China inaugurates annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival

6 Jan 2016 12:14 PM IST

Fireworks set off to mark the opening of the annual Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin in northeast China's Heilongjiang province.
Though temperatures on Tuesday remained a biting -14 degrees Celsius even at noon, several festival-goers took part in an ice-swimming competition, diving into freezing pools of water cut into the ice.
Visitors sledded and snapped selfies on the eve of the park's opening ceremony, the translucent pagodas around them glowing in surreally neon pinks, blues and greens.
The 2016 edition is expected to draw more than one million visitors to admire castles and cathedrals sculpted out of ice and lit up at night in ethereal colours.
Since 1985, the Harbin International Snow and Ice Festival has grown to become one of the biggest snow festival destinations in the world, joining the ranks of the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan, Canada's Quebec Winter Carnival and Norway's
The main attraction is the Harbin Ice and Snow World, which covers more than 750,000 square meters. Its magnificent structures required more than 330,000 cubic meters of ice and snow to create.
The annual event, now in its 32nd year, is made up of several themed zones including a sculpture art expo and a lantern fair.

Fireworks set off to mark the opening of the annual Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin in northeast China's Heilongjiang province.