China Guide
Dongbei
Taiyang (Sun) Island
Opening time: Park: daily 8.30am–4.30pm; Tiger Park 9am–4pm
Price: Taiyang (Sun) Island: ¥10; Tiger Park: ¥50
Address: The northern bank of the Songhua River; ferry: ¥5, cable-car ¥50
In summer, ferries (¥5) leave from near the Flood Control Monument at the bottom of Zhongyang Dajie for the busy resort and sanatorium village of Taiyang (Sun) Island. You can also access Sun Island by cable car. The island is an enormous park and leisure complex, with lakes for boating, swimming pools and fairground rides, as well as a Tiger Park; supposedly a refuge and breeding centre for the critically endangered Siberian tiger, this place smells more of commerce than conservation as park staff encourage visitors (for a small fee) to release domestic livestock to be stalked, slain and eaten by the animals.