The "Culture City of East Asia" program was created based on an agreement reached at a meeting of ministers of culture from Japan, China, and Korea. Every year, one city in each country is selected from among cities that are aiming to develop their ties through culture and the arts. And this time, northeast China's Harbin has grabbed the title.

A little over a century ago, Harbin was a collection of small villages. That all changed when Russia was granted the right to build a railway across China's northeast. By the early 20th century, Harbin was a veritable "Moscow of the East" where Russian citizens outnumbered the locals. Today, this unique history is still visible in the city's well-maintained district. like the cobblestone-clad central avenue painted in pastel colors. The architecture along the avenue is reminiscent of Moscow’s imperial era edifices.

And a visit to St. Sophia's Cathedral is a must for the tourists. Its green onion domes and gold crosses could have been lifted straight out of Moscow. The church was originally built in 1907 after the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway. It was then renovated and enlarged to its current red brick form in 1932. The Cathedral now stands as the largest Eastern Orthodox church in Asia outside of Russia.

But there’s more to Harbin than just its history. The city is well known for its ice and snow festival each winter. Obviously, you don't expect to see ice and snow at this time of the year. So the locals have come up with the idea of building ice sculptures indoors so that people can enjoy themselves with the ice fountains, giant ice colonnades, and ice slide all year round.

Finally, as the award winner, Harbin is encouraged to enhance its cultural development through communication and cooperation with other cities in the program. These cities will act as models for cultural relic preservation and urban infrastructure development, which in turn will benefit the region and the people.