The Harbin Snow and Ice Festival

Once January and February rolls around here in Central New York, most people are ready for Spring to be here and the snow, cold, and ice to be gone! Some people in other parts of the world enjoy the snow so much, that they hold festivals to celebrate the snow and ice. Harbin is located in the north-west region of China. Beginning in early January, The Harbin Ice and Snow Festival lasts 3-months and includes many exciting adventures, firework displays, and massive ice and snow sculptures. This is their 30th year. For Harbin this is a huge tourist attraction and takes a ton of man power to prepare for this event. An article on the Washington Post website shows a photo gallery of workers who live on sight, preparing for the festival. It takes over 10,000 people to carve some of these sculptures. In that article you can see even more photos of the sculptures and festival as well.

Just how big is this Chinese festival? According the Harbin Ice & Snow Festival website, it's a 3-month long festival that includes various 3-day, 5-day, even 6-day tours. Thousands of people brave the sub-zero temperatures to feast their eyes on the beauty and wonder of these extravagant structures. I want to leave you to look at some of these images which are photos of the festival, words can't describe the beauty of the art that is created for this gigantic event.