China in Winter

Afternoon and evening. Pick-up at the airport and transfer to Dongcheng. Handover of the winter kit — hand warmers, lip balm, inner gloves — and a check of what is still missing. Meal. Light noodle soup dinner at a restaurant near the hotel.

The first night serves two purposes: sleeping early and getting the equipment right. We go through with the guide what is missing — inner gloves, a hat that covers the ears, wool socks, thermal insoles — and settle what to rent in Harbin, where hiring coat, boots and gloves costs around 200 to 300 yuan a day and avoids buying something that will be of no use anywhere else.

Meals: dinner.

Morning. Departure at 6:30 for Mutianyu. By 7:30 the Wall is white, empty of visitors, with the valleys full of fog. The cold hurts less because of the effort of the climb. Afternoon. Hot farmhouse lunch and back to Beijing.

You climb for less time than in May, and the effort of the climb makes up for the cold — the most common mistake is wearing too much, sweating on the first slope and then freezing on the way down. You wear layers and take them off one at a time. Gloves are compulsory: without them you cannot hold the stone parapet for more than twenty seconds. Evening. Peking duck dinner, with the reservation made by us.

Meals: breakfast and dinner.

Morning. Entry to the Forbidden City at 8:30. In January there are no crowds: you can be in entire courtyards with only your group and the staff.

The winter visit is shorter than the summer one, and for good reason: after two hours outdoors with no heated shelter along the way, the will to carry on drops sharply. The imperial axis is programmed from one end to the other and the side courtyards are left for a faster second pass. Afternoon. Jingshan Park for the view over the snowed roofs, late lunch of zhajiangmian, and a walk through the hutongs at the end of the day. Evening. Dinner at leisure. We suggest the Niujie district, where skewers taste better in the cold.

Meals: breakfast and lunch.

Morning. Temple of Heaven at 8am. Winter is when the contrast between the cold stone and the locals practising tai chi in thick coats shows best. Afternoon. Beijing–Harbin train, 4h30 to 7h in first class, crossing the Manchurian plain with snow already on it.

It is one of the finest train journeys in the country and it is done in a reserved seat, with strong heating on board and power sockets. The thickest clothing belongs in hand luggage, not in the boot of the car: on arrival in Harbin, anything left inside the vehicle goes cold in ten minutes. Evening. Arrival, check in near Central Street, and a first short fifteen-minute walk to test the equipment.

Meals: breakfast and dinner.

Morning. Central Street in the morning: the 1898 cobblestones, Russian bakeries and ice cream sold on the street at minus 20 degrees. St Sophia Cathedral. Afternoon. Stalin Park and the Provincial Museum, both heated and almost without visitors. Lunch of guo bao rou, the sweet and sour fried pork of Russian origin.

Harbin owes its name and its plan to the Russians who built the Trans-Manchurian Railway at the end of the nineteenth century, and the city has never lost that inheritance: bakeries selling rye bread, ice cream sold on the street at minus 20 degrees, and yellow brick buildings that look as if they came from another latitude. It is also here that you eat better than in any other city in the north. Evening. Dinner of pork dumplings in cabbage broth, and preparation for the following night.

Meals: breakfast and lunch.

Morning. Free morning to sort out the equipment and rest. Technical briefing on cold-weather photography: batteries kept against the body, fast lens changes inside a closed bag, condensation to be avoided. Afternoon. Entry to the International Ice and Snow Festival site at 16:30, when the lights come on. Full-size sculptures of palaces and temples, lit from within.

The site opens late in the afternoon on purpose: the sculptures are made from blocks of ice taken from the Songhua River, with light tubes running through them, and only after dusk do they acquire the relief that justifies the trip. The first two or three hours after opening are the best, because the cold has not yet made itself felt and the trodden snow has not yet turned to a mirror.

Evening. Hot dinner at a restaurant beside the site. For anyone who wants it, a second entry to the festival at their own expense.

Meals: breakfast and dinner.

Morning. One last pass along Central Street by day, to photograph it without crowds. Afternoon. Harbin–Shanghai flight, about three hours. Check in at Jing’an and free time.

The move from Harbin to Shanghai is the thermal contrast of the tour: in a few hours you go from minus 20 degrees to a humid city of mild winter, where the plane trees still have leaves on them. It also serves as compensation for anyone who has spent six days sleeping in a coat indoors.

Evening. Farewell dinner of Shanghai cooking: xiaolongbao and braised pork belly. A guaranteed thermal contrast with the previous day.

Meals: breakfast and dinner.

Morning. The Bund at dawn, a last walk and final shopping. Private transfer to Pudong airport three hours before the flight.

Anyone with more days can extend to Hangzhou and Suzhou, where winter is short and the gardens are clear of people. To come back within the same year, this tour combines well with a route through the south, made between March and April.

Meals: breakfast.