Like in "Frozen" China builds the world's largest ice city
The Ice and Snow World has opened in Harbin, a metropolis of ten million people in north-eastern China. Entire buildings as well as delicate sculptures made of blocks of ice are staged there with light shows.
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- The Ice and Snow World has opened in Harbin, a metropolis of ten million people in north-eastern China.
- Entire buildings and huge towers made of blocks of ice are staged there with light shows.
- With this festival, the region in the far north of China is making a virtue out of necessity.
- Only the extreme sub-zero temperatures make it possible to build the huge ice palaces and ensure that the fantastic city of ice does not melt.
The extremely low temperatures in north-eastern China make this festival possible in the first place: in China's northern province of Heilongjiang, it is not just frosty in winter, but bitterly cold. Temperatures of up to minus 40 degrees Celsius below zero are not uncommon there in January and February.
Extreme cold makes it possible
In the multi-million metropolis of Harbin, over 7,000 employees work for half a month every year from mid-December to build the world's largest ice and snow theme park. 300,000 cubic meters of ice-cold material from a nearby river are processed for this purpose. And the result is impressive.
Skyscrapers, churches and palaces
Once again this year, several theme parks are spread over an area of one million square meters: in addition to the Ice Lantern Show, there is the International Snow Sculpture Art Expo on the side of the Songhua River facing away from the city. In the Ice and Snow World, which is also open at night, there are huge buildings that have been constructed from ice blocks up to one meter high over weeks of work.
This year, the theme of the ice park is "Dream of Winter, Love in Asia" and features ice structures inspired by the upcoming 2025 Asian Winter Games in Harbin, which will open next February, directly after the Chinese Spring Festival.
The spectacular images of the world's largest ice and snow city are shown in the blue News video.