Harbin: A Chinese city with a Russian feel 

Best joke in Harbin is - Waiter: do you want refrigerated beer or normal temperature beer? The normal temperature beer is colder than the ones in fridge. LOL

As a russian,it truly melts my heart and yes the architecture looks like a mix of Moscow and Saint-Petersburg

I just started learning Chinese and the moment I heard you talking about bread, I was all: *I KNOW THAT WORD I KNOW THAT WORD*!!!!!!!!

I am Russian and I lived in Southern city in China but after watching your video I DEFINETELY will visit Harbin. Feels like home!

My father's parents fled Russia and the revolution.Harbin had a large Russian contingency there. Papa was born and raised there. At 18 he went to Shanghai and left the country ahead of the advancing Communists. He went by ship to the Philippines and eventually arrived in San Francisco where he met and married my mother. Papa has been gone 8 years now. I love you, papa!

I am Russian and I love visiting Harbin. It feels like a second home. Very beautiful buildings and ice sculptures.

It is Russian tradition to eat icecream when it is cold outside. First of all icecream temperature is higher so it fells different (not these icecream you bought outside) and that's a way to fell and enjoy pure taste of iceream.

I'm from Finland so I'm used to -25c weather during winters, but eating ice cream outside when it's that cold is still super weird to me, I've never done it. I'll have to try it next winter.

I’m harbin guy! Miss home!

2:18 They call it "oriental Paris" although the streets look like typical St.Petersburg. Considering that most architects who came to Harbin were probably from St.Petersburg, it's more like "oriental St.Petersburg" than Paris. Although, of course, St.Petersburg had a lot of French influence itself.

Best thing about those drinking glasses made of ice: washing dishes with a hair dryer! ;- )

I solo backpacked to Harbin and Changbaishan last Jan 2018 and that's the first time I felt the f**kin' insane cold. I checked the temperature on phone screen, it showed -32°C!! Beside of that, I also experienced the heartwarming interactions with some locals there even though I lack the language. Met local tourists and became travelmates along the journey, and we still keep in touch in WeChat ever since. Madier or Modern ice cream is one of the highlights on Zhongyang Dajie. At the first and second days, I wonder what this crowd at a street food vendor all about. Turns out they flock to buy a popsicle (vanilla ice cream). My thought like, _"How come these people eat ice cream in such freakin' cold day?!"_ I did curious and finally bought one at the 3rd day. A guy in hostel told me that tourists and locals eat the ice cream to warm up their bodies. Because ice cream temperature is warmer than the air. Nice one! :D

I'm Indonesian studying at one of the universities in Harbin, but because of covid-19, I can't go back to Harbin. Thanks a lot for ur video, I can feel Harbin’s vibes

“I’m not scared it’s gonna melt. “ Heaven

Majority of people coming to Harbin:........... Damn it feels cold in here.... Russians coming to Harbin:................. Ah feels just like mother Russia...

As a chinese, I absolutely love Russian architecture. I think it is great that Russia and China are continuing their strong relationship to this day.

I lived in Harbin for 1 year while teaching English. Friendliest people ever! And yes, Harbin is indeed the Paris of the Orient, as well as the Moscow of the Orient!

as a chinese i love this part of russia i am so happy to see this russian influenced architecture very proud of this. russia and china always help each other. russians are always welcome to china!

I have been 5 times to Russia and indeed it reminds me of there. Two amazing countries!!

There's people that drink hot tea on hot summer days. In Russia it's common to eat ice cream in the winter, maybe because no freezer is needed and I would always see vendors in the winter. It doesn't melt and tastes better when it's ice-cold, just like tea tastes best scorching hot.

Hey! We have just stumbled onto your channel! Your energy, vibe, presentation of your content, and knowledge is a very rare to find on RU-vid. We quit our jobs to travel full time before the current global crisis and were planning to visit China as part of our journey. We will just travel virtually with you for the time being but hope to purpose these videos as a guide in the future! Thanks! :) Gokce & Steve

I am supposed to visit Harbin this winter but it got canceled :( *screaming internally*

I spent a year studying in Harbin, had an amazing time - thanks for the video, brings back so many memories ❤️

As a chinese i havnt even been to this many cities in China, nor do I know much about Haerbin Crying with envy also I love your vids!

Oh man. You brought back a lot of memories for me. I used to live there from 2017-2018. Harbin is certainly a unique place in China and I used to walk many of the streets you were on. I miss it so much.

This is my hometown，I like living here，I also like the life here，Of course, I appreciate your promotion of my hometown，Thank you.

Harbin’s beautiful & awesome.The architectures are towards Russian styles,super amazing & it’s very modern,cool!👍🏻👏🏻The snow & ice sculptures are fantastic 👍🏻👏🏻😆

Yea, it is really interesting how people that live in the cold love to eat cold things like ice cream. They do the same thing in Bulgaria where it is literally -10 or -5C which is not as extreme as Harbin, but they still love their ice cream in the freezing winter. lol.

