Every year, since 1963, the spectacular Snow and Ice Sculpture Festival is held in the city of

Harbin (China). It takes place in January and lasts about a month. If the weather permits and
the buildings do not start to crumble in the sun, it lasts until the end of February.

The Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival is one of the four most important
festivals in the world, along with the one in Sapporo (Japan), the one in Norway and the one
held during the carnival in Quebec (Canada).

entered the Guinness Book of Records in 2007, presenting the world's largest snow sculpture,
250 meters long and with a volume of 13,000 cubic meters of snow. The spectacular sculpture
consisted of two parts, one representing Niagara Falls and the other the Bering Strait.

To carve the gigantic blocks of ice from the surface of the Shongua River and shape them,
basically chainsaws are used, but also ice picks and other tools. More recently, deionized water
has been used to make the sculptures more transparent. The maximum spectacularity is
achieved with the use of multicolored lights.

The festival consists of three theme parks: the "Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art
Expo" (a snow sculpture theme park), the "Harbin Ice and Snow World" (where most of the
shows and activities are held and the illuminated ice buildings are located) and finally the
"Zhaolin Park Ice Lantern Fair" (an ice lantern theme park).

The Harbin festival not only hosts the international ice sculpture competition, but also many
other activities and events, such as an ice and snow carnival, ice lantern shows, ice sailing,
sledding, swimming and the national sport, ice hockey. Some even take the opportunity to
celebrate their wedding ceremonies.