Harbin is known as one of the
birthplaces of the world ice and snow culture. In the summer of 1985, the
authorities decided to hold an annual ice-snow festival in Harbin in addition to
its traditional ice lantern celebration in parks. The ice-snow festival is held
from January 5 to February 5 every year. In 2001, the 17th Harbin
Ice-Snow Festival together with the 3rd Heilongjiang International
Skiing Festival changed into the Harbin International Ice-Snow Festival. It is
not only China's first regional festival with a theme of ice-snow, but also one
of the world's four grand ice-snow festivals. Up to now, 19 Harbin Ice-Snow
Festivals have been held successfully.
 |
|
The symbol of the International Ice-Snow Festival of
Harbin, China |
Since initiated in 1985, the Harbin
International Ice-Snow Festival has made full use of resources of ice and snow
and developed from a simple ice-snow festival to an international comprehensive
event that comprises a wide range of activities such as cultural exchange,
sports, trade, tourism and technological exchange.
The Harbin Ice-Snow Festival is not only a
special holiday for local people, but also a gala for people from all walks of
life at home and abroad. During the festival, various programs are presented to
the visitors, including huge ice sculptures exhibition in Stalin Park and Harbin
Ice-Snow World, which is known as Disneyland of Ice-Snow situated on the Songhua
River, snow sculptures exhibition on Sun Island, the Ice Lantern Amusement
Gathering in Zhaolin Park, and other activities such as winter swimming, ice
hockey, soccer match on snow land, alpine
skiing invitational tournament, ice sculpture
competition, International ice sculpture competition, speed skating, poetry
competition, photograph exhibition, books exhibition, film festival, and wedding
ceremony on ice.
Compared to the previous one, each Harbin
Ice-Snow Festival made progress and innovation in terms of organizing, design
and program arrangement. With an objective of building Harbin into a World
Ice-Snow Tour City, the festival has increasingly enlarged its scale and
provided more colorful activities to tourists. Moreover, it gradually improves
the level of ice-snow trade activities, aiming at the international market. It
also lays emphasis on ice-snow sports and aims at constructing a national stage
for such sports. To increase the international reputation, the festival also
invites international tourists all over the world.
With a widespread influence, nowadays the
Harbin International Ice-Snow Festival has become a window to show
the economic development of Harbin and people's happy life to the
world.
(Official website: www.harbin-ice.net)
