Cold comfort

Ice festival

Neighboring Heilongjiang province is also working out its plan for winter tourism.

For this winter season, the provincial culture and tourism department has launched major themed tourism products such as viewing winter scenery and experiencing related cultural activities across some 148 tourist spots. There are some 65 experience-themed destinations where tourists can enjoy the province's winter scenery.

After years of development of winter tourism routes and products, the provincial capital Harbin, also known as "ice city", has formed a relatively mature system and become a popular choice for tourists.

Residents and tourists in Harbin can easily find wintertime experiences through its ice-and-snow sculptures and entertainment offerings.

The 24th Harbin Ice and Snow World opened on Dec 17, welcoming the first visitors to the winter wonderland in Harbin. As an important part of the city's winter tourism season, the park has seasonally opened for 23 consecutive years.

Across the 810,000-square-meter amusement park, which combines ice, snow, and sound and lights, visitors can appreciate more than 100 groups of artworks made with ice rather than commonly used construction materials.

As people-made ice often contains air bubbles and is not strong enough to carve, ice for the festival is initially gathered from Songhua River, which runs through the city.

Under the rules, each block of ice must be 80 centimeters wide, 40 cm thick and 120 cm long.

After the first block of ice was pulled from the frozen river in early December, as much as 150,000 cubic meters of ice was transformed into fanciful buildings and sculptures, turning the park into an icy wonderland.

Tourists can participate in many activities, including riding on a 500-meter ice slide, the longest at the park to date.

A Ferris wheel in the shape of a giant snowflake has been built to provide a thrilling experience in a dazzling world after dark.

"Due to our concern about health safety on a long journey, I have suspended my family's annual travel plans," said local resident Zhou Xuan. "But as the most famous tourist spot in the city, my husband and I brought our 10-year-old son for a visit here."

"We are all surprised to find such a spectacular landscape even though we are so familiar with ice and snow," she added.

Another important event in the city — the 35th China Harbin Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo — kicked off on Dec 22, following three weeks of preparation.

At the expo, which is held at Sun Island Park, tourists can view 160 sets of snow sculptures that use more than 150,000 cubic meters of snow, including the 100-meter-long main sculpture, "Chasing a dream", which was completed in 10 days by 70 sculptors. It is based on the "flying maidens" of Buddhist art in Dunhuang, Gansu province, and combines aerospace elements to express the vision of the whole country toward a happy future.

Several snow sculpture competitions will be held at the park during the expo, which will last through February.