Jun
18
Harbin Ice and Snow Festival
Filed Under:News| Viewed by: 84 Persons
Harbin is a provincial city in China and it is also the capital of the Province of Heilongjang. It is located at the Northeast part of China and it can be found on the south bank of Songhua River. The city is originally named as Manchu, a traditional Chinese word that literally means a place where fish drying nets are found. This humble city experiences a very cold winter and they are dubbed as the Ice City of China. This is so because the location of the place is in a direct line that receives the cold winds from Siberia. The average recorded temperature during winter is -38.1.
Though the cold winter seems to be challenge, it became one of the most awaited time in Harbin for it is the time for the annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival to take place. This event draws a lot of foreign and local tourist to Harbin to witness the flabbergasting and breathtaking exhibits and events.
The history of this festival dates back to the early 1960s. The first official ice and sculpture festival was recorded to be held on the year 1963. It was a successful festival but it was stopped temporarily due to the Cultural Revolution that took place in the entire country. The Ice and Snow festival was done again on the year 1985.
The festival officially starts on the fifth day of January and it will continue until the next month. Ice sculptures are exhibited and shown to the entire public. This is the reason why tourists are flocking to China during this time of the year. These exhibits usually exceeds one month if the weather permits. The exhibits feature different ice sculptures that are made from various technologies like laser method. Despite this, there are also some ice sculptures that are made traditionally. Those that are crafted manually are the ones that never fail to amaze the spectators. Ice lanterns are also common during this festival. Parks that are lighted by many ice lanterns are also visited by many tourists. Activities are also done during the festival. Winter activities includes the alpine skiing that is held in Yabuli, the ice cold swimming in Songhua River and the most popular activity, the ice lantern exhibit held in the Zhaolin Garden.
This festival is included in the four largest ice festival in the world. The other three are the Quebec City Winter Carnival in Canada, Ski Festival in Norway and the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan.
Last 2007, a Guiness Record was given to the Harbin snow festival when they made a sculpture of the Niagara Falls and the Bering Strait. The sculpture currently holds the title for being the world¡¯s largest snow sculpture. It measures 259 m long, 8.5 m high and it used as many as 13,000 cubic meters of snow.
This 2010, the Harbin festival proved to be a joyous event and their visitors went home happily with great memories to dream of.