If you happen to be traveling in China during the winter, then you are in for an unrivaled and magical experience if you can endure freezing outside temperatures and exposure to China’s northern wind and cold. Every January, Harbin holds a world-renowned spectacular ice festival in which sculptors from all over the world commune to create some of the most impressive ice sculptures on the planet. The festival originated in 1963, was interrupted during the Cultural Revolution, and brought to life again in 1985.

The climate in China’s northern Heilongjiang Province provides the perfect freezing temperatures for which to have such a prolonged ice festival without fear of thawing or temperature fluctuations. Although the artists have 2 weeks to carve the pieces, the sculptures themselves stay intact for weeks on end without melting. Harbin is known for its arctic winter landscapes reaching icy chills as low as -20C. Architecturally, Harbin differs from the rest of China due to a heavy Russian influence as a result of its close proximity to Russia itself, which lies only about 650 km away. At times, Harbin is even referred to as the Siberia of China.

Photo: Glenn Derek Hustadt

The original snow-sculpting concept is actually over 1600 years old and initiated during the Tang Dynasty. The Ice Lantern Festival tradition is separate and has been upheld since it’s founding in the 17th century by Qing Dynasty locals. It began as the practice of the village peasants, who created ice block lamps out of buckets of frozen water. They hollowed them out and added a hole inside for a candle. Currently, modern day artists sculpt flawless icy pieces of their imaginations in the rugged winter ice blocks, which initially weigh up to 390 kilograms before carving. In present day, no candles are used, but instead colored artificial lights bring the ice sculptures to life with added music for effect.

Photo: Glenn Derek Hustadt

Every year, next to the Songhua River at Zhaolin Park, the city hosts the famed Lantern Festival with an annually changing theme. The festival itself is garnered with the honor of being one of the 35 most prized tourist spots in China. Usually, the snow and ice is carved to replicate historical monuments like the Egyptian pyramids or a famous temple. The 2007 Ice Show even included a perfectly detailed Eiffel tower and a colossal profile of Napoleon Bonaparte. Some of the carvings have reached heights as high as 30 meters tall and are over 180 meters in width. Some exhibitions actually resemble small cities where the visitors can walk around what appear to be colossal brontosauruses carved into hard snowy walls.

Photo: Glenn Derek Hustadt

But this year, instead of frozen slithery dragons, the theme of ancient Chinese folklore and Great Wall and Forbidden City structures was replaced with something intrinsically more modern, Mickey Mouse. Yes, this year’s Ice Lantern Festival’s theme was Disney, and the park was adorned instead with Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, and Donald Duck. Even Mickey’s ears marked an entrance instead of a Buddha figurine or an ancient pagoda.

Photo: Glenn Derek Hustadt

Groups of artistic sculptors came from all over the world to unify in this great tradition that created this wonderfully fabled land suitable for an icy fairyland. Participants came from Japan, Russia, USA, China, etc, and over 3000 visitors appeared daily to marvel in the creation of this spectacular ice land.

Who knows what the theme will be next year? Every year is different. But each year is uniquely memorable in the end. If you have the opportunity to make this occasion you won’t mind standing out in the freezing cold if your eyes can feast on the icy glory that is the Harbin Ice Festival.

 

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