CHINA 5A TRAVEL
Harbin's free 5A river island — a Songhua wetland garden of squirrels, deer and Russian villas that turns each winter into China's grandest snow-sculpture expo.
Sun Island (太阳岛) is the river island Harbin wears as a garden: 88 km² of flood-plain wetland on the Songhua's north bank, facing Central Street across the water, and Heilongjiang's only member of China's first batch of national 5A scenic areas, rated in 2007. Manchu fishers worked its sands, a Qing naval camp anchored here under the Kangxi Emperor, and after the Chinese Eastern Railway arrived, Russian and European expatriates raised summer villas that still stand among the trees. The scenic area itself dates from 1964, the 1980s song 'On Sun Island' made it a household name across China, and some 6.4 million visits a year confirm it as the city's green heart.
Billed as China's only river flood-plain wetland inside a city center, the island is a 'city garden' in the warm months — and it costs nothing to enter. Sun Lake mirrors the Suzhou-style Water Pavilion Cloud Sky (水阁云天) and its nine-turn bridge; Swan Lake, Sun Falls and the flower gardens layer view upon view; boardwalks thread the reed beds and wild lotus of the Outer Beach wetland, where herons and cranes pass through. Squirrel Island's tame residents beg for pine nuts, sika deer roam the free Deer Park — 'Northeast China's little Nara' — and twenty-some crayon-bright Russian log houses make up the Russian Style Town. Picnic culture rules the meadows: locals spread mats and tents in the woods with dipping-sauce veggies, red sausage and beer.
Each winter the island flips its script. Snow sculpture as an art form was born here in 1988, and the Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo (雪博会) has grown into China's oldest and largest snow park — the 38th edition (late Dec 2025 to early Mar 2026) spread 1.5 million m² with 260-plus sculptures carved from some 120,000 m³ of snow, headlined by a 'Thumbs-Up for China' 100 m long. Snow art is daylight art — white forms under blue skies — the perfect daytime twin to the night-lit Ice and Snow World across the way; one ¥198 ticket covers the sculptures, the snow slides and the Panda House.
Highlights
Snow Sculpture Expo
Winter's headline: 260-plus white sculptures, giant slides and snow play across seven themed zones — China's oldest snow-art park, born on this island in 1988.
Squirrel Island
Three wooded islets linked by boardwalks where tame squirrels trade pine nuts for your attention — the ¥28 ticket includes a bag of feed, and the glass fence is sized to their longest jump.
Deer Park
Sika deer roaming free around a small lake — buy a ¥10 cup of feed and Harbin's 'little Nara' is yours. Entry is free.
Russian Style Town
Restored expatriate-era log houses in bright colors — matryoshka-painting workshops, Russian folk shows and an afternoon of border-town nostalgia.
Sun Lake & Water Pavilion Cloud Sky
The classic landscape core: pedal boats, a nine-turn bridge, a 1980 Suzhou-style pavilion mirrored in the water, and the long cascade of Sun Falls.
Panda House
Giant pandas Cheese (芝士) and Sesame (芝麻), at home near the west dike since 2025 — ¥49 in summer, included with the Snow Expo ticket in winter.
Photo Gallery
Comments