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Harbin Ice and Snow Festival

Ice and snow sculptures

 Harbin Ice Festival Tour: 4 Days

Harbin Ice Festival provides the visitors each year a whole new world of ice and snow. The best collections of ice artworks are exhibited in the following five main places:

Harbin Ice and Snow World
Ice Lantern Garden Party
Sun Island Scenic Area
Yabuli International Ski Resort
Zhaolin Park

The Festival, established in 1985, is held annually from January 5 and lasts for over one month. Harbin is the capital city of Heilongjiang Province and this is China's original and greatest ice artwork festival, attracting hundreds of thousands of local people and visitors from all over the world.

The city's location in northeast China accounts for its arctic climate which provides abundant natural ice and snow. Subsequently, the 'Ice City' of Harbin is recognized as the cradle of ice and snow art in China and is famous for its exquisite and artistic ice and snow sculptures. The fabulous Ice Lantern Festival was the forerunner of the current festival and is still the best loved part of the overall event in the opinion of all who come to Harbin each year.

The Derivation of the Ice Lantern
The first Ice lanterns were a winter-time tradition in northeast China. During the Qing Dynasty(1644 - 1911), the local peasants and fishermen often made and used ice lanterns as jack-lights during the winter months. At that time these were made simply by pouring water into a bucket that was then put out in the open to freeze. It was then gently warmed before the water froze completely so that the bucket-shaped ice could be pulled out. A hole was chiseled in the top and the water remaining inside poured out creating a hollow vessel. A candle was then placed inside resulting in a windproof lantern that gained great popularity in the region around Harbin.

From then on, people made ice lanterns and put them outside their houses or gave them to children to play with during some of the traditional festivals. Thus the ice lantern began its long history of development. With novel changes and immense advancement in techniques, today we can marvel at the various delicate and artistic ice lanterns on display.

Today's Ice Lantern
Harbin Ice FestivalNowadays, 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 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.

Harbin Ice and Snow World came into being in 1999 and is one of the world's largest ice architecture parks. The inspiration for the ice and snow sculptures there usually is derived from traditional Chinese fairy tales or world famous architectures such as the Great Wall, the Egyptian Pyramids, etc.

Zhaolin Park is a 'must see' during the Harbin Ice Festival because it has a traditional program that shows the most excellent ice lanterns. With water, lights and the natural ice from the Songhua River running through Harbin as the material, the ice lanterns are made by freezing water, piling up ice or snow, then carving, enchasing, decorating, etc. The ice lantern park touring activities have been held here annually since 1963 and is said to be one of the most wonderful 35 tourist attractions in China. There are numerous pieces of ice artworks in the park arranged in groups according to different themes depicting Chinese classic masterworks, European folktales and customs and so on. A great variety of objects such as buildings, gardens, flowers, waterfalls, European-styled churches, lions, tigers, dragons are carved from ice. In the daytime, the ice sculptures are magnificent and verisimilitude. Moreover, with the interspersion of the sparkling colored lights embedded in the sculptures at night, the park becomes a glorious and amazing ice world.

Today, Harbin Ice Festival is not only an exposition of ice and snow art, but also an annual cultural event for international exchange. 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.

Admission Fee: Sun Island Park Harbin Ice and Snow World Zhaolin Park
CNY 30 (extra CNY 150 for the Snow Sculpture Art Exposition) CNY 200 CNY 30 at the time of the Ice Lantern Exhibition
CNY 10 at usual time
Opening Hours: 8:00-17:00 9:00-22:00 5:00-18:30
Bus Route: 85 54, 88, 118 8, 53, 74, 83, 113, 114,  206

The 26th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival will be opened on Jan.5 in 2010. The major activities held during the festival are shown as the follows.

Type

Activity

Time

Place

Ice and Snow Artistic Activities

 

The Opening Ceremony of the 22nd Sun Island Snow Sculpture Art Exposition

Dec.18, 2009

The Sun Island Scenic Area

The 36th Ice Lantern Garden Party and the opening ceremony of 2010 Disney Ice and Snow Garden Party

Dec.20, 2009

Zhaolin Park

The 15th International Snow Sculpture Competition; The 16th National Snow Sculpture Competition

During the Ice and Snow Festival

The Sun Island Scenic Area

The 24th International Ice Sculpture Competition

During the Ice and Snow Festival

Zhaolin Park

Ice and Snow Culture Activities

The First China Ice and Snow Wedding Ceremony Festival and The 26th Ice and Snow Festival Group Wedding Ceremony on the Ice

