Ice sculptures: Spectacular designs at Harbin Ice and Snow Festival
- Published
The 37th Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in China has opened to visitors, featuring frozen towers, palaces and castles.
The festival in Harbin, a city in China's north-east Heilongjiang province, is one of the biggest of its kind. It features towering ice and snow structures, and will host activities like sledging, ice hockey, ice football, speed skating and Alpine skiing competitions.
With entry to China restricted because of the coronavirus pandemic, tourists from elsewhere in China are expected to make up the majority of visitors.
To build the frozen city, tens of thousands of ice blocks were carved out of the kilometre-wide frozen river Songhua, which winds its way through Harbin.
The blocks were then moved by truck to the festival venue, where they were used to build life-sized castles, pagodas, bridges and even restaurants.
The first ever Harbin Ice Festival was in 1963 and the 2021 version runs until 25 February.