Above all, of all the explanations, "Harbin" also means "honors or dreams." This might be the most romantic and exciting interpretation, which fully symbolizes the pride of the Harbin people who own advantageous natural resources and long for a bright future.

 Harbin, fire in winter

If you ask a local resident of Harbin the day's temperature, he may possibly pass over the words "below zero," for it is redundant to say this in the winter when the air temperature is almost always between 20 to 35 degrees below zero. Every year when winter comes, Harbin becomes a world of ice. Local people like to make full use of the cold weather as their natural fridge by storing up food outside. The Songhua River, which freezes over for thousands each winter, can serve as a road in winter.

In addition, Harbin people have made full commercial use of ice. The annual Harbin International Snow and Ice Festival heats up the bone-cold winter months.

The Harbin International Snow and Ice Festival, which marked its 22nd edition this year, is China's first-ever festival focusing on ice and snow festival activities. The festival has become an all-around festival involving culture, sports, arts, trading, technologies, and tourism. In fact, since the city of Harbin held its first International Ice and Snow Festival in 1985, the festival has been held every year and has now become one of the world's four largest ice and snow festivals, along with Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada's Quebec Winter Carnival, and Norway's Ski Festival.

Usually held around the lantern festival according to spring in the Chinese lunar calendar (especially in South China), the Harbin International Snow and Ice Festival, with its dazzling outdoor winter artworks such as ice lanterns and its ice-and-snow-sculpturing competition, is distinctly different from the south.

 Ice lanterns

As a kind of northern Chinese folk art, ice lanterns came out as early as Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). During the reign of Emperor Jiaqing, there were ice lantern festivals.

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