Harbin Ice and Snow Festival

Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province, northernmost of China, is known for its extremely cold winters. It is also famous for this annual Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, attracting hundreds of participants and thousands of visitors worldwide in its ice sculpturing activities.

The ice sculptures are built to impress, often accompanied with colourful lights and fireworks. The scale of each sculpture is usually so grand, it leaves visitors in awe and amazement. Besides the display of ice sculptures, there are also ice sporting activities happening alongside.

Officially, the festival starts from January 5th and it lasts one month. This year is no exception, below are some photos of the 2009 festival, which opened less than a week ago.

vocabulary

哈尔滨   hāěrbīn                 harbin harbin                              n.

冰雕     bīnɡdiāo                bingdiao ice carving                   n.

冰雪节  bīnɡxuějié      bing-xue-jie ice and snow festival  phr.