These controversial urinals, depicting kneeling Japanese soldiers with their mouths open wide, were recently snapped and posted on Weibo. Located in a Harbin hotel, they have been dubbed 靖国神厕, a reference to the Yasukuni Shrine in Japan. more ›

The Harbin ice sculpture festival may soon be over but artists from the city are already in Jerusalem, Israel, creating "The City of Ice", a 1500 square meter exhibit of giant ice sculptures. They're also set to bring a touch of winter to the otherwise tropical Thailand and Macau. more ›

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This isn't new, but it's funny. Due to all the emergency hammer theft, a few years ago Harbin outfitted all its buses with emergency bricks instead. As always, China finding the simple solution to a simple problem. more ›

In a story that will surely enrage penguin fundamentalists everywhere, two gay penguins at the Harbin Polar Land have become adoptive parents. When a female penguin hatched twin chicks on November 28, the park staff decided to give one of the little guys to a gay penguin couple who, get this, are notorious for trying to steal eggs from the straight penguins! more ›

Last month a rare Siberian tiger was found dead in Heilongjiang, and this month another has been caught on film in the same region. more ›

Three days ago, there was a small blip in the news regarding excited wild life enthusiasts spotting a rare Siberian tiger. Today, a Siberian tiger, possibly the same one, was found dead only 5 days after the initial sighting. more ›

Explosions are certainly at the forefront of today's news. Wednesday night six buses and a truck were destroyed when as many as 16 liquid petroleum gas tanks exploded at a refueling station in Harbin. No fatalities resulted from the blasts, which are said to have been caused by the refueling ineptitude of one of the local bus operators. more ›

Visitors to Harbin's International Ice and Snow Festival strip down to their bathing suits and swim in the icy waters, believing this is good for health: more ›

120,000 cubic meters of snow and 160,000 cubic meters of ice cut in massive translucent blocks from the Songhua River. That's what it takes to put together the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, now in its 26th year.
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So while China didn't qualify for the World Cup at all, it did manage to win the Robot World Cup in Harbin, also known as the International Humanoid Robot Olympic Games. more ›

More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here). more ›

Just five years after entering their first world championships, the Chinese women's curling team defeated Switzerland, 12-6, to take the bronze medal at 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. The Chinese team, led by skip (aka captain) Wang Bingyu (王冰玉), earned China's first Olympic medal in the sport of curling. The team was unable to reach the gold medal match after a devastating loss in the semifinals to Sweden, 9-4. more ›

As someone once said, “Sex is like snow, you never know how many inches you're going to get or how long it will last”. So while our snow ended kinda prematurely yesterday, we can only look on with envy at the many many inches everyone else is getting (we're looking at you, Harbin!). For a start, check out this mass wedding in Harbin that will totally give the Moonies a run for their money! Catch the lone (relatively underdressed) midget without a bride at 0:24 (everybody say awwwwww!) more ›

This weekend, Shanghaiist Junior Editor Cary Hooper braves the winter elements to bring you coverage of the world famous Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival. While he's at it, he's going to do his best to slip and slide all over the ice covered city in hopes of finding the perfect tipping point between Harbin Beer-drunk and death from hypothermia, and maybe even a few cultural points of interest. Sponsored by the lovely folks over at Ctrip, the easiest way to find the best fares in China. more ›

This weekend, Shanghaiist Junior Editor Cary Hooper braves the winter elements to bring you coverage of the world famous Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival. While he's at it, he's going to do his best to slip and slide all over the ice covered city in hopes of finding the perfect tipping point between Harbin Beer-drunk and death from hypothermia, and maybe even a few cultural points of interest. Sponsored by the lovely folks over at Ctrip, the easiest way to find the best fares in China. more ›

This weekend, Shanghaiist Junior Editor Cary Hooper braves the winter elements to bring you coverage of the world famous Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival. While he's at it, he's going to do his best to slip and slide all over the ice covered city in hopes of finding the perfect tipping point between Harbin Beer-drunk and death from hypothermia, and maybe even a few cultural points of interest. Sponsored by the lovely folks over at Ctrip, the easiest way to find the best fares in China. more ›

It's a cold time to be in northern China: the weather has been plummeting for days, covering the north with blankets of snow and bitter temperatures, and causing delays and power rationing in what's shaping up to be one of the worst winters on record. Just the thought of such extreme weather sends most people shivering to their closets for extra layers: I, on the other hand, am packed and ready to go up into the wintry maw of Harbin for a fun and frigid romp through the annual Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival! more ›

Sure, you could stay past closing time in Harbin Ice and Snow World, evade security and sleep in a giant ice castle, but we hear the breakfast really sucks, Wi-Fi is spotty and a block of Songhua River ice is even harder than the mattress in your average Chinese 2 star hotel. A better solution? Book a cozy 4 or 5 star Harbin hotels starting at CNY 233/night! Check out Ctrip’s Harbin hotel deals for details. more ›

As a new year and a bitter cold descend on us, our focus turns away from the miseries of poor indoor heating and bad circulation to the more positive aspects of the elements: the wonderful world of winter activities. With the 2010 Winter Olympics only a month away, we've been pretty excited about most things ice related, but the thing that excites us most is the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, which starts today and ends in exactly one month. more ›

China’s biggest winter festival is just a short flight away, but with the Harbin Ice Festival on from January 5 to February 5, don’t delay. Book while the booking’s good to save on airfare to China’s hottest subzero winter destination. All the cool kids will be there! Check out Ctrip’s Harbin flight deals today. more ›

Baby pandas usually get the lion's share of the attention, but did you know China had a serious Siberian tiger breeding program in place as well? A center located to the northwest of Harbin, in Heilongjiang, has been working on churning out tiger cubs since 1986. more ›

Los Angeles Sol signs Chinese player more ›

And while you're visiting the ice festival in Harbin, why not consider taking a dip into the chilly river with these guys? This video sure makes swimming along to Chinese techno music look fun! more ›

If you are stumped for things to do for Chinese New Year and the thought of Siberian-like cold and a hot bowl of borscht seem more appealing then the beaches of Boracay, perhaps Harbin is a city you might consider visiting. Harbin's annual ice and sculpture festival started this week and runs until the end of February, weather permitting. more ›

Zookeepers at Polar Land in Harbin, China have observed a pair of gay penguins trying to dupe other straight penguins by placing stones in front of them before waddling away with their eggs thinking no one was watching. Eventually, the straight penguins realised what their gay friends have been up to and started to actively ostracise them from their social club. Keepers had to intervene by segregating the pair of three-year-old male penguins (how cruel!) "to avoid disrupting the rest of the community during the hatching season". The odd behaviour of the gay penguins has been explained as being a manifestation of the strong paternal instinct of male penguins that exists irrespective of sexual orientation. more ›

Warning: Video contains some disturbing images. more ›

Here's an English news link:

CHINESE police have rescued 33 intellectually disabled people forced to work at a building site by slave labour merchants after the apparent suicide of a detainee alerted authorities.