I've spent half a year in Harbin for university. My hometown is Shenyang, also a freezing city in Dongbei as your previous videos said. But I have to say, HARBIN IS SO FREAKING COLD. But the temperature in our dormitory was usually 27 to 30 degrees. So we just bought dozens of ice creams and put them on the balcony. No freezers needed! XD

I went to Harbin 2 years ago. It was a great trip. I took a night coach to go there. It was very cold once I arrived but I loved the ice sculptures. I'd love to visit the north east of China again.

Always so cheerful with vibrant positive vibes. Thanks!

I was in Asahikawa, Hokkaido in Feb 2020 and the overnight minimum on the 9th was -26°C, while just 25 min from the city in Etanbetsu River it got as low as -36°C. There was a display of photos and souvenirs from Harbin Ice Festival - a sister of Asahikawa Winter Festival. Harbin and Asahikawa are friendship cities. Harbin is certainly on my bucket list, but at least I won't be shocked by the cold anymore!

I've been living in Harbin from birth until 12 yrs old, then my family moved to Ontario, Canada. Honestly, even Ontario is warmer than Harbin. Your video really brings me nostalgia, miss Harbin so much.

I love your channel and China is my favourite country to visit. I was going to visit these places like Shenzhen, Shanghai, Liaoning, Tianjin, Chongqing, Harbin, Xian, Beijing ...etc this year but because of the outbreak I have to postponed it to next year. I only hope the length of your vlogs increases to 15-20mins in coming episodes. I want to see more of it. Thank you. 👍🌹🥰

I LOVE UR VIDEOS!!!! Ur so sweet and positive and u truly respect and love the culture!!! AND the people see it!! Thank u for shining such a positive light on Chinese culture! My family has a mix of Chinese and Russian history so this video is a godsend!!!! Thank YOU BLONDIE!!! 💗💗💞W LOVE FROM CALI

Oh wow, thanks for sharing this amazing place with us! Definitely need to visit it someday

Harbin is my hometown, but now I'm in the U.S. Hence I'm so happy to see this video on RU-vid, thank you!

Aww it's my hometown and I missed this place. If you got time, Huamei Restaurant at the Central Avenue is a cool place to eat - semi Russian cuisine. Also the ice cream bar called "Modern" (or 马递尔 in Russian) is worth the visit - the icecream and kefir yogurt taste so great and unique comparing to north American ones. Also, for local Chinese food, I recommend "百年蒸饺“ or roughly translated as "centennial steamed dumpling" . Also "老边饺子" was pretty good but that's according to my memory from 28 years ago. For experience, if you got a chance, you can try some bathhouse, although they are not as lavish and traditional as Hammam in Turkey.

nice music! As a graduate of ANU staying in Australia right now, I really miss Harbin, the city I lived in for four years.

Huge fan of your videos. They’re very informative. You sort of inspired me to take the leap with my family and move to Shenzhen. Thanks.

3:09 You translated "拜拜美女" as "Bye, blondie!"? 😂 While that's a very liberal translation (as you know 美女/mei nü means "beauty/pretty girl/compliment for female customers" and doesn't really refer to blonde people or your channel specifically), your video was nicely put together overall. Thanks for the effort and dedication! На здоровье/干杯/cheers!

Great video Amy, looking forward to more.

Wow, this is pretty flippin amazing! Never knew this existed until now. Thanks for sharing!

I love your channel sis! You’re so cute and your videos are just so relaxing and fun! Sending love❤️❤️

Went to Harbin in 2019 during the Ice and Snow Festival. It really is cool. Darker history as well you can see what's left of the Unit 731 site there and museum about Harbin under Japanese/Manchukuo control (Worth seeing too.). Most of the ethnic Russians that were there by the mid-twentieth century were of White Russian (Czarist/anti-Communist) exiles who were purged when the Soviet Union invaded Manchukuo in 1945. Similar story with Xinjiang- There were strong Russian communities there too but Bolshevik interventions in Civil War and later Soviet incursions in the 1930's saw a lot of the Russians there purged or sent to gulags.

visited Harbin 5 years ago (living in Tianjin back then) the coldest and one of the most difficult places to travel too (no English spoke anywhere) but a fascinating trip. Ice Festival was great. Would love to return some day.

Amazing video the world needs more people like u. Learning different languages and culture in a positive light is amazing.

Harbiner's here! Left home almost 8 years ago and I miss my hometown so much. Zhongyang street was where I grew up on and you brought back so much memories! Wish to be able to see the lovely street and eat ice cream in winter on the street (it's the best thing haha) again soon.

I really love your video today .You such a lovely person to speaking perfectly Chinese these days .I am so admire you .Lots of love ❤️ to you all

I was studying in Beijing early this year, but all my plans got cancelled due to covid. Thank you for sharing this :) now I can at least get an insight

Although I often go to Harbin, but I still find out some interesting things in your videos from a different perspective. Nice video and lovely Amy😉

wow! This is insane ! I saw this for the first time and thanks for enlightening us about this city ! wish you happy travel !

I love the way your mum said "OMG" when she knew you were in a place 7 degrees colder than the fridge.

Harbin seems so lovely! Hope to be able to visit someday!

Learned a lot about Harbin in 5 mins; thanks so much for documenting this!

