Generally Asian countries are considered to be warmer than their European / American counterparts. No wonder, specialities like ‘winter’, ‘snow’, ice’…. are more closely associated with Americas and Europe.
But, still there are a few locations in Asia that can ‘steal a match’ over many celebrated cool-destinations in the rest of the world ! One such location is Harbin, the Ice City, in North-East China.
The capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province (the most north-eastern part of China), Harbin is blessed with natural beauty and a very enjoyable climate. Here temperature is severely low during winter; resulting in abundant ice and snow. This arctic-like climate earned Harbin the tag ‘Ice City’. Harbin alias ‘