Cool runnings

Beiji village, China's northernmost point.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Yaoquan town's Wudalianchi nature reserve contains 14 volcanoes and five lakes.

It won the Michel Batisse Award at the Fourth World Congress of Biosphere Reserves in Lima, Peru, in March. (UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Program bestows the award.)

Mudanjiang city's Jingpo Lake is the world's second-biggest volcanic barrier lake, after Switzerland's Lake Geneva. The 300-meter-wide Diaoshuilou Waterfall that crashes 20 meters into Jingpo is the world's biggest basalt cascade.

Harbin's music and wetland festivals, Yichun's international forest-ecology tourism festival and Mohe's aurora borealis festival will be staged this summer.

Dozens of marathons and hiking events have been planned, Xi says.

Road trips from Fuyuan to Mohe will be organized along the Chinese-Russian border by the province and Jeep, one of China's biggest cross-country driving clubs.

"Heilongjiang is an amazing place to drive," Xi says.

"We have vast landscapes. You can drive a while without seeing another car."