Archive February 1, 2020

St. Sophia Cathedral in Harbin is the largest orthodox church in the far east. It stands 53.3 meters (175 feet) tall and covers 721 square meters (0.18 acres). In November 1996, it was listed as a state key cultural relic protection unit. Six months later, the city government restored it and renamed it Harbin art museum. It is a respected landmark for the harpin people and the tourism industry.

St. Sophia Cathedral has a complicated history. Shortly after the boxer rebellion (1899-1901), the russians built the timber church in March 1907. Then, four years later, the russians rebuilt it with masonry and wood. On September 23, 1923, Russia began its second reconstruction and laid the foundation stone. On November 25, 1932, the masterpiece, which took nine years to complete, was hailed as an immortal work of art.

The Byzantine church is so beautiful that it is said to look like the hands of god. In fact, St. Sophia Cathedral means “the wisdom of god.” The church has the footprint of a Latin cross, which has retained its original shape during reconstruction. St. Sophia Cathedral has four floors, with a door on each side.

Until the 1960s, the Byzantine St. Sophia Cathedral had seven bells of various sizes and colors hanging from the bell tower at the entrance. During religious festivals, well-trained bell ringers would play musical marches and ring the bells with ropes tied to their hands and feet. The bell rang through the sky.

By the 1990s, St. Sophia Cathedral had experienced considerable decline. The St. Sophia Cathedral is no longer in use and is surrounded by residential apartments and office buildings. The magnificent Russian frescoes that adorn the vaulted walls of St. Sophia Cathedral have been destroyed beyond recognition. In 1997, local governments began to address decades of deterioration. But as the original Russian murals disappeared completely, they were replaced by new murals depicting the architectural history of the Harbin community. Crosses that had been removed in six places were replaced. Now, murals, chandeliers, domes and clock towers have been restored to their original glory.

The Ruins of St. Paul’s stands adjacent to the famous Mount Fortress and Macau Museum. The front façade and the grand stone stairs are the only remains of the greatest church.

St Paul’s was first built in 1580, then burned down in 1595 and 1601. However, reconstruction began shortly after the church was burned down in 1602. Built in 1637, it became the largest Catholic church in east Asia. Unfortunately, a violent typhoon hit macau in 1835 and the church caught fire for the third time, making its glory a thing of the past. According to historical records, st. Paul’s church was built of white stone with a large arched roof. It has three ornate halls.

St Paul’s cathedral is made of granite, and its baroque facade is richly decorated, but it has a classical Oriental character. From the bottom up, the structure has five floors. The first layer consists of 10 ion columns and 3 entrances. The middle entrance is engraved with the virgin Mary. The two entrances on either side are decorated with bas-reliefs with the motif “his”. On the second floor are ten Corinthian columns with three Windows. A Catholic saint is enshrined in a tent between four pillars. These two layers as a whole are said to represent the social and missionary activities of Jesus.

The remaining three layers are the most decorated. The Madonna stands in the middle of the third tier, and Jesus stands in the middle of the fourth tier. The walls are covered with reliefs of various motifs, such as demons, angels, symbols of suffering, Portuguese sailboats, etc. The triangular combination of the three upper layers reflects the holy trinity (father, son and holy spirit) and the virgin Mary. A cross stands at the top of the wall.

It is worth mentioning that the stone lions on both sides of the third and fourth floors of the ruins of st. Paul’s cathedral have distinct Chinese characteristics. There are also reliefs with chrysanthemums and cherries, and Chinese inscriptions. The existing facade has long been considered a perfect blend of eastern and western cultures.

The ruins of st Paul’s cathedral were restored between 1990 and 1995. The sacred art museum and basement were also built at that time. There is an exhibition of religious art, including paintings, sculptures and statues.

Norbulingka, which means “treasure park” in Tibetan, is located on the western outskirts of Lhasa on the Banks of the jiuqu river, about 1 km (0.6 miles) southwest of the potala palace. The garden covers 360,000 square meters (about 430,000 square yards) and has 374 rooms. It is the largest man-made garden in Tibet autonomous region.

Construction began in the 1740s. It was once a wild land full of wild animals, overgrown with weeds, and overgrown with weeds. It was the favorite and frequent haunt of the seventh dalai lama, for which the qing government built a palace. A few years later, the port was built on the orders of the seventh dalai lama. Later, it was used as the old Summer Palace for successive lamas, where they solved political problems and held festivals. After a series of extensions and renovations, the exterior has been improved with pavilions, gardens and woods. Now it has become a park open to the public.

