Songbei District 松北区

Setting and landscape

The name refers to the district's place on the north bank of the Songhua, and Harbin residents call the north bank Jiangbei (江北), "north of the river"; Jiangbei is the geographical term and Songbei the administrative one. From 1683, under the Qing, the north bank was administered by Hulan (呼兰). On the river flats between the West Sifangtai and Yangmingtan bridges, the Jinhewan Wetland Botanical Garden (金河湾湿地植物园) covers 3.5 square kilometres of floodplain with sand ridges, dunes, ponds and oxbow lakes, a model site for protecting and restoring Harbin's water ecology and a showcase section of the Songhua wetland corridor project.

What to see

Sun Island is a river island between the old and new parts of the city, a national scenic area, national wetland park and national 5A scenic area. Early 20th-century foreign residents who came with the Chinese Eastern Railway built summer villas here. The Songbei government describes the north of the island as a park with small animal and plant gardens and lakes, and the south as art galleries and Russian-style buildings. The entrance is marked by the 150-tonne Sun Stone (太阳石), set up in 2003 and carved with characters written by the calligrapher Zhao Puchu (赵朴初) in 1984.

Harbin Ice and Snow World began on a Songhua sandbar at the end of 1999, built by the city government for the millennium, and later settled on the western part of Sun Island. It is a park of ice and snow sculpture within the China Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival; its ice slide several hundred metres long is one of the most popular attractions, and it hosted the main torch of the 2025 Asian Winter Games.

The Siberian Tiger Park (东北虎林园), next to Sun Island on the north bank, opened in 1996. It covers 1.44 million square metres and keeps more than 800 purebred Siberian tigers of all ages; the district government calls it the world's largest breeding base for the species. Harbin Polarland (哈尔滨极地馆), open since 2006 and a national 4A scenic area, is known for underwater performances by beluga whales.

Highlights

• Sun Island 太阳岛: River island and national 5A scenic area, once a summer villa area for foreign residents.
• Harbin Ice and Snow World 哈尔滨冰雪大世界: Ice and snow sculpture park begun in 1999; main torch site of the 2025 Asian Winter Games.
• Siberian Tiger Park 东北虎林园: Opened in 1996, with more than 800 purebred Siberian tigers.
• Harbin Polarland 哈尔滨极地馆: 4A scenic area open since 2006, known for underwater beluga performances.
• Jinhewan Wetland Botanical Garden 金河湾湿地植物园: 3.5 square kilometres of restored Songhua floodplain wetland.