Winter Wonderland in Harbin, China

This year’s 37th annual Ice and Snow festival was opened on Sunday 5th January with fireworks. Since 1963, this festival has been done annually from December to January in the Harbin city of Heilongjiang province in China. This has also drawn many tourists from all over the world.

It was opened late because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, due to the reduced cases in China the festival has been reopened to celebrate the curbing of the pandemic. However strict measures are still being taken and many events are cancelled due to the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the neighboring Liaoning Province.

“Many tourists were very disappointed,” says Harbin tour guide Wang Yongfeng. “This caused the loss of some clients and tourists had a poor experience.”

Known as the “Disneyland of Ice and Snow”, The Harbin International Ice and Snow festival is one of the biggest event in the world. Workers pull out huge blocks of ice from the nearby Songhua River. Expert artists then work on crafting sculptures of a variety of things. This year the highlights include a crystal palace, a 220-square-foot fully functional “ice bar” and a scale model of China’s first aircraft.

Although gatherings are not allowed this year, one can still witness the spectacular view of tall man-made ice sculptures which glitter with the addition of lights.

For more information on the events of the festival, click on

http://www.harbinice.com/fact-v47-the-37th-harbin-ice-and-snow-festival-2021.html