin Polarland, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Harbin Polarland

On Sun Island, this polar-themed aquarium introduces Arctic and Antarctic animals such as beluga whales, penguins, seals and polar...

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Photo: Rincewind42 from China, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

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Photo: Rincewind42 from China, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Photo: Rincewind42 from China, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Photo: Caliva, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Caliva, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: EditQ, Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Photo: EditQ, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Jonashtand, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Jonashtand, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Jonashtand, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Jonashtand, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Jonashtand, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: EditQ, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: EditQ, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: EditQ, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: EditQ, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: EditQ, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: EditQ, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Jeremy Thompson from Los Angeles, California, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Photo: Jonashtand, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Jonashtand, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Jonashtand, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Jonashtand, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Jonashtand, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

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