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Home → China Travel Guide → Harbin Travel Guide → Harbin Attractions → Harbin Snow Carving Festival

Harbin Snow Carving Festival



The temperature in Harbin reaches forty below zero, both Fahrenheit and Celsius, and stays below freezing nearly half the year. This Chinese city is actually further north than notoriously cold Vladivostok, Russia. Rather than suffer the cold, the residents of Harbin hold an annual festival of snow and ice sculptures and competitions. Officially, the festival starts from January 5th and it lasts one month. However, often the exhibition opens a week early and runs into March, Since it is usually cold enough.

The annual Harbin Snow Carving Festival has been held since 1963. It had been interrupted for a number of years during the Cultural Revolution until it was resumed in 1985. Until now, the festival has grown into a massive event, bringing in over a million tourists from all over the world every winter. The sculpture has become more elaborate and artistic over time. The sculptures displayed on the Snow Carving Festival are competitive. Each team starts with a cubs of packed snow that appears to measure about three meters on a side, and then starts carving away. These characters come from all over the world-Russia, Japan, Canada, France, even South Africa.

The best collections of ice artworks are exhibited in three main places: the Sun Island Park, Harbin Ice and Snow World, and Zhaolin Park.

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