Worth Freezing For

Shenyang: A scene from a movie

5.30am. January in Benxi City. Outside it is -15°C. The air is murky with the burning of coal. The city slumbers. My mobile phone SHOUTS through my sleep. My friend is calling me.

“Are you up yet ?” He asks cheerfully.
“Mmmmmphh. Grrrrrrr!” I growl…

My rucksack is already waiting, packed last night and half an hour later I’m closing the door, with a cushioned thud, of a deluxe black Honda. Determined to see me off in style, my friend has borrowed a plush company car and driver for the hour’s journey into Shenyang. I’m grateful.

We arrive in Shenyang with the start of the rush hour traffic. The roads are nothing but cars in stop-start lines of fumes and hazy headlights. Into the turbulence of this city morning, the sun rises like a mirage, shimmering and heatless. I open the window, the icy air rushes in. The morning looks like a scene from a movie. I take a picture.

Jilin: I can hear the rich bells

A while later and I am on the train heading for Jilin, an unremarkable city for most of the year that comes into its own for a couple of months during winter. I am heading northeast, fascinated as the water on the inside of the window freezes. The train is warm and comfortable though and I’m reluctant to get off as we pull into sunnily cold Jilin.

Jilin is a small city in area but manages to boast a population of over 4 million. I wander through the uneven streets, past meat and vegetable markets and after an hour, finding myself completely lost and with the cold beginning to creep into my hands and feet, I decide to take a taxi to my hotel.

Taxi drivers stare blankly at my pronunciation of the hotel’s name and just as blankly at the Chinese characters I’ve carefully written. My map provokes much conversation (though how much is related to getting me to my hotel is debatable) and by this time a group of drivers and assorted hangers on are gathering. I thank them, grab my map and move on.

It was another hour later, in a tiny rickshaw driven by a kind woman who called me her “外国朋友” that I got to my hotel, booked in and sank down in the warmth of my room.

The windows are frozen shut and I can’t see beyond the darkening evening but I know I am only 5 minutes walk from the Songhua River (松花江) and I can hear the rich bells of the Tianzhu Catholic Church (天主教堂) spelling out the hours. I am excited. Tomorrow I will experience a phenomenon unique to Jilin in winter: the WuSong (雾松).

The Wusong: Great square ghosts

6.30am – my room dark and chilled. I put on the following clothing: two pairs of thermal long johns, woollen leggings, trousers, two thermal tops, a t-shirt, a fleece, my winter coat, gloves, a scarf, a hat and my fur-lined boots. I scamper down the deserted hotel stairs like a child at Christmas looking for presents and out into the stiff cold of morning.

Whilst I have been sleeping ingredients have been mixing to make the phenomenon for which Jilin is famous. The nearby hydroelectric power station pumps warm water into the Songhua River. This prevents the Songhua River from freezing and creates steam. Overnight, the temperature drops around -25°C, this air hits the steaming vapour from the river and a kind of frosty fog develops: the Wusong.

I make my way east along the river. The air is filled with vapour that freezes instantly on touching me, turning my hair and clothes white.

The light is dim and thick with fog and visibility is limited as I make my way down to the river. The dense cold has done its best to try and freeze the water but has failed. Only at the edges are there floating sheets of ice that crackle and break loose; flat icebergs snapping angrily in the silence.

Ducks and their ducklings are playing in the steaming pools and icy fragments.

Looking up I see the sun emerging, red and heatless, a single flame in a world of fog. From out of the murk buildings appear momentarily like great square ghosts, the colours of the sun gleaming on the glass windows. Everything is insubstantial.

My glasses are freezing. My scarf and coat are white with frost. A woman with a dog walks past me; her black hair and her dog as white as if they were made from snow.

The Wusong: Worth freezing for

Will the light of morning never arrive…it seems frozen in time. I walk past sculptures that seem increasingly incongruous: a larger-than-life couple, a huge black cube and eventually a display of military guns, planes and a tank.

A group of elderly Chinese are practising Tai Chi oblivious to the cold.

Eventually, light prevails and the Wusong is given a new aspect. The city is blue and white, so pristine and crisp that I feel a single footstep, wrongly placed, might shatter it. The trees are covered with glassy filaments that hang in their uncountable thousands like miniature icicles.

I am walking in a city rendered in white; a city as still as a painting of itself, infinitely detailed and fragile. The city of Jilin, this January morning, nearly turns me to stone but it is an experience I will never forget, an experience worth freezing for.

Jiangnan Park: Azaleas gleam

I return to my hotel to thaw out with breakfast. It’s not warm enough for me to remove anything other than my coat and the heat of the rice porridge is delicious. I hold a steaming cup of green tea in my hands, the warmth is so welcome I want to hug it.

Sufficiently warmed, I head out again to explore the city. Wandering around in this weather is not for the faint-hearted and I’m envious of the hardy, resilient “Jilinren” who walk and work the ferocious winter streets.

I head for the nearby Jiangnan Gongyuan (江南公园). It is a small park located behind Century Square （世纪广场). I imagine in the summer that both places are popular hangouts, but this day they are deserted. Century Square houses a great building that looks as though it has been built from children’s building bricks. It’s a strange and simplistic design, deliberately perhaps in white and glass, feeling glacial in the wintery city.

