Christmas in Harbin 
Roaming around the stone-paved street is like touching and feeling the heart of the city鈥攖hrobbing with vibrancy and the holiday spirit.
That鈥檚 what is amazing about street鈥攁lways the same, never the same鈥 Is it possible for a passing- through tourist to understand? I guess only when you learn to stop being a passing through tourist and start standing still for some time鈥
With a history of 100 years, the central boulevard presents a cornucopia of architectural styles evolved over the past centuries in the west. At the turn of the 20th century, in the thrill of new time and new life, booming Harbin encouraged various western architectural styles. Plagiarisms may be hard to avoid at first, but gradually it developed into a style of its own. Like the short-lived Art Nouveau movement in the west survived here in Harbin for over half a century and became one of its own main architectural style.
Modern Hotel was the first and most prestigious hotel in old glamorous Harbin, today it is merely known as 鈥渢he oldest one鈥 The heyday of the hotel may be long gone, amusingly its sidewalk ice cream bar survived the day, still a popular spot among the locals.
The only change is that the glamorous spot to be seen turned into a quick stop for the locals secretly indulging themselves some real ice cream and yogurt錛宎 break from the army of tourists outside.
I have to marvel local鈥檚 attitude towards the weather. If walking in downtown in minus 30 degree is not enough, just stop by Modern caf茅 and have a frozen yogurt, if it doesn鈥檛 crunch enough in the mouth, just top it with an ice cream鈥 All good? Head out for more ice and snow!
Christmas is not an official holiday in China, The new China welcome the concept of having a 鈥渕erry Christmas鈥 like paying a happy meal in Macdonald鈥檚. It is 鈥渆xotic鈥 and the label comes with joy, so why not. Beside, who doesn鈥檛 like the idea of old beard man giving out presents?
These Santa鈥檚 are more of mummies dreams than children鈥檚. The presents are holiday coupons and sale flyers, if you ever believe in saving money is the same as making money, it is not a bad present after all.
I found it quite interesting in such a heavily Russian influenced city. So few locals celebrate Christmas according to Julian Calendar on the 7th of January in Russian tradition. At the second thought, it is not that strange after all. Just like most parts of the world today, Religious meaning is merely a backdrop of the holiday, as a church to a city. Today, it stands more as a city鈥檚 monument than the house of the god.
