Harbin Urban Planning Exhibition Hall

A city-planning scale model + 4D film (the “Ice City, Summer Capital” positioning exhibition). The Harbin Urban Planning Exhibition Hall's calling card is a giant city scale model: at a glance you see how Harbin stretches in a band along the Songhua River, with the planning threads of the European-style old town, the modern new districts and the wetland ecological zone easy to make out. The 4D film unfolds around the city's “Ice City, Summer Capital” positioning, with motion seats plus wind and snow effects making Harbin's two-sided character — ice and snow in winter, a summer retreat in summer — feel vividly immersive. The hall also has a recreation of an old Harbin street and a metro planning zone; after the exhibition, walking Central Street and Laodaowai (the old Chinese quarter) gives you that clear feeling of “having understood this city”. Free entry with few visitors, on Youyi Road and combinable with China Eastern Railway Park — a good rest stop on a rainy day or before a long walk.

Getting there: Youyi Road