Harbin:All the Way up North, Encounter the Snow

Compared to the metropolitan cities like Shanghai and Beijing, as China's most northern capital city, Harbin is more of a peaceful, calm, and quiet city. Nicknamed the "Little Paris of the East," Harbin can be covered in snow for 6-8 months out of the year. For Harbin winter seems to come a little earlier than most. In earlier years, the snowfall would often start in September, and would last until April or May, dropping down on the newly blossomed lilacs. In Harbin, the atmosphere of the Spring Festival seems to come as a package with the first snowfall.

At the Sight of the First Snowfall, Everyone Begins to Anticipate the Spring Festival.

At the sight of the first snowfall, everyone begins to anticipate the Spring Festival. The black soil is so fertile that even though the people of Harbin can only cultivate the fertile black soil once a year, the fruitful harvest would still be enough for them to pass through the whole winter. As soon as winter arrives, the peopleof Harbin find themselves with more time to relax and begin to visit relatives, friends, and neighbors, striking up casual conversations. The long tradition of farming has made it possible for people here to develop such habits and continue preserving them until today. Admittedly, this kind of atmosphere around the periphery of Harbin and its surrounding villages is a little more intense.

Gradually, as the end of the year approaches, the atmosphere of the Spring Festival arises. People begin to decorate the streets and a variety of snow and ice sculptures are also placed along the streets, allowing everywhere to be filled with a festive atmosphere. All kinds of scenery only visible during the winter or the New Year in Harbin also begin to appear: Vendors drag ice boxes full of popsicles outside for people to choose from, vending stalls pop up on the side of the street selling all kinds of products needed to prepare for the Spring Festival such as "spring rolls" and "shrimp chips.” Furthermore, other unique frozen products of Northeast China such as "frozen pears" and "frozen persimmons" are also sold in huge boxes.

December 23 (or 24) of the Lunar Calendar, People Start Busily Preparing for the New Year.

On December 23 (or 24) of the lunar calendar, people start busily preparing for the New Year: they sweep the house, shampoo their hair and bathe, and prepare the items needed for the celebration. The Spring Festival is commonly known as the "New Year." Although the festival is set

as January 1 on the lunar calendar, the celebrations are not restricted to this one day. About ten days before the festival, people begin to shop for items such as meat (chicken, duck, and fish), liquids (tea, wine, and sauce), and snacks (candy, roasted seeds, and nuts)... All the preparations

should be fully completed, including the preparation of gifts needed for when one visits their friends and relatives and the purchasing of new clothes for their children to wear on New Year’s Day.

On the evening before January 1 of the lunar calendar, the whole city and its suburbs begin to set off firecrackers.

According to customs, on the day before the New Year or the early morning of, people must put up Spring Festival couplets, the character for fortune, paper cuttings, and red lanterns high above the front of their door. People who live in an apartment building will hang a lantern on the balcony instead; lanterns are kept out until January 16 of the lunar calendar. On the evening before January 1 of the lunar calendar, the whole city and its suburbs begin to set off firecrackers, afterwards the entire family gather together to eat at reunion dinners – usually dumplings. The more folds a dumpling has, the better they are. Boiled dumplings between 11 pm and 1 am are the norm, some of them have coins inside and will bring those who eat them good luck.

After the reunion dinner, from January 1 to the 7 or 8, people will continue to stay with their family members, whom they will visit relatives together with, or take to the streets to enjoy the

glamorous city of Harbin covered in ice and snow. The ice sculptures of the castle and train, as well as the variety of snowman made by children lining the roads are all beautiful sights. Furthermore, architecture heavily influenced by foreign style such as the Saint Sophia Cathedral, Laodaowai Baroque District, the Harbin New Synagogue, and Stalin Park are even more beautiful when covered in snow. In the evening, the city's ice sculptures and festive lights give Harbin a glamorous and enchanting aura.

Lights and ice sculptures are the pure essence of Harbin. During the Spring Festival, Harbin plays a song of fire and ice, the celebratory fireworks and ice sculptures making the holidays enchanting for all.