The annual Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival is Harbin's main tourist highlight. It is the world's biggest winter festival. The bitterly cold winters are just right for this festival.
The Harbin International Ice and Snow is an annual winter festival that takes place with a theme in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China, and now is the largest ice and snow festival in the world. At first participants in the festival were mainly Chinese, however it has since become an international festival and competition, with the 2018 festival attracting 18 million visitors and generating 28.7 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) of revenue. The festival includes the world's biggest ice sculptures.
What sets the Harbin festival apart is the scale and size of the sculptures and the beautiful lighting. It is bigger than the ones in Sapporo, Norway, and Quebec.
At first, mainly Chinese participated, but in the last decade, it has become an international festival and competition. As the festival grows in international participation, and as China's economy grows, the size of the snow sculptures and ice architecture exhibits keeps growing. The work going into making these exhibits is astounding, and their size and beauty is amazing.
The lightning effects on the huge ice sculptures in the Ice and Snow World are technologically sophisticated. They use computer controlled LEDs and regular lighting to animate stunning displays of color and design.
The Harbin International Ice and Snow is an annual winter festival that takes place with a theme in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China, and now is the largest ice and snow festival in the world. At first participants in the festival were mainly Chinese, however it has since become an international festival and competition, with the 2018 festival attracting 18 million visitors and generating 28.7 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) of revenue. The festival includes the world's biggest ice sculptures.
What sets the Harbin festival apart is the scale and size of the sculptures and the beautiful lighting. It is bigger than the ones in Sapporo, Norway, and Quebec.
At first, mainly Chinese participated, but in the last decade, it has become an international festival and competition. As the festival grows in international participation, and as China's economy grows, the size of the snow sculptures and ice architecture exhibits keeps growing. The work going into making these exhibits is astounding, and their size and beauty is amazing.
The lightning effects on the huge ice sculptures in the Ice and Snow World are technologically sophisticated. They use computer controlled LEDs and regular lighting to animate stunning displays of color and design.
The annual festival officially
runs from January 5 to February 25, but some attractions open to
visitors before the opening ceremony, including the most popular of them
all -- Harbin Ice and Snow World.
This
year's sculptures are made from approximately 220,000 cubic meters of
ice blocks, all pulled from the nearby Songhua River.
The
festival also plays host to several events set against the cold-weather
creations. In 2020, those events included a mass wedding, where most
brides wore parkas over their white dresses, and a swim in the ice-cold
Songhua by a few brave individuals.
Throughout the festival, there are opportunities to ski, ice skate, play "ice soccer" and ride bicycles.
Opening night kicked off with a fireworks display against the illuminated sculptures.
There are also many free
activities around town to enjoy until the end of February, including
2,019 snowmen of different shapes and sizes built along the river.
First
celebrated in 1985, the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture
Festival was inspired by Heilongjiang's traditional lanterns, which were
carved out of ice and illuminated by candles.
Celebrating
its 36th year in 2020, it's now considered one of the world's top
winter festivals, joining the ranks of the Sapporo Snow Festival in
Japan, Canada's Quebec Winter Carnival and Norway's Holmenkollen Ski
Festival.
HARBIN INTERNATIONAL ICE AND SNOW
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