Harbin adventure to Confucian Temple and Temple of Bliss

Harbin is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population and largest city by metropolitan population (urban and rural together) in Northeast China. Harbin serves as a key political, economic, scientific, cultural and communications hub in Northeast China, as well as an important industrial base of the nation. Harbin is also one of the top 200 science cities and metropolitan areas in the world by scientific research as tracked by the Nature Index. With its often harsh winters, Harbin is heralded as the Ice Cityfor its well-known winter tourism and recreations.Harbin is notable for its ice sculpture festival in the winter. Besides being well known for its historical Russian legacy, the city serves as an important gateway in Sino-Russian trade today. In the 1920s, the city was considered China's fashion capital since new designs from Paris and Moscow reached here first before arriving in Shanghai.The city was voted "China Top Tourist City" by the China National Tourism Administration in 2004.

Harbin Confucius Temple was built in 1926 and completed in 1929. The temple ground occupies an area of 25,000 square meters and its construction area is 5,674 square meters. It is not only the most complete existing old building in Heilongjiang Province, but the largest one of its kind in Northeast China. In 1996, the temple was listed on the key historical sites under state protection. Harbin Confucius Temple is a perfect combination of ancient Chinese garden and architecture. It has 3 beautiful courtyards with many old trees and rare flowers. Its buildings are characterized with very strong Qing Dynasty's architectural style. The main buildings are all located on the axis and other buildings on its sides. They are also symmetrical. The main buildings are covered with glazed yellow tiles which were exclusively used by the royal buildings. As Confucius was worshiped by all emperors, the Confucius Temple was given the privilege of using this color. Building on the sides use green tiles. Small as it is, the temple looks spectacular as the Forbidden City in Beijing, and is nicknamed "the Forbidden City of Harbin".

Jile Temple of Harbin is the biggest Buddhist building complex in Heilongjiang and was constructed between 1921 and 1924. The grounds cover 53 500 square meters and the buildings 5 186 square meters.