I’m from a city called Harbin, in China, where is as cold as Batavia, NY. But it’s been pretty warm this winter in Batavia, so it’s colder in my hometown right now. I’d like to share with you how people have fun in winter there. First, let me show you something about my city.

My city Harbin (the red part in the second picture) is the capital and the largest city in Heilongjiang Province. Also, the city is the eighth most populous Chinese city and the most populous city in whole Northeast China. There’re over 9.94 million inhabitants from the city, and a number of people living there who come from towns near Harbin.

In the 1920s, the city was considered China’s fashion capital since new designs from Paris and Moscow reached here first before arriving in Shanghai.

On 22 June 2010, the city was appointed a UNESCO “City of Music” as part of the Creative Cities Network.

Our city is also called Ice City, Oriental Paris, and Oriental Moscow.

After I came to GCC, cold weather here made me miss home sometimes. Thinking of what we used to do at home, it even made me miss home more.

There’s a place, Ice & Snow World, open to public by tickets about 20 US dollars every year from New Year to whenever the weather gets warm.

There’re a lot of ice lanterns and snow sculptures for everyone to see and take photos.

Also, there’re a lot of fun activities about ice and snow, such as slides made of ice, and skiing with different kinds of funny boards.

People wear super warm clothes, and just go there to have fun with their families and friends.

Besides the World, there’re some small parks open for free, also with a lot of fun in there.

Also, you can see the ice or snow sculptures everywhere by the streets.

I have to say that the winter is really pretty in our city, which I miss it a lot.

This is Harbin, China.

The Pearl on the Swan’s Neck.