Norbulingka consists of several palace complexes, such as Potrang of gesang, Potrang of zoki, jinlinka and Takten Migyur Potrang. Each palace complex is divided into three sections — the palace section, the front section of the palace and the front section of the forest.

The potala palace, named after the seventh dalai lama, is a three-story palace with a hall, bedroom, reading room and sanctuary dedicated to the Buddha. In norbulingka, he was considered the most attractive when the eighth dalai lama came to power. The hall built during the han and Tibetan dynasties is where the dalai lama enjoyed Tibetan opera. In 1922, a wealthy donor built the golden Linka and Chensel Potrang for the 13th dalai lama. At the same time, many flowers, grass and trees were planted. In 1954, the 14th dalai lama built the potala palace, also known as the new Summer Palace, which means “eternal palace” in Tibetan. The building combines the characteristics of the temple and the villa, which is more spectacular than other palaces. The exquisite murals in the palace are worth mentioning and visiting. The frescoes in the north hall show the gentle, calm sakyamuni and his eight contemplative disciples. However, the murals in the south temple vividly tell the story of Tibet’s development in the form of comic strips.

The Harbin ice lantern garden fair is the world’s oldest and largest open-air ice lantern art exhibition, with an exhibition area of 6.5 hectares (about 16 acres) and an ice volume of about 2,000 cubic meters (about 71,000 cubic feet). It is listed by the national tourism administration as one of the country’s 35 “great beauty spots”. The festival began in 1963 and has been held every winter since then at zhaolin park, where some 1,500 traditional ice lanterns are displayed. It is considered the beautiful name card of Harbin.

The ice lantern garden is an outstanding achievement of the local people in exploiting and utilizing the local ice and snow resources. Craftsmen in that city used the ice of the songhua river to create various forms of ice sculptures. All the works of art present a grand verve and charm.

Inspired by ancient Chinese ice lanterns, artisans at the ice lantern fair have created works of art that transcend nature. Legend has it that once upon a time, when winter nights came, a few people would leisurely dress up or fish on the songnen plain, which is located in the northeastern provinces including Harbin. They used old ice lanterns for lighting. At that time, the technique was simple. The water from the songhua river was put into a wooden bucket and frozen into icicles. Then a hole was made in the center of the icicle and an oil lamp was put in. Hence the ice lanterns. It helped a lot of people live at that time. Later, when the Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival came, people liked to decorate these ice lanterns to celebrate the festivals.

Now, it has evolved into a local traditional festival. The Harbin ice and snow festival is held every year on January 5. Throughout the festival and the ice lantern garden party, visitors can participate in international sports such as: sitting on an ice boat, hitting a top on the frozen river, attending weddings on ice, skating on ice and watching winter swimming competitions. When night falls, you will attend the Harbin ice and snow festival party. You can see wonderful performances there, and you can also take part in them. That would be great!

Today, ice lanterns are a source of local pride. The art of making ice lanterns has matured. This is a unique ice and snow art exhibition integrating horticulture, architecture, sculpture, drama, Chinese painting, Chinese literature, Chinese music and other disciplines. At the same time, using modern optical, mechanical, acoustic and other science and technology, to show us the colorful, beautifully carved ice lanterns. Ice art works include ice architecture, ice sculptures, ice waterfalls, ice flower beds, ice slides, ice Chinese calligraphy, ice scenes, ice advertisements and, of course, ice lanterns. Various works of art are randomly scattered around the ice lantern garden party, creating a perfect world of ice and snow.

The dragon tower, the second tallest steel tower in the world and the tallest in Asia, features tourism, catering, entertainment, advertising and wireless communications in addition to radio and television signals. Since its opening in 2000, it has become one of the top ten scenic spots in Harbin and one of the most worthwhile tourist attractions in heilongjiang province.

The long tower is composed of the tower body, the middle part of the tower body, the upper part of the tower body and the antenna on the top of the tower. From the first floor to the fourth floor, it has a spherical top. The section of the tower body is octahedral and the longitudinal part is parabolic. Elevators at 2.5 meters per second can reach all floors of the tower. The tower is 181 meters (594 feet) tall and 206 meters (676 feet) tall, with a steel ball and a flying saucer-shaped structure on top. The antennas are arranged between 220.5 m (723 ft) and 336 m (1102 ft). Dragon tower design is unique, tourism resources are very rich.

The 181-meter (594-foot) observation deck boasts the world’s longest clear glass skywalk, with a perimeter of more than 60 meters, giving visitors a great view of the area beneath the tower. The carrying capacity of this glass is 1000 kg per square metre. Covering 1,256 square meters (1,502 square yards) and seating 350 people at a time, the 186-meter (610-foot) high revolving restaurant in the sky is the world’s tallest restaurant in the sky. While enjoying the buffet, you can see the charming night view of the city from all angles.

