The 25-year-old’s sympathies were not with the disappointed visitors. “Their demand wasn’t very reasonable, but Harbin still satisfied their requests, so everyone [online] thought Harbin handled it very well and started to pay attention to Harbin,” he said.
Li and his friends spent three days in the city last month, keen to see the festival that had been trending for weeks, as well as Harbin’s other tourist attractions which have been lighting up social media platforms in China.
The seven young adults walked along the busy cobblestones of Central Street and took pictures in front of the Russian-style orthodox Saint Sophia Cathedral as they followed the top recommendations on Xiaohongshu, China’s equivalent of Instagram.
“The Russian style [of architecture] is quite refreshing to me,” said Li,…
