From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival
Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture
Festival
Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival degrees Celsius in winter. Annual low temperatures be-
low -35C are not uncommon.
Officially, the festival starts January 5th and lasts one
month. However the exhibits often open earlier and stay
longer, weather permitting. Ice sculpture decoration
technology ranges from the modern (using lasers) to tra-
ditional (with ice lanterns). There are ice lantern park
touring activities held in many parks in the city. Winter
activities in the festival include Yabuli alpine skiing,
winter-swimming in the Songhua River, and the ice-
lantern exhibition in Zhaolin Garden.
The Harbin festival is one of the world’s four largest
During the 2004 festival
ice and snow festivals, along with Japan’s Sapporo Snow
Date(s) February Festival, Canada’s Quebec City Winter Carnival, and Nor-
Location(s) Harbin, China way’s Ski Festival.
The 2007 festival featured the Canadian theme, in
Years active since 1963 memoriam of Canadian doctor Norman Bethune. It was al-
Genre winter festivals so a Guinness Record of the largest snow sculpture: 250
metres long, 28 feet (8.5 m) high, using over 13,000 cubic
Website www.isharbin.com
metres of snow. The composition consisted of two parts:
"Niagara Falls" and "Crossing the Bering Strait" (the lat-
Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival ter depicting the migration of the First Nations).
Construction
Swing saws are used to carve ice into blocks, taken from
the frozen surface of the Songhua River.[1] Chisels, ice
picks and various types of saws are then used by ice
sculptors to carve out large scaled ice sculptures,[2] many
of them intricately designed[1]and worked on all day and
night prior to the commencement of the festival.
Deionised water can also be used, producing ice blocks
as transparent as glass to make clear sculptures rather
than translucent ones.[3] Multicoloured lights[4] are also
Harbin Ice Festival used to give colour to ice, creating variations on sculp-
tured spectacles when lit up especially at night. Some ice
Chinese 哈尔滨国际冰雪节
sculptures made in previous years include: buildings and
monuments of different architectural types and styles,
figures including animals people and mythical creatures,
The annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture slippery dips or ice slides and lanterns.[5][6] Apart from
Festival (Chinese: 哈尔滨国际冰雪节; pinyin: Hā’ěrbīn winter recreational activities available in Harbin, these
Guójì Bīngxuě Jié) has been held since 1963. It had been exquisitely-detailed, mass-produced ice sculptures are
interrupted for a number of years during the Cultural the main draw card in attracting tourists around the
Revolution until it was resumed in 1985. world to the festival.[4]
Harbin is located in Northeast China under the direct
influence of the cold winter wind from Siberia. The aver-
age temperature in summer is 21.2 degrees Celsius, -16.8
See also
• Ice sculpture
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival
• Ice palace
• Snow sculpture
• Sand sculpture
• Winter carnival
Gallery
Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festi-
val 2010
Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festi-
val 2010
Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festi-
val 2010
Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festi-
val 2010
Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festi-
val 2010
Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festi-
val 2010
Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festi-
val 2010
References
[1] ^ AFP (13 November 2008). "Ice is money in China’s
coldest city". The Sydney Morning Herald.
Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festi- http://www.smh.com.au/travel/ice-is-money-in-
val 2010 chinas-coldest-city-20081113-62yj.html. Retrieved
26 December 2009.
[2] BBC (6 January 2007). "In pictures: Harbin ice
festival". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
6237381.stm. Retrieved 26 December 2009.
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival
[3] Zeitvogel, K. (18 December 2009). "Chinese- pdfs/chinese_folk_art.pdf. Retrieved 26 December
sculpted winter wonderland in Washington". AFP/ 2009.
Google. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/
article/
ALeqM5juFZEAvmgxvRxWeq2RRwWAB9KcSg.
External links
Retrieved 26 December 2009. • Harbin Ice Festival
[4] ^ Strum, J. (22 December 2009). "Northern Chinese • 2003 Harbin Snow and Ice Festival
city embraces cold and ice". The State Journal, • 2005 Harbin Snow and Ice Festival
Frankfort, Kentucky. http://www.state- • 2006 Harbin Snow and Ice Festival
journal.com/news/article/4734375. Retrieved 26 • 2006 Harbin Snow and Ice Festival
December 2009. • 2007 Harbin Snow and Ice Festival
[5] Taylor, A. (9 January 2009). "Icy days and nights". • 2009 Harbin Snow and Ice Festival
Boston.com/AP/Getty Images/AFP/Reuters. es:Festival de esculturas de hielo y nieve de Harbin
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/ fr:Festival de sculptures sur glace et de neige de Harbin
icy_days_and_nights.html. Retrieved 26 December id:Festival Internasional Salju dan Es Harbin it:Festival
2009. internazionale delle sculture di ghiaccio e neve di Harbin
[6] Mullen, N.; Lin, C-C. (2005). "Chinese Folk Art, he: פסטיבל חרבין הבינלאומי לפיסול בקרח ושלגja:ハルビン氷祭
Festivals, and Symbolism in Everyday Life". Phoebe り ru:Харбинский международный фестиваль льда и
A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology/University of снега vi:Lễ hội Băng đăng Quốc tế Cáp Nhĩ Tân zh:中国哈
California, Berkeley. 尔滨国际冰雪节
http://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/outreach/
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/in-
dex.php?title=Harbin_International_Ice_and_Snow_Sculpture_Festival&oldid=473509473"
Categories:
• Festivals in China
• Culture of the People's Republic of China
• Winter festivals
• Harbin
• Outdoor sculptures in China
• Water ice
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