Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival
The annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival (Chinese: 哈尔滨国际冰雪节， pinyin: Hā'ěrbīn Guójì Bīngxuě Jié) has been held since 1963. It had been interrupted for a number of years during the Cultural Revolution until it was resumed in 1985.
Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province of People's Republic of China, is one of the sources of ice and snow culture in the world. Geographically, it is located in Northeast China under the direct influence of the cold winter wind from Siberia. The average temperature in summer is 21.2 degrees Celsius, -16.8 degrees Celsius in winter. It can be as cold as -38.1 degrees Celsius in winter.
Officially, the festival starts from January 5th and it lasts one month. However often the exhibitions open earlier and last longer, weather permitting. Ice sculpture decoration ranges from the modern technology of lasers to traditional 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 Songhua River, and the ice-lantern exhibition in Zhaolin Garden.
The Harbin festival is one of the world's four largest ice and snow festivals, along with Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada's Quebec City Winter Carnival, and Norway's Ski Festival.
The 2007 festival featured the Canadian theme, in memoriam of Canadian doctor Norman Bethune. It also a Guinness Record of the largest snow sculpture: 250 metres long, 28 feet (8.5 m) high, using over 13,000 cubic metres of snow. The composition consisted of two parts: "Niagara Falls" and "Crossing the Bering Strait" (the latter depicting the migration of the First Nations).
Construction
Swing saws are used to carve ice into blocks, taken from the surface of nearby Songhua River.[1] Chisels, ice picks and various types of saws are then used by ice sculptors on such blocks 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 used to give colour to glass, creating variations on sculptured spectacles when lit up especially at night. Some ice sculptures made in previous years include: buildings and monuments of different architectural types and styles, figures including animals people and mythical creatures, slippery dips or ice slides and lanterns.[5][6] Apart from winter recreational activities that can be done in Harbin, these ice sculptures being exquisitely detailed and produced en masse, are the main draw card in attracting tourists around the world to the festival.[4]
See also
References
- ^ a b AFP (13 November 2008). "Ice is money in China's coldest city". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 26 December 2009.
- ^ BBC (6 January 2007). "In pictures: Harbin ice festival". BBC News. Retrieved 26 December 2009.
- ^ Zeitvogel, K. (18 December 2009). "Chinese-sculpted winter wonderland in Washington". AFP/Google. Retrieved 26 December 2009.
- ^ a b Strum, J. (22 December 2009). "Northern Chinese city embraces cold and ice". The State Journal, Frankfort, Kentucky. Retrieved 26 December 2009.
- ^ Taylor, A. (9 January 2009). "Icy days and nights". Boston.com/AP/Getty Images/AFP/Reuters. Retrieved 26 December 2009.
- ^ Mullen, N.; Lin, C-C. (2005). "Chinese Folk Art, Festivals, and Symbolism in Everyday Life" (PDF). Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology/University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 26 December 2009.