Harbin Festivals

Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival

As one of the world's largest ice and snow festivals, the "Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival" is on a par with Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada's Quebec City Winter Carnival, and Norway's Ski Festival. The festival has been held since 1963. It had been interrupted for several years during the Cultural Revolution until it was resumed in 1985.

Traditionally, the festival runs from mid-December to the late February. Its official ceremony usually held on January 5th (the ceremony of 2022 is on January 1) each year. The festival features ice and snow carnival; international ice sculptures competitions in the Sun Island; ice lantern exhibition in the parks; speed skating, cross-field skiing and Alpine skiing competitions in the Yabuli Ski Resort or other famous ski resorts; fishing on the icy lakes and rivers; winter swimming in the Songhua River; ice and snow film art festival; exhibitions of paintings, calligraphy and photos; performances of folk songs and dances; wedding ceremonies on ice; economic and trade talks; commodities fairs and trade fairs etc.

The "Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival" is known as one of the most important tourist highlights in China. For years, it has been a Mecca for thousands upon thousands of world's tourists.

Perfect Harbin Winter Tours:     

 3-Day Harbin Winter Tour              4-Day Harbin Ice and Snow Festival   

 5-Day Harbin Winter Adventure        5-Day Harbin Skiing Tour

Harbin Ice Lantern Festival

The Harbin Ice Lantern Festival is Harbin's main clain to fame these days. Every January, Zhaolin Park and the banks of the Songhua River, as well as Sun Island Park, become home to extraordinarily detailed, imaginative and downright wacky sonw and ice sculptures. They range from huge recreations of iconic buildings, such as the Forbidden City, to animals and interpretations of ancient legends. At night they're lit up with colored lights to create a magical effect.

It might be mind-numbingly cold and the sun disappears mid-afternoon, but the festival, which also features figure-skating shows and a variety of winter sports, is Harbin's main tourist attraction - and prices jump accordingly. Officially, the festival gets going on 5 January and runs for a month, but it sometimes starts earlier and often lasts longer, weather permitting.

The main entrance is by the Flood Control Monument. Afterwards you can walk across the frozen Sonhua River to Sun Island Park to visit its ice sculptures.

Tourists can enjoy many kinds of fantastic and exciting  activities like skiing and winter swimming during the festival.

Harbin Summer Music Concert
Harbin Summer Music Concert is a national concert festival, which is held on August 6 every two years for a period of 10~11 days. During the concert, multiple evenings, concert, race and activities are held. The artists come from all over the world. The 'Harbin Summer Music Month', which was then renamed as 'Harbin Summer Music Concert', was held in August 1958. The first formal Concert was held on August 5, 1961 in Harbin Youth Palace, and kept on every year until 1966 when the Cultural Revolution started in China. In 1979, the Concert was recovered and from 1994, it has been held every two years. In 2008, the 29th Harbin Summer Music Concert was held on August 6.