The top of Harbin’s Flood Control Monument during a snowstorm.  On this, my fourth winter trip to Harbin, I finally got to see it snow.  That was great for photographs of Daoliqu (the old Russian district), but not so great for getting around Harbin.  So it’s a good thing that I stayed once again at the Gloria Inn, since it’s just steps from this monument and the whole of Daoliqu.  As I did in 2003, 2005 and 2007, I’m going to take a walk along Zhongyang Dajie (Central Avenue), which runs from the monument here through the heart of the Russian district, and then over to the Saint Sophia Church and back.  I’ll let my pages of those earlier trips do most of the explaining about Harbin and its history.

Central Avenue has been closed to vehicles for a number of years now, and that seems to have made it more popular than ever; even on this snowy day, the crowds were out.  The yellow building on the left is Russian, built in Renaissance style in 1904.  Back then it was home to the Churin Trading Company; today it’s home to KFC.

Venus, one of many department stores along Central Avenue.

This string quartet becomes a piano quintet in the winter months.

Heated red lanterns float above a snowy Central Avenue.

Freshly roasted nuts at an outdoor vendor beside the Modern Hotel.  Across the street from this is a one-window shop where people line up day and night for freshly baked bread, unusual for China but popular in this Russian-influenced city.

Emperio Armani, Boss, Zara... Harbin has steadily moved upscale over the years.

Two blocks over from Central Avenue, night falls on Saint Sophia Church.

I can never resist going inside this church, which has served as a museum since its restoration years ago.  One reason is because of its little gift shop’s selection of books about Harbin.  Sadly, for the first time, I already had every book they had on display.  At least I finally got to try out my wide-angle lens in here.

The church rotunda, another shot I can never resist.

Photographs and newspaper advertisements from Harbin’s old days.

An old photograph of the River Side Restaurant, built in 1937 and still used as a restaurant today, located along the banks of the Songhua Jiang near the Flood Control Monument.

A combination of old photographs of Russian family outings along the banks of the Songhua Jiang.  This and the previous photograph appear in Saint Sophia.

Back over on Central Avenue heading north, the Modern Hotel, an Art Nouveau style building from 1913 - not so modern.  Long, long ago, it was a movie theater, also called the Modern.

Chinese photographers shoot the old Songpu Foreign Firm, a Baroque style building from 1920 and now home to Semir, a department store.

Corner of another department store along Central Avenue, with more of the glowing trees I first saw at the Ice and Snow World.

Back where we started: the Flood Control Monument, at the north end of Central Avenue along the banks of the Songhua Jiang, Harbin’s river.  In the foreground is the old-style bulb-in-an-ice-globe style of lighting; further back is the new glowing-tree style of lighting.

My Harbin winter festival photographs through 2007 have been published as a book entitled “Hot Ice and Wondrous Strange Snow: The Winter Festivals of Harbin, China”.  The book, available through Blurb.com, can be previewed and purchased below.