Walking in a winter wonderland

One of the many buildings at the Volga Manor Park in Harbin. Harbin, whose name is said to originate from a Manchu word that means "a place for drying fishing nets", sprung up from a small rural settlement along the Songhua River to become one of the largest cities in Northeast China and capital of Heilongjiang province. Though these festivals may be the highlight of any trip to Harbin, the city still has much more to offer, from its traditional European-style architecture to its more modern buildings, such as the Harbin Grand Theatre and arguably the city's most famous landmark, the Saint Sophia Cathedral, built in 1907. The unique cuisine, including Harbin-style smoky-savory red sausage, guo bao rou, or sweet-and-sour pork and kvass, a fermented cereal-based drink, can all be sampled along Zhongyang Street with its baroque and Byzantine facades. Volga Manor, situated outside the suburbs of Harbin, is a 600,000-square-meter homage to the city's Russian influences, with 30 buildings and a replica ship constructed on the site since 2007.