I Heart China

Harbin, Heilongjiang TV Tower, aka. The Dragon Tower is situated about 6km from the city centre, in the suburbs of Harbin. This tower has a public gallery. At the top of the tower is a revolving restaurant where you can admire the view while eating lunch or dinner.

Few people traveling to China would expect to see a Russian Orthodox Cathedral, but in the centre of Harbin, that is exactly what you'll find. The city was founded as a new town of the Russian controlled railway and the Russians built their own cathedral here.

Yabuli Ski Resort is the largest ski centre in China. Situated in the far north east of the country, near to Harbin city, snow is pretty much guaranteed for long periods every winter. This large ski resort has played host to several international competitions including the 1996 Winter Asian Games, the 2008 National Winter Games, and the 2009 Winter Universiade. The northeast of China has very long cold winters. Benefiting from this, Yabuli has about 150 skiing days per year, typically between November and April. 

Harbin Sun Island Park (哈尔滨市太阳岛公园) is a natural landscape park set on an island in the middle of the Songhua River in Northern China. It is across the river from Harbin town centre. It is a peaceful place for a walk during summer. However it is during winter that the island really comes alive. Sun Island is the site of Harbin International Snow and Ice festival. This is the worlds largest such festival and runs for one month in late winter each year. Tourists from all over China and abroad, flock to the island to view the amazing ice and snow sculptures. At night the sculpture takes on a new life as coloured lights, built into the ice, come on, turning the island into a surreal display. The display is well worth braving the harsh Manchurian winter where the temperature routinely drops to -20ºC or even -30ºC.

This is the worlds largest artificial breading centre for Tigers. Most of the tigers here as the Northeast Tiger (Siberian Tiger or Amur Tiger) which was once native to most of North East China but now reduces to critically endangered numbers both in China, and over the border in Russia. The centre covers some 1.4 million square metres.