Attractions
Harbin Ice Festival China
The Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival is an annual themed winter festival held in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China, and is now the largest ice and snow festival in the world. At first, the festival's participants were mainly Chinese, but it has since become an international festival and competition, attracting 18 million visitors and grossing 28.7 billion yuan ($4.4 billion). This festival includes the largest ice sculptures in the world.
The festival exhibits are open from late December to late February. While ice sculptures are installed throughout the city, there are two main exhibition areas:
Sun Island is a resort area on the opposite side of the Songhua River from the city that has an exhibition of giant snow sculptures.
Ice and Snow World is an area open in the afternoon and night, featuring full-size illuminated buildings made from 2-3 inch thick blocks taken directly from the Songhua River. The park is usually open from late December to late February. In 1999, the first world of ice and snow was opened to the public for the Millennium celebration. Every year the park has to be renovated with newly designed ice buildings and snow and ice sculptures. In recent years, the park has expanded to 800 meters (80 acres).
During the festival, ice lantern park tour activities are held in many parks in the city. Winter activities during the festival include Yabuli Alpine Skiing, winter swimming in the Songhua River, and the Ice Lantern Exhibition in Zhaolin Garden.
Harbin is located in the northeast of China and receives the cold winter wind from Siberia. The average temperature is 21.2 °C (70.2 °F) in summer and -16.8 °C (1.8 °F) in winter. Annual lows of -25 °C (-13 °F) are not uncommon.