Ice is money in China's coldest city
Ice might seem a tough sell in Harbin, one of China's coldest cities, but it has pulled it off with a spectacular annual festival that for many is far more tempting than a warm beach holiday.
By Agencies |
HARBIN: Ice might seem a tough sell in Harbin, one of China's coldest cities, but it has pulled it off with a spectacular annual festival that for many is far more tempting than a warm beach holiday.
The Ice and Snow Festival, which features hundreds of massive sculptures carved out of ice, has become a huge draw for visitors, turning northern China's often forbidding temperatures into a competitive advantage.
"We've had a few copycats. Other cities in north China have opened ice festivals. But they aren't as favoured by geography as we are," said Liu Ruiqiang, president of Harbin Modern Group, a tourism and hotel business.
The "Harbin Ice and Snow Big World," a theme park featuring dazzlingly lit sculptures of Chinese palaces, Russian churches and French cathedrals, has benefitted from its close proximity to the Songhua River.
"This is much better than I thought it would be. The carvings are really elaborate. I would have expected them to be much cruder," said 23-year-old Harbin Industrial University student Hao Zhifu, one of the visitors.
In early December, 15,000 workers began cutting ice blocks from the river's frozen surface, and 16 days and 120,000 cubic metres of ice later, the show was ready.
The Ice and Snow Festival, which features hundreds of massive sculptures carved out of ice, has become a huge draw for visitors, turning northern China's often forbidding temperatures into a competitive advantage.
"We've had a few copycats. Other cities in north China have opened ice festivals. But they aren't as favoured by geography as we are," said Liu Ruiqiang, president of Harbin Modern Group, a tourism and hotel business.
The "Harbin Ice and Snow Big World," a theme park featuring dazzlingly lit sculptures of Chinese palaces, Russian churches and French cathedrals, has benefitted from its close proximity to the Songhua River.
"This is much better than I thought it would be. The carvings are really elaborate. I would have expected them to be much cruder," said 23-year-old Harbin Industrial University student Hao Zhifu, one of the visitors.
In early December, 15,000 workers began cutting ice blocks from the river's frozen surface, and 16 days and 120,000 cubic metres of ice later, the show was ready.
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The speed and efficiency reflect the growing professionalism of an annual event that traces its modest beginnings back to the early 1960s, when the city was a bleak, industrial powerbase for communist China.
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