Travel China when winter comes especially in January will be very suitable time for visitors to come and join the famous International Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin.

As the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang province in China's northeast region, Harbin is the ideal destination for travelers who are interest to spend their winter vacation in China. Harbin offers wide ranges of winter activities such as skiing, dog sledding, snowboarding, as well as its popular Ice and Snow Lantern Festival.

Short Introduction about Harbin Ice Snow Lantern Festival
Construction of Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival

Harbin in Northeast China, plays host the largest ice and snow festival in the world. Starting in January and running for over a month, the Harbin International Ice & Snow Sculpture Festival dazzles visitors with its enormous frozen sculptures, which are centre around Sun Island. The festival is one of the largest in the world stretching to 6,458,400 square feet.

According to the festival organizers, nearly 10,000 workers were employed to build the ice and snow sculptures, which require about 590,000 square feet of ice and 492,000 square feet of snow. They have been working on the festival to put the finishing touches to the exhibits before the site opens to the public on January 5. The temperature there has plummeted to minus 28 degree Celsius but that does not stop the locals and tourists from coming in for a glimpse of the spectacular frozen city. One million visitors are expected to travel to the festival.

The Day of Harbin Ice Snow Lantern Festival
Day's View

In 2014, the festival offer some replicas of New York's Empire State Building, Rome's Colosseum, Reykjavik's Hallgrimskirkja Church and the Great Wall of China which all carved from ice using of picks, chisels, swing saws and lasers.

The other main attraction is the famed 'Ice and Snow World', which showcases brightly illuminated full-sized buildings, recreated from 3-foot thick blocks of ice taken from the local Songhua River.

Harbin Ice Snow Lantern Festival at Night
Night's Views

The enormous structures are best appreciated at night when Harbin twinkles like a giant Lite-Brite thanks to countless LED lights embedded in the ice. Some buildings are as tall as a western skyscraper, while the entire city illuminates in glittering LED lights making it a real winter wonderland.

Far from being static pieces of art, organizers invite revelers to slip down ice slides, hop atop mythical ice creatures and skate through the myriad ice rinks. Choose one of your favorite Harbin tour to personally experience plenty winter activities in Harbin!