China in the Winter

Most people would recommend checking out China during the spring and fall months. However, in the winter, China can be a great place to be too.

In the most southern tip of China lies city called Sanya. It is roughly on the same latitude as the island of Hawaii which means warm weather all year around. This beautiful island city also known as the "Hawaii of the East" is number 2 on the top 10 places Chinese people like to vacation in China (click here for the complete list). In recent years, Sanya has attracted many tourists around the world and numerous hotel chains to develop resort properties there. It even played host to several Miss World competitions. In Sanya it is not just about the white sandy beaches, there are also plenty of culture sites like the Nansan Temple, Guan Yi Statue and etc.

Now moving to the north of China, a city called Harbin is worth visiting in the winter despite the cold and snow. Often referred to as "Ice City", Harbin is the capital city of Heilongjiang Province located in the northeast of China. The city is the host of one of the world's four largest ice and snow festivals: Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival. It starts on January 5th of every year. The festival features larger than life ice and snow sculptures of famous people, landmarks and scenery. In 2007, the Canadian themed festival featured the largest snow sculpture ever made depicting Niagara Falls and Crossing the Bering Strait was 250 meters long, 8 meters high and used over 10,000 cubic meters of snow. For more awesome pictures of the festival click here.

FYI: The other three festivals are Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada's Quebec City Winter Carnival and Norway's Ski Festival.