Harbin is located in northeast China and has a cold climate due to its proximity to Siberia, with annual lows of -35 degrees not uncommon. The festival originated half a century ago, in 1963, as part of Harbin’s traditional ice lantern show, but quite quickly expanded into what it is today
The official opening ceremony is on January 5th, 2024, but the ice and snow sculptures are open to public viewing from December 17th, 2023. The exhibitions and entertainment are mainly in the Ice and Snow World, the biggest venue in Harbin. There is no closing ceremony for this festival but the ice melts in March.
Ice and Snow World area is largely open at night, and features illuminated, to-scale, ice skyscrapers. In 2014, one snow sculptor recreated New York’s Empire State Building, and in 2018 a 101ft ice tower in the shape of a flamenco dancer’s dress was installed. On the other side of the river, Sun Island is open throughout the day and features a range of gigantic snow sculptures.
In 2007, this exhibition area famously featured the world’s largest snow sculpture. The icy beast was 820ft long, 28ft tall, and used over 42,000 cubic feet of snow.
This year, they’ve also added a towering snowflake ferris wheel – so that visitors can take in the entirety of this impressive winter wonderland from the air. You can ride on the Ferris wheel to overlook the ice castles and exhibits and take awesome photos. The giant snowflake shining its spectrum of colors against the background of the night sky is very photogenic in itself.
According to the Internet
