China's North Pole Village: a rare summer and winter wonderland
An aerial view Beijing Village, or North Pole Village. It is China's northernmost village in Mohe County, Heilongjiang Province.
Beiji Village offers families looking for some quality time together a real blast in the serenity and peace of a snow-covered world.
Beiji Village, or North Pole Village, is a small town in China’s northernmost county of Mohe, Heilongjiang Province.
Separated from neighboring Russia by only a river, the village is one of the coldest places in China, where the lowest temperature ever recorded reached minus 52.3 degrees Celsius.
Flights to Beiji Village are available almost all year round except on days of extreme icy weather.
The village is an ideal destination for tourists who would like to see cool, rare natural phenomena like the polar lights and the solar halo. On the Summer Solstice, it is the only place in Asia to experience Polar Day when the sun will be visible for 22 hours a day.
It offers everything from beautiful mountains and clear water in summer to gorgeous snow scenery in winter. Families looking to spend quality time together during the winter holidays can have a blast in the serenity and peace of a snow-covered world.
By splashing water into the air, a tourist has created a "snow firework" at dusk as the temperatures drop deeper.
There’s a lot to explore outdoors in addition to the beautiful slopes for sports like skiing and ice skating.
For those who want to have some simple fun activities especially for children, merely stepping outside will enable them to enjoy a show of “snow fireworks” by splashing water into the air.
Inside, the quintessential family inns and chic hotels provide an incomparable feeling of warmth and relief, especially when all other sounds are hushed by the heavy snowfalls.
With the vigorous development of local tourism, the post office in Beiji Village, dubbed the northernmost post service in the country, has also expanded its functions to include printing photos and making personalized postcards.
Founded in 1953, the Beiji Village Post Office is one of the area's oldest buildings. The mailbox outside the front gate reads "China's northernmost post office."
Postcards featuring Beiji Village on sale at the post office
Tourists gather at the post office of Beiji Village to design and make their own postcards to friends and families back home.
Two men show off the postcards they have made from the photos taken during their stay at Beiji Village.
Founded in 1953, the Beiji Village Post Office is one of the area’s oldest buildings. It is an epitome of the evolution of postal services in small rural towns of China’s hinterland.
Just 1 kilometer from the village is the Mohe Space Environment Observatory where Chinese researchers have been measuring the Earth’s magnetic field using the fluxgate magnetometer.
As part of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the observatory is one of four field labs across the country carrying out space environment observation and experiments. The others are in Beijing, Wuhan (Hubei Province) and Sanya (Hainan Island).
Data collected from the environment observatory is of great importance to the study of climate change.
A bird's-eye view of the Mohe Space Environment Observatory, about 1 kilometer from Beiji Village
Two researchers at work in the open snow-covered field. It's a data-collecting and monitoring routine despite severe weather conditions.
A researcher blows on his hands to warm up frigid fingers before starting his daily work.
