Travel to the charming snow town in northern China to experience the beauty and romance of winter. In addition to the legendary freezing ground, there are also wonders, entertainment and endless joy in the snow.
Go to Snow Town in China
One winter my husband and I decided to travel to Snow Town, a village called Xuexiang in Chinese in northern China. Snow Town has snow season for 7 months of the year. The weather is very cold and it snows frequently.
The snow accumulation can reach up 2 meters, and the scenery is spectacular. Many movies have been shot in Snow Town. For example, the famous Hong Kong kung fu film director Tsui Hark shot the movie ‘Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D’ in Snow Town.
China Snow Town is a small village located in the Xuexiang National Forest Park, Heilongjiang. Snow Town is a hotspot for winter tourism in China.
Generally, people who come to Snow Town will first come to Harbin, the provincial capital of Heilongjiang, and set off from here to Snow Town. The nearest big city to Snow Town is Mudanjiang, the third largest city in Heilongjiang. Snow Town is 74 kilometers away from Mudanjiang.
Since the road to Snow Town may be covered with snow most of the year, the driving skills of the driver are very demanding, so we decided to go with a travel agency.
On the way to Snow Town, most people on the bus were very happy. Adults were as happy as children while looking forward to seeing the snow.
Arrive in Snow Town
Activities in Snow Town
After arriving in Snow Town, the travel agency arranged some snow sports, such as snowmobiling, which is more exciting one. Riding on a huge snowmobile on a vast white snow is thrilling and exciting.
I imagined a lot of kids crying due to the cold and not having much entertainment. In reality, it was indeed the opposite situation.
There were many families who bring their children to Snow Town, but I didn’t see any children crying.
The children seemed to be enchanted by the snow, either happily building snowmen, having snowball fights, or enjoying ice slides, quietly playing with children’s sleds, and digging holes in the snow. Snow is a magical natural landscape.
Snow brings people a feeling of romance, purity, and flawless whiteness. The endless white seemed to mesmerize the children.
There are also many kinds of entertainment for adults in the snow. Skiing is naturally indispensable.
Other activities are also very attractive such as sledding, sledges, and ice slides. Two women even brought mink coats, which they put in the snow to wash.
Hiking in the woods of Snow Town is a very exciting activity, but it should be noted that there are streams in the woods, and the nearby ice and snow are soft.
This means that you may accidentally step on them, leading to danger when walking near the streams. So, we followed the guide all the way in the woods of Snow Town.
Wooden houses
The scenery of Snow Town is unique. There are many wooden houses in Snow Town. Because the wind in Snow Town is very strong, the snow on the roofs will be blown into rounded arcs.
These ingenious works of art decorate the farmhouses in Snow Town in a unique way.
Villagers from Snow town partially rely on the nearby forest for food and other resources. They need to store some birds and fruits from forest to survive the whole winter for their own sustainability. That’s why they hunt pheasants and collect berries from the forest.
Some pheasants from hunting, peppers, corn and lamps are hung under the roofs of these wooden houses.
Some homeowners raise rabbits in their yards. The white rabbit blends into the white snow. From a distance, there are only two rabbit ears on the snow, which looks very funny.
Kang
Kang is a kind of bed unique to northern China and Mongolia. We can interpret Kang as a special multi-functional bed. In order to withstand the long and cold winter, smart northern villagers invented the Kang for warmth.
The length of the kang is often the same as the length of the house, and the bottom of the kang is connected to the kitchen stove.
In this way, when burning firewood for cooking in the kitchen, the heat will be transferred to the Kang, and the room will be warmed by the large heater called the Kang.
During the day, people would sit on the warm kang to chat, eat, drink tea, play chess, and cards. At night, the kang functioned as a bed.
Although modern rural areas no longer use firewood for cooking, the concept and tradition of Kang have been preserved. The modern kang is heated by electricity.
Of course, the bottom of the Kang is no longer connected to the kitchen stove. The entertainment, sleeping, and heating functions of the Kang still continue in the lives of rural people in Snow Town.
The charm of snow
Many people don’t like rain but like snow very much. When it rains, the sky is often dark, and the feeling of rain hitting your body is even worse, but when it snows, it is a completely different feeling. Standing in the snow, watching the snowflakes falling in the wind, it feels poetic and picturesque.
In the weather with heavy snow, wearing gloves to catch snowflakes is like getting a gift from heaven. If you look carefully, you will find that each snowflake has a slightly different shape. The details of the snowflakes are so exquisite and crystal clear.
When you come to the world of snow, you will feel like your body and mind have been purified, and the complex world seems to suddenly become quiet. The tranquil and profound feeling that snow brings to people is incomparable by many other natural landscapes.
Author: Hua
