Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in China

In winter, active recreation enthusiasts engage in alpine skiing and snowboarding, and participate in hockey, curling, luge and freestyle competitions The cold season encourages creative people to create sculptures from ice and snow Masters demonstrate their talents during winter carnivals and festivals held in the Japanese city of Sapporo, Quebec, Canada and on Mount Holmenkollen in the capital of Norway Since 1963, competitions have also been held in the northeast of China in the province of Heilongjiang, which owes its climate to Siberian winds with snowstorms, snowdrifts and winter temperatures from -16 to -38 °C Every year on January 5, the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival opens on the banks of the Songhua River Activities include fireworks displays, art competitions, ice fishing, fashion shows, skiing at Yabuli, sports games, concerts and ice-hole swimming The river on which Harbin stands is the main supplier of building materials Thick blocks of ice are cut from the frozen surface of the Songhua to create buildings, sculptures, slides and lanterns The creations of the masters become crystal clear thanks to the use of demineralized water On average, it takes 220,000 m3 of ice to create ice figures Colored lanterns are used to illuminate massive sculptures and architectural structures (bridges, palaces, temples and pagodas) The festival in Harbin lasts about a month, and subject to frosty and snowy weather, the ice sculptures remain in the open air until the end of February Most events are held at two main venues: the Island of the Sun and the World of Ice and Snow Residents of the Middle Kingdom and tourists from many countries around the world come to admire the skills of the sculptors The famous ice lantern exhibition in Zhaolin Garden, areas with snow and ice figures, is visited by about 18 million people annually The Harbin Festival, which has become one of the main cultural events of the year in China, was first held in 1963 The exhibition grounds were closed during the Cultural Revolution, which lasted from 1966 to 1976, but then their work resumed Every year, sculptors from around the world compete in the skill of creating detailed figures from ice and snow In 2007, a composition dedicated to Dr Norman Bethune from Canada was included in the Guinness Book of Records The sculpture, 85 m high and 250 m long, is recognized as the tallest snow figure in the world The organizers of the festival in Harbin amaze tourists with the wonders and scope of imagination of the craftsmen who create a real winter fairy tale, returning adult guests to childhood In 2019, more than 10,000 specialists took part in creating the structure from snow and ice The same number of workers are required to transport and install architectural structures, for example, a snow palace the height of a 16-story building Massive ice sculptures are obtained as a result of painstaking work and the use of chisels, saws, laser machines and cranes by craftsmen The Harbin International Festival is a symbol of the triumph of human genius, talent and creativity Therefore, connoisseurs of beauty from different parts of the planet come to China on January 5 for its opening ceremony