Step Inside Winter's Most Spectacular Wonderland at the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in Northeast Ch

Step Inside Winter’s Most Spectacular Wonderland at the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in Northeast China

Visitors brave -40 degree temperatures to climb glistening ice castles and frozen replicas of iconic buildings

By Jane Recker
smithsonian.com
January 10, 2019 4:25PM



An illuminated colosseum made of ice at the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in China (Tao Zhang / Getty Images)

January 5 marked the beginning of the two-month-long 35th annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, the largest snow and ice festival in the world. Spanning eight million square feet of the city, the multi-million dollar production features massive snow and ice sculptures that draw visitors from across the globe. Though the official modern-day festival began in 1985, an organized ice show began in 1963, and the event can trace its frigid artistry back to the early Qing dynasty when peasants and fishermen placed candles inside blocks of ice cut from the Songhua River to create makeshift lanterns.



A man carves ice during the 2019 Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. (Fred Dufour / AFP / Getty Images)

Nearly 400 years later, the Songhua still serves as the lifeblood of the festival. Thousands of workers spend the days leading up to the festival cutting blocks of ice, two to three feet thick, to provide the nearly four million cubic feet of frozen building material needed to build the Ice and Snow World.



(Tao Zhang / Getty Images)

In a pool next to the Songhua, a polar plunge is held every day. Polar swimming is popular in China’s northeast and is said to improve circulation and mental acuity. This plunge is only for the bravest or most masochistic health nuts, as the air temperatures rarely break sub-zero.

More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/harbin-ice-snow-festival-2019-180971227/