Harbin Ice and Snow Festival

The ice lantern was created by the peasants in Songnei Plain in Heilongjiang province. In order to work at night, the poor peasants froze ice barrel with hollow and put into the light to prevent the wind. Nowadays, ice lantern in broad sense refers to a series of plastic arts using ice and snow as raw material combining ice artworks with colored lights and splendid music. The specific patterns of ice lantern include ice and snow sculptures, ice flowers, ice architectures and so on.
 

The highlight of the festival is the ice lantern and sculpture exhibitions, which provide visitors a good opportunity to appreciate a galaxy of unique ice and snow art. Thousands of exquisitely-made ice lanterns, ice carvings and snow sculptures grace the snow-covered parks, public squares and major streets, turning the city into a dreamlike world of pure whiteness and gleaming crystal. These ice and snow art works come in all shapes and sizes. They can be as small as a mouse or as big as a bus. The designs range from life-size human figures, animals and flowers to towering castles, delicate pagodas and many other ingenious creations. Some of the most impressive are the intricately detailed replicas of famous buildings, such as the Potala Palace and the Eiffel Tower. And we mustn't forget the Great Wall! The crystal and clear lantern looks so beautiful.

The Sun Island Park is the site of the Snow Sculpture Exposition displaying a wonderful snow world. It has the world's largest indoor ice and snow art museum and it opens to the public from November every year.
 

Every year, there are many ice sculpture experts, artists and fans from America, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Russia, China, etc. gathering in Harbin to participate ice sculpting competitions and to communicate with each other in the ice and snow world. Also, Harbin ice lanterns have been exhibited in most of China's main cities as well as in many countries in Asia, Europe, North America, Africa and Oceania. For more than 40 years, Harbin's natural resource of ice and snow has been fully explored to provide joy and fun for visitors to the city. Now during the festival, many sporting competitions are also popular including ice-skating, sledding and so on. Weddings, parties and other entertainments are now very much a feature of this ice world, adding their own contribution to the celebrations of this great festival of art, culture, sports and tourism.
 

Heilongjiang province is the good place for skiing and winter swimming. Yabuli is the famous and well-equipped skiing. Yabuli, located halfway between Harbin and Mudanjiang in China's northernmost province Heilongjiang (formerly know as Manchuria) is the home of China's first destination resort and has expanded into China's first ski town with multiple resorts on 3 mountains with a selection of 2 star to 5 start hotels along a main access road. The two large areas are Yabuli Sun Mountain  and Yabui Ski Resort. A third small ski area, Avaunce, offers beginner terrain on a smaller hill. A final third large mountain is still only used by the Chinese national Ski Team but is slated for future development into a 3rd large ski area with advanced terrain.
 

The swimmers faced minus temperatures to jump into a pool carved out of ice from the Songhua river. "Polar bear" swimming is traditionally popular in China's northeastern areas, where the weather is very cold.
 

The winter temperature can go as low as minus 35 degrees Celsius. It's especially popular amongst the elderly and retired as it's believed to improve circulation and benefit health. It's also said to increase the level of mental awareness, release stress, remove aches and pains, increase vitality and keep skin looking younger - and of course, an overall feeling of well-being.