The Sun Island Park (Taiyang Dao) consists of one big island and some smaller islands in the Songhua River, which meander through the north of Harbin.

This natural island is the biggest recreational center in Harbin and as such can be highly popular in the summer months and during the ice festival.

The island covers a total area of 3,800 hectares of leisure resources, including the interesting Siberian Tiger Park.

In summer, the island serves as a natural river beach swimming resort and sanatorium area. The island boasts several fine beaches on either bank, a profusion of lakes for boating, swimming pools, sunbathing facilities, a fairground, a water world and an arms museum, to name but a few. The middle and northern part of the island is composed of mainly forested areas and a large garden. Various different styled recreational buildings were built around the "Sun Lake" and the "Lotus Pond". With hidden paths winding throughout, the park is a nice area to stroll and try to get away from the crowds, lushly vegetated with trees and flowers. Barbecues and picnics can also be arranged in one of the meadows here.

During wintertime, when the island is gracefully covered with snow, the Sun Island is used as the playground for various winter sports. Skiing, Hockey, Ice-skating, and Sledding games are all organized here. More importantly, the renowned annual Snow Carving Festival is held here.

The Park also contains the Siberian Tiger Park at its northern tip, a good, but sometimes a little gruesome, way to see these rapidly dwindling species. There are apparently over twenty of these beautiful and powerful beasts here, being bred in the hope of being returned to the wild. If you are lucky, you may get to see a feeding session, where little hopping rabbits, live clucking chickens, prancing deer and fatty calves are "captured" and devoured. This is certainly not for the faint hearted. The park can be reached by either a 20 minute bus/minibus ride from the pier (RMB40) or a taxi from the north, over the Song Wan Jeung Gong Road Bridge (Song wan jeung gonglu daqiao).

(Photo: baidu.com)