Harbin’s Ice Festival draws the crowds

Overview

Last weekend CScout China paid a visit to Harbin, the capital of China’s Heilongjiang Province. Situated in northeastern China, Harbin is the country’s northernmost provincial capital – it is actually further north than the notoriously cold Russian seaport of Vladivostok, just 300 miles away. In fact the city is a lot closer to the Russian border than Beijing, and the traditional Russian architecture left over from former colonial times give the place a distinctly European feel.

Harbin is renowned for two things – its cold weather and the city’s annual ice festival. The temperature in Harbin plummets to forty below zero, and stays below freezing nearly half the year. Rather than suffer the cold, however, the residents of Harbin celebrate it, with an annual extravaganza of snow and ice sculptures and competitions. The festival officially runs from January 5th through to February 15th, but often opens a week early and runs into March, since the weather is usually still cold enough.

Snow and ice sculpture in Harbin dates back to Manchu times, but the first organized show was held in 1963, and the annual festival itself only started in 1985. Since then it has grown into a massive event, bringing in tourists from all over the world. Sculptures have become increasingly elaborate and artistic, and now involve competing sculpting teams from around the world. Harbin’s most impressive ice artworks can be viewed at three main locations - Sun Island Park, Zhaolin Park and Harbin Ice and Snow World.

The 2007/8 festival is expected to attract 9 million tourists, with an estimated income of RMB 5 billion (over US$650 million), and the event’s general theme is “a harmonious world” - the aim is to promote international ties between China and South Korea, Canada and Russia. Higher than average temperatures recently have led to worries that global warming may shorten the length of the festival, which would obviously have a detrimental impact on the local economy. For now, however, there are some impressive examples of world-class ice sculpture on display, as well as ice houses, bars and frozen celebrations of this year’s Olympic Games.

Images from Harbin and the Ice Festival

All images by Daniel Allen

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