Harbin Ice And Snow Sculpture Festival Opens In China (PHOTOS)

An enormous pavilion in China's Heilongjiang province was instantly transformed to a sparkling fairyland with the launch of the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival on Jan. 5.

One of the largest ice-carving events of its kind, the festival featured giant pagodas, skyscrapers, an Egyptian Sphinx and even a full-scale Disney castle rendered entirely in ice, CNN is reporting. Now in its 27th year, the event also offers a wide range of wintry activities, including ice swimming, hot air ballooning and other sports, as well as a fireworks display.

Harbin is one of China's coldest cities, and the mercury in January often drops to -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit). Despite those bone-chilling conditions, the festival -- which is even more spectacular at night, when its sculptures are lit with twinkling multicolored lights -- have been known to inspire romance, and 2011's display is certainly no exception. As Reuters is reporting, already couples from Russia, the United States, Japan, Canada, Vietnam and four different Chinese provinces gathered in front of a massive snow sculpture to say "I do."

View stunning photos of the Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival here:

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Harbin Ice Festival

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Harbin Ice Festival

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Comments

[WoodyCPM]

11:28 PM on 01/09/2011

I don't know what these sculptures mean. There is no caption to the photos. No explanation of what we're looking at. Nothing about the scale of these sculptures. How long did it take? How many worked on them? How long will they last? How was it done? How much ground do they cover? Very little info is given in the introduction. HP does this frequently with photos. This also looks like the same photo taken 10 times.

[Leo Bloom]

10:10 AM on 01/10/2011

Try a basic informational literacy class at your night school.
IIt'll help you to develop the capacity to search for information on the Internet.

[WoodyCPM]

10:19 AM on 01/10/2011

Try some basic Miss Manners classes at your local night school. It will help you develop into a decent human being.

[mamababa]

06:43 PM on 01/10/2011

What sort of a bullsh*t response is that? A 'news' article that doesn't offer any information? That's like going to a restaurant and being expected to shop for your own groceries and cook your own food.

[netzwerg]

07:04 AM on 01/09/2011

"I don't know, Chelsea: 1. I like the concepts contained in bill of rights, generally speaking, and it's unclear (mildly put) that such rights and liberties are observed by the Chinese government­; 2. I'll be frank--the­re seems to be a general (which is not to say each individual­) anti-Afric­an sentiment that would make me pause reference experienci­ng life in China;"

1. The bill of rights isn't what it used to be since Patriot Act.
2. They stare at everyone who does not look chinese, you get used to it. I am white and blond haired, thats just as strange to them. No big deal in big cities though, there are thousands of Afro-Asians as well as dark skinned tourists/businesspeople.

[Watching China]

09:21 PM on 01/08/2011

edwoodjr, your post raised some interesting thoughts. I guess this is diverting from the topic, but following your observations, here is a link to a photo-editorial on meeting some real people in China. You might enjoy it.

http://www.bearcanada.com/travel/realpeople.html

[minusjason]

10:44 AM on 01/08/2011

Man, I want to see the sphinx and the pagodas... looks like all the pictures here are of the castle.

[Watching China]

10:04 AM on 01/08/2011

The Harbin Ice Sculptures are truly incredible works of art. It is astonishing that such large items can be constructed with such fine detail, without breaking. I've seen ice sculptures before, but never like this, and every year it seems to improve.

China has many such festivals, on a wide array of events. I would like to introduce you to another, that you most likely have never heard of - the ice-fishing festival at Chag'An Lake near Songyuan. You've never seen so many fish in your life. Here's a link to one photo:

http://www.bearcanada.com/travel/jilin01/songyuan104.jpg

And here's a link to the main page. I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.bearcanada.com/travel/jilin01/songyuan01.html

[Candide33]

03:31 PM on 01/08/2011

Thanks for the links, that looks awesome!