Jan.17 – Jan.21, 2010

The Sun Island Scenic Area

The Third International Youth Shows Invitational Tournament

Feb.17-Feb.21, 2010

Harbin Youth Palace

Ice and Snow Festival Symbol and Mascot Solicitation

Early December, 2009

The 22nd Hundred-Flower Dance Contest of senior people

Jan.5, 2010

Harbin People’s Gymnasium

Ice and Snow Sports Activities

Harbin International Boxing Invitational Tournament

Early January, 2010

Harbin Railway Administration Gymnasium

The Fourth Harbin Ice and Snow Field Autocross

Late January, 2010

Harbin Songhua River Motor Racing Theme Park

Winter Fishing Festival

January, 2010

Taiping Lake

Harbin International Physical Dance Invitational Tournament

Mid-January, 2010

Heilongjiang University Gymnasium

The Third Harbin International Amateur Badminton Invitational Tournament

Mid-January, 2010

Harbin University of Commerce Gymnasium

Ice and Snow Economic and Trade Activities

The 26th Ice and Snow Economic and Trade Negotiation Conference

Jan.5-Jan.8, 2010

Harbin International Convention and Exhibition Centre

China Entrepreneur Forum Annul Meeting

Mid February, 2010

Yabuli International Ski Resort

Harbin International Ice and Snow Appointment

Jan.4-Jan.7, 2010

Harbin International Convention and Exhibition Centre

China Winter Sporting Goods Fair and Ice-and-Snow Tourism and Trade Exposition

Dec.4, 2009

Harbin International Convention and Exhibition Centre

Ice and Snow Tourism Activities

The Opening Ceremony of the 11th Heilongjiang International Skiing Festival, Early Winter Warm-up Skiing Month, Midwinter Enthusiastic Skiing Month, the Spring Festival Golden Skiing Month, and Spring Energetic Skiing Month

November, 2009-March, 2010

The Skiing Resorts in the entire Heilongjiang Province

"Ice and Snow Entering Community” and “People Traveling Ice City”

During the Ice and Snow Festival

Harbin City Proper

International Friendship Cities Tourism Cooperation Forum

Jan.6, 2010

Harbin International Conference Exhibition and Sports Center

Eight classic tour routes are recommended including ice-and-snow amorous feelings from Europe Continent tour, circumjacent skiing tour, folk custom tour and the venues of the World Winter University Games tour.

During the Ice and Snow Festival

Harbin City Proper

"Ice City Night Travel” tour routes

During the Ice and Snow Festival

Harbin Development District, Nangang District, Daoli District and Songbei District

Harbin Ice Base Experience Tour

During the Ice and Snow Festival

Harbin Sports Training Base for Ice

The First Harbin Ice and Snow Carnival

During the Ice and Snow Festival

Beidahuang Modern Agricultural Garden

Q & A Search:

Q & A on Harbin Ice and Snow Festival

1.

Jan. 30,2010 15:06 Reply

Mrs.april(canada) said:

hi guys, harbin is my hometown! you all are welcome to visit. for the time of the festival is really depending on the weather! once the weather getting warm, it is not safe,thats why we need to demolishing them! try to go there earlier

Feb. 2,2010 14:39
Mr.dan(USA) replied:

if we come from february 16th to 21 will the sculptures still be there?

Feb. 3,2010 15:27
Mrs.april(canada) replied:

as i said , it is really hard to say~~ if the weather getting warmer, you still can see them ,but can not get too close,or they won't look that nice.

2.

Jan. 26,2010 08:32 Reply

Mr.grrr(england) said:

lol i went and it was wone of the best things you could ever see in your life and if you ever get to go i reallly do say go to it. it is a amazing and you willl never see anythink like it in oyour hole life the sculptures are very talllll and i mean very tall lol you have to go at the right time thoug xx

3.

Jan. 22,2010 21:16 Reply

Ms.hug you(USA) said:

Could someone please tell us how late into February the festival will run? I do not want to visit there during Chinese new year; but maybe after IF we can get the date for how late in the year the festival can last!!! Anyone? Thanks

Jan. 23,2010 00:41
Mr.Rain replied:

It's hard to tell. As I said in another reply, the festival usually lasts for over one month, meaning it will end in early or middle Feb. While some reports say that it will last for three months. Totally confused.

It is wise not to go there during Chinese New Year. During that time, many people go there for a visit.

Jan. 25,2010 21:57
Mr.Tony L(Australia) replied:

we visited Harbin three yrs ago .. festival lasts about 4 weeks depend on weather .. as ice start to melt and become unsafe they start to demolish display --- the ice "buildings" and sculptures are in a big open space just across the big bridge over the Songhua river.. we spent 5 amazing hrs there but it gets pretty cold . keep camera warm under your clothes! The snow sculptures are amazing too, located in a big park across the other side of the road from the ice sculptures .. the park is adjacent ti the frozen Songhua river. We went there Feb 10th and they started demolishing a few days after we left. Hope this helps

4.

Jan. 22,2010 07:33 Reply

Mr.shezi(china) said:

hay budy whats the location of the ice festival in herbin.can an y body tell me?

Jan. 23,2010 00:36
Mr.Snowwhite replied:

Hey Shezi,

If you read the article above, you will find that it is not held in a certain place. The exhibitions and activities are mainly held in five places: Harbin Ice and Snow World, Ice Lantern Garden Party, Sun Lsland Scenic Area, Yabuli International Ski Resort and Zhaolin Park.

Just check the schedule above to decide where you wanna go and what you want to see.

5.

Jan. 22,2010 07:14 Reply

Mr.platteflunder(Germany) said:

hi there :)
do you know about activities in the end of february?
we planned a trip around 18./19./20. of february...
...are there still exhibitions? to visit sth?
because here is just the information given that the festival lasts over one month?

Jan. 23,2010 00:32
Mr.Rain replied:

Well, I am a bit confused after doing searches in google. The festival usually lasts for over one month. According to this, the 26th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival will end in early or middle Feb. But some reports say that the festival will last for three months, including some business activities etc.

If you really want to enjoy ice and snow exhibitions, better reschedule your plan. Just my suggestion.

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