For a moment I think the park is closed, but I see movement near the entrance and a lone woman sells me a ticket for 3RMB. The park is almost empty. A group of men are carving bricks of ice into sculptures and I watch for a while. One man is carving a table and chairs and tells me it will take him a day to finish it. When I leave, later, there is an ice plate on the table with an ice fish in it!

I stroll in the park and discover, through a broken stone gateway, an old brick and glass greenhouse. Heavy plastic strips, typical of the northeast, hang in the doorway to keep out the cold. Inside it’s HOT enough to enable a jungle-like atmosphere: treeferns, palms, cycads, rubber plants and the bright flowers of Azaleas gleam in rich contrast to the colourless city.

Stepping back out into the bitterness of winter is initially refreshing but soon leaves me hungering for the tropical paradise of the greenhouse. I pass a dovecote and come across a tiger, solitary, in a tiny cage just a few metres square. The tiger’s lethargy is such it doesn’t even meet my gaze. I pity it. It is as lifeless as the big wheel that stands, stationary, behind it.

Beishan Park: Where children are ice-skating

I spend the afternoon in Beishan Park (北山公园) which is one of the biggest parks in Jilin. At the entrance a man tries to get me to have my picture taken with his camel and another tries to get me to ride on a sled pulled either by Alsatians or reindeer.

There is a frozen lake where children are ice-skating. A railway track bisects the park. I climb up through the snowy woodland to one of the temples only to find there is a further admission charge to ascend it, I decline and admire the ample views of the city from the top of the hill.

At the back of the park is a ski-slope. I didn’t see anyone skiing but there were many families, complete with huge black rubber rings and buzzing with laughter, sliding down various icy slides.

Evening and dropping temperatures force me back to my hotel and by chance I come across an inviting looking bar near the river. There’s a guy playing a guitar; the music is soft and a little sad. There are a few customers talking quietly. I settle down in a booth, order beer and food, and forget about the cold for a while.

Songhua Hu: Rows of boats cast in ice

The next day I meet a friend of mine who lives in Jilin. He takes me out to Songhua Hu (松花湖) which is a vast reservoir, surrounded by hills and a very popular resort during the summer months. In the winter it is empty, save for the rows of boats cast in ice and a lone fisherman. The fisherman has (somehow!) created a hole in the solid ice and is happy to show us his catch of 5 or so fish: I wonder if they are gasping for lack of air or for the cold.

The fisherman works on the boats and asks us if we want to have a look around. I’m eager for the chance to walk on a boat frozen in the ice, it feels strange and the decks are slippery. We walk for a while on the reservoir, the ice is thick from two months of sub-zero temperatures and won’t thaw out for months. The hills all around are white with snow. I love the barren beauty of it.

It’s not long however before the sheer cold forces us to retreat and we make our way to one of the best restaurants in Jilin. It is my friend’s second choice after I admit that I don’t eat dog, but the food and the atmosphere is superb. The manager tells me that they cater for around 7000 guests every week and the restaurant itself seats over 500 at a time.

We are given a private room on the balcony and enjoy a fabulous lunch including their speciality, pigeon, as well as tofu, mushrooms, pork, sweet potatoes and fish. The entire afternoon is spent eating and drinking in warm splendour whilst outside the city slowly freezes.

Jilin: Heading for somewhere even colder

6.30am. January in Jilin City. Outside it is -20°C. The city slumbers. The Wusong weaves its magic. My mobile phone alarm SHOUTS through my sleep.

There is a power cut. My room is freezing and dark. I have to force myself out of bed.

My rucksack is already waiting, packed last night and it’s time to be on my way again. Half an hour later and I’m slamming the door of a taxi and on my way to the train station. I take my seat next to the familiar icy window and bid a fond farewell to Jilin: a city where coldness is the source of unexpected beauty that leaves me with only warm memories.

This time I’m heading for somewhere even colder, the icily famous Harbin, but that’s another story.

Information (January 2006)

Getting There

From: Shenyang (沈阳) to Jilin (吉林)
By: Train
Time: 5 hours


Jilin City Accommodation

Tianshi Binguan (Angel Hotel, 天使宾馆)
Address: 2 Nanjing Jie, Jilin City
Twin room, ensuite, heating, simple breakfast included: 120RMB per night


Attractions Information

The Wusong appears nearly every day during the very cold winter months, mid-January to mid-February are the best times to see it. You will need to get up early to appreciate the full beauty of it. Between 7am – 10am is best as before 7am it is dark and after 10am the sun melts a lot of the ice. Walk east along the river for the best views.

Jiangnan Gonyuan is located south of the river behind Century Square. An ice carving festival is held there during the Spring Festival week, but it is much smaller than that of Harbin. The entrance fee is 3RMB.

Beishan Gongyuan can be reached by taking the number 42 bus.
The entrance fee is 5RMB.

NOTE: The temperatures in January when I was there were between a high of -15°C and a low of -26°C. Warm clothes are essential.