The 190 meter (623 ft) outdoor viewing platform allows visitors to overlook the cityscape. Adventurous visitors can also try the game of the brave, where challengers wear seat belts and walk on the edge of the circular platform outside the guardrail. The butterfly gallery also displays more than 2000 famous and precious butterfly specimens at home and abroad. The 206-meter (676-foot) high blessing pavilion is the tallest, with more than 100 characters in calligraphy. Visitors can enjoy the magnificent cityscape while drinking tea in the teahouse.

The exhibition hall of dwellings in northeast China shows the structure of houses and the appliances of the past, such as kangs (beds), window paper and kerosene lamps, allowing visitors to experience the local customs. Hanging out on China’s tallest swing outside the dragon tower, 210 meters (689 feet) high, is an exciting adventure.

Black tiger spring, also known as black tiger spring, is located in jinan city, shandong province south moat bank, the east side of the spring square, opposite the square. One of the four hot spring groups in jinan, and the treasure earth spring, pearl spring, wulongtan. The black tiger spring formation is composed of 10 springs including agate spring, pipa spring, bean sprout spring and spray spring. The gurgling spring flows into the moat, and the water in turn replenishes it. Surrounded by rockeries, cloisters, pavilions, trees and flowers, it is also a beautiful natural resort, with attractions open to the public for free all day.

The spring came from a naturally formed cave with a large stone covered with moss. From the outside, it looks dark and dark. In addition, the water gushed from the spring, hit the stone, plus the sound of the wind blowing inside, you can hear the tiger roar, hence the name “black tiger spring”.

Black tiger spring consists of two parts: the head and the pool. The head is located in a natural cave about 3 meters (9.8 feet) deep, 2 meters (6.6 feet) high and 1.7 meters (5.6 feet) wide. Bluestone piles up at the entrance. A blind hole connects the fountain head to the spring pool. After flowing from its source, the water flows through the mountain pass and into the pool through three stone tiger heads, creating waves that can reach more than a meter (3 feet) in length. The spring has a maximum spray capacity of 410,000 cubic meters (1.4 million cubic feet) per day, second only to the baotu spring.

During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the black tiger temple was located above a cave surrounding quantou, although the courtyard now sits in its place. The tea pavilion and terrace also provide a viewing platform for visitors to enjoy the scenery.

From the north side of the pool, you can see a lock where the water flows out and down the rocks, creating a curtain of water. It’s like a waterfall. Pleasant scenery will refresh your mind and body. Sometimes, locals gather around the pond to scoop up the spring, which is also a unique sight.

The beautiful baotou hot spring park is located in the center of jinan, where you can find baotou hot spring. In the past, baotuquan was only 4 mu (about two-thirds of an acre). The park itself was founded in 1956 and has recently expanded to 158 acres (about 26 acres). It is the symbol of jinan city and one of the three tourist attractions in jinan. Baotou hot spring park is a famous tourist attraction and an ideal place to enjoy natural springs, culture and various buildings.

Located in the center of baotuquan park, baotuquan is the best hot spring among the 72 springs in jinan. Since ancient times, many famous poems and essays have been associated with its unique beauty. According to experts, this spring has a history of 3,543 years, dating back to the shang dynasty (16-11 BC). Ji ‘nan special geographical structure created a unique soil – covered spring. The pool is rectangular, about 30 meters from east to west and about 18 meters from north to south. Water pours out of underground limestone caves day and night, sometimes reaching a peak of 240,000 cubic meters a day. When water spurts out of three outlets, the spring makes a thunderous noise and spouts water. Sometimes the water column is as high as 26.49 meters (about 86.9 feet), making it a true spectacle.

The temperature in spring remains at 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 degrees Fahrenheit) throughout the year. In the cold winter, the water mist rises and floats in the pool like clouds. The antique pavilions, colorful pictures and carvings are reflected in the clear water, creating a landscape that is almost a paradise.

Pure water, mellow taste, is the ideal choice for drinking and brewing tea. Tea tasting is the most popular leisure activity here. There is a saying that if you don’t drink the spring water, your trip to jinan will be a damp squib. To the east of spring is the famous wangheting teahouse, where you can recreate the emperors of the past sitting there sipping tea, enjoying the beautiful scenery and enjoying the fun of spring.

What’s more, the traditional and very popular Lantern Festival and chrysanthemum performance are also held in baotou spring park every year, which greatly highlights the cultural significance and importance of this beautiful and impressive attraction. There is no doubt that visitors will be impressed by this unforgettable place.