Your videos are so interesting, educating and you even film like a pro, love your channel :) And I also love that you put both eng and chinese subs

omg, I HAVE BEEN THERE. I love it and miss it soooooo much,I still remember that I walked above a frozen river

We don’t say “na zdorovye”. It was said by Polish actors playing Russians in Hollywood movies. We wish health (здоровье - zdorovye) an lots of different forms, but never in the form of “na zdorovye”.

Great to see the views I should have seen in this Chinese New Year! I will re-plan to trip to go there in near future.

Thanks for another beautiful video footage Amy 👏👏👏🙏🙏🙏👍👍👍

哈尔滨人在悉尼。今年春节回哈尔滨赶上了疫情从开始到严重。因为临近俄罗斯和外来输入现在哈尔滨控制疫情有很大压力。希望正常生活早日恢复

Imagine being that guy that so used to removing his gloves when going inside a building, you risk ripping off skins of your finger when holding those ice glasses. Also, Amy, now you have eat ice cream on -25C, next, ultra spicy Indian curry in India during heatwave.

love your travel video and explanation on the history. keep it up gal

Welcome to my hometown :) I'm living in Sydney now. Love your vid!

Central street's ice cream is so famous. I literally ate it on a day with - 30 temperature just because one of my friends said that if you are in Harbin, you got got eat that ice cream😂

my top place I want to visit in China, such an interesting city!

My favorite RU-vidr is back 😌😌 I love you Amy 🤗🤗

Thanks for your sharing on the interesting parts of Harbin, on the food, culture and weather. Meanwhile, your Mandarin is superb good!

I remembered when I visited Harbin with my parents more than 10 years ago, when the plane landed, we couldn't disembark. Since the cabin door was frozen due to low temperature...

Harbin is one of the places where I wanted to visit but won't cause of the temperature. Born and raised in Malaysia, our tolerance to temperature are so narrow we can only accept 21-25℃. We complain when it's too hot (most afternoons in the year reaches 33℃), we also complain when it's too cold (we experienced a cold spell in end of 2018 and 2019). 🤦🏻‍♀️

I was in Harbin last year, the ice festival is amazing!

Wow! Such a unique city. Loved the video :)

hoho, that's my hometown. thanks for sharing~

I'm studying in Harbin Institute of Technology but I need to return to my country currently, I miss Harbin so much

I studied in a college in Harbin.it’s a beautiful city.I have lots of memories about Harbin.

Thank you for sharing this video! It's my hometown!

What a scenic piece of history this city is. Beautiful example of cultural amalgamation.

That's my hometown

SOUNDS LIKE A LOT OF FUN, those snags look pretty good in HARBIN & the ice city sculptures, see the infamous UNIT 731 never again.

the place looks magical!

There were also many Poles in Harbin.

36% C here in Malaysia, very hot, let's get some ice-creams,...reasonable. -25% C in Harbin, very cold, let's get some ice-creams,...weird. haha

What a great video, that’s my hometown, now I am studying in Macquarie Uni

ahh !! i miss harbin :( their ice cream there was so good and it didn’t melt bc of the temperature TT the ice sculptures just laying on the side walls were so pretty too

A mixed city, cool. Those grilled sausages look very moist and tasty.

It's a Manchurian city with a Manchurian feel. Proud of my hometown Harbin, and my motherland Manchuria!

First time watching your videos, I loved them! You are so cool 🙌🏽 greetings from México 🇲🇽

I always eat ice cream in winter. 😋 I miss that since I live near the equator now so we have neither summer nor winter now. it stays the same all year long. Thank you for the very nice video!

That piece of bread reminds of sourdough so I would assume it's gonna taste a lot better after a good toast.

A lot of Russians live in Harbin. The city is focused on Russians. Signs and street names are duplicated in Russian. Many sellers, waiters and generally working personnel speak Russian.

Currently in Montreal, Canada right now. Hope that I can go back to Harbin as soon as possible!!!

I'm from harbin and welcome to my hometown I'm so miss my hometown thank you for your videos

In my city in Russie it s -45 and +50

Funny how so many Western movies show `Russian` people saying the toast "Na zdorovye" but in Russia nobody says that. It's not a toast. It's a popular reply to "thank you".

here is my hometown. it's very beautiful and unique. i'm so glad u like it!

My hometown!!!! Love your work on making videos like this, and you did a lot of research, which I respect a lot.

Honey I'll eat ice cream still if the sun won't shine on earth for 6 days

Harbin had a decently sized Russian Population after the first world war with many White Russian's fleeing to Harbin. Most of the Russian's in Harbin left for Australia after the Japanese invaded Manchuria but it became the home base of the Russian Facist Movement mostly with the support of the Japanese and Italian's.... After the Soviets Liberated Manchuria most of the Russian's that where left either gone back to Russia or Emigrated to Australia...There are still a fairly large Ex Russian-Harbiner Community in Australia that regularly meets and visit's Harbin

It's very interesting how I am from Shanghai and I'm learning about Harbin from a foreigner. Nice information!

Hi! I am an expat living in Harbin. Loved the video. The ice cream is called Madier and it’s a tradition to eat it in Winter although it is sold all year round.