[edwoodjr]

09:24 AM on 01/08/2011

Money to literally burn. I was on a flight back from SE Asia late last year and sat next to an exec and his wife who had just been the Shanghi and said it was the most incredible place they had even been. I always pictured China in those colorized looking photos of Mao in his drab army uniform, Looks the the US and USSR had it all wrong and the Chinese have the "formula" blending the various political models/theories together into a hybrid economy and system. The US and USSR committed political model suicide but if the world is to compete, we will need to fit in to the Chinese system now.

[samm120]

02:22 AM on 01/08/2011

China is the world's future.........

[Redemption Song II]

08:22 AM on 01/08/2011

...well, there's a scary thought.

[Chelsea Mei Bates]

09:50 PM on 01/08/2011

I wouldn't necessarily deem it as "scary". Though China has many problems, including corruption in their local government systems, the East coast is undeniably growing at an amazing pace. China will learn to fix their problems and when they do, they will become the next global superpower.
Once you've experienced urban life in China, you will see that they have learned a lot from the Western world. The images of China in the 1980's have been completely replaced by hubs of power-hungry, professionals.

[harriettubman]

10:34 PM on 01/09/2011

You got that right--tainted baby formula, pet food, costume jewelry.... We go to the store and my husband doesn't want any dishes or anything you eat off of or edible from China yet you can't find any made in the U.S. No rules, structure, no thanks.
Top that with the lies they told about the Olympic birth certificates, I wouldn't trust them at all. Gymnasts 12-16 yrs old several years in a row.

[victorsays]

01:54 AM on 01/08/2011

11 photo of the same sculpture. Seriously?

[ariel333]

12:43 AM on 01/08/2011

It's such a big festival that includes so many ice and snow sculptures, I would have thought HP could post pictures of different sculptures rather than pictures of different parts of ONE sculpture. For more beautiful works of frozen art, try this link: http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/01/harbin-international-ice-festival-2011/ VERY impressive!

[GravitonX]

10:19 PM on 01/07/2011

Impressive!

[Amalek]

08:58 PM on 01/07/2011

I have been to this amazing show. They build an entire city of ice on an island in the river.  They cut ice blocks out from the river.  Downtown in a park there is a competition for ice carvers from all over the world.  They are also amazing. 

But it is so cold.  When they say -4F, they mean the high on a warm day.  -20F is more normal.

[Redemption Song II]

08:24 AM on 01/08/2011

It'd be awesome to attend the festivities (with toe and hand warmers, of course ;o).

[studioh!]

08:48 PM on 01/07/2011

gee - I'm glad that you told us it was ice and snow. I thought it was the great wall disco!

[lightist]

07:57 PM on 01/07/2011

Such a colorful prison fortress. And conveniently cold as ice. Gotta re-inforce the dominant societal messages, don't you know?

[liltrix]

08:20 PM on 01/07/2011

Kind of like our Rose Parade.

[Amalek]

08:59 PM on 01/07/2011

It is a thing of awesome beauty.  And managed by our friends from Disney.

[lightist]

10:35 PM on 01/07/2011

True, true. Imagine the joy of children seeing such beauteous ice-box mausoleums. Worlds really got it's aesthetic act appealing to lowest common caged animal level. Cute, cute.

[MightyMeno]

07:48 PM on 01/07/2011

I'll bet all those lights are from Wal-Mart.

[Amalek]

08:56 PM on 01/07/2011

From Walmart suppliers no doubt.

[lightist]

10:41 PM on 01/07/2011

Yes, I believe I saw the boxes marked 'China' leaving the back of local one. Oh no, I'm sorry, it was the other way around. It was boxes going into WMart marked from China. Isn't Walmart a wonderful place to go? I simply feel a joyfulness every time I feel the feeling of the Walmart experience. It's just simply wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Joy for joy be the Walmart affect on America. Sometimes I go there just to sit in some easy chair or prostrate myself on the concrete and thank the good lord for the church of Walmart.

[malander]

07:43 PM on 01/07/2011

This is what cheap labor can build for you...

[kiddub]

07:48 PM on 01/07/2011

I see it everyday at Wal-Mart.

[DAE]

12:40 AM on 01/08/2011

fail