Seven Castles

Harbin

                                      

August 16, 2006

 

Harbin, the City of Ice, is situated in the southern part of Heilongjiang Province. "Harbin" is a transliteration from the Manchu language, meaning "a place for drying fishing net in the sun".

 

Harbin was unimportant until Russia was granted a concession in 1896 and built a modern section alongside the old Chinese town. It grew with the arrival of the Chinese Eastern Railway, built by the Russians in the late 19th century. A Russian military base during the Russo-Japanese War, it was a haven for White Russian refugees after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and had the largest Russian population of any city outside the Soviet Union. Harbin was liberated in 1946.

 

Bearing the nickname "Oriental Moscow", Harbin is one of China's most beautiful cities, with a unique cityscape. Many of the buildings in the city show the influence of 19th-century Russian architecture, often in butter yellow or other pastel colors with a variety of painted ornamental designs. Central Street, one of the main business streets in Harbin, is a perfect remnant of the bustling international business activities. The 1.4-km-long street is a veritable museum of European architectural styles, including Baroque and Byzantine façades, Jewish architectural wonders, little Russian bakeries, French fashion houses, American snack food outlets, and Japanese restaurants. St. Sophia Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox Church, is also located in the area. It took nine years to build and was completed in 1932. It has now been made into a museum as a showcase of the multi-cultural architecture of Harbin.

 

The Songhua River flows gently through the city, adding to the charm and attractiveness of this resplendent northern city. One interesting place to visit in Harbin is Sun Island in the river, facing the beautiful Stalin Park on the other bank. A pop song about the island was a greatest hit in the late 1970s. The densely wooded island covers more than one thousand hectares. With large stretches of meadows, the air is always pure and fresh there and the scenery pleasing. Surrounded by water on all sides, the island boasts some good bathing beaches where the golden sands are fine and smooth, always filled with cheerful holidaying crowds.

 

As a city in a far north, Harbin indeed has its own unique attractions. In deep winter it becomes a sparking world of ice and snow, a world molded in jade and silver. The houses, built in different styles, are all mantled in snow. In the parks are many sculptures carved in ice, looking like the crystal palaces in fairyland. The annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival have been held since 1985, starting from January 5 and lasting one month. Winter activities in the festival include Yabuli Alpine Skiing, winter-swimming in the Songhua River, and the ice-lantern exhibition in Zhaolin Garden.

 

In the city, there are certain kinds of snacks born of the peculiar weather conditions and probably rather inconceivable to outsiders, such as frozen fruits, frozen dumplings, frozen tofu (bean curd), and ice pastry. These names may make one shiver with cold, but they are really pleasant to the taste.

 

Harbin today is still very much influenced by its Russian past. It is a trading post, where goods from Russia are available. For some Chinese people, Harbin is the only place to go to acquire traditionally Russian products such as vodka, and Russian memorabilia. The local cuisine in Harbin is also Russian-influenced. Harbin's bakeries are famous for their bread. Harbin's sausages are another notable product, in that they tend to be of a much more European flavor than other Chinese sausages. The Harbin dialect also retains vocabulary items that originated in the Russian language.

 

Harbin has lots to offer for anyone interested in history, since both Russia and Japan have had a big influence over this city's history and architecture, helping it to become the thriving city that it is today. However, when I was there, I did feel that Harbin is more Russian than Japanese.

 

【作者: zhangliping】【访问统计:】【2006年08月16日 星期三 09:44】【 加入博采】【打印】