“I have never felt so confident climbing these steps in winter.”
Walking along the underground passageway of Harbin’s Central Street in the Heilongjiang province, you will often hear locals muttering to their companions as they point to the carpet beneath their feet, exasperated at the extent to which the local government pamper the tourists.
One of them is Miss Zhang, a 26-year-old who hails from Daqing in Heilongjiang but lives in Harbin.
She explained to Lianhe Zaobao that the stone slabs get very slippery during winter and people often slip and fall. However, this winter, in a bid to welcome foreign tourists, the local government made the unprecedented move to lay carpets on the steps, as they were worried that visitors might not be used to the conditions in the northeast region.
Zhang sighed: “The Harbin government is especially thoughtful towards tourists… Thanks to all of you, it is more convenient for us to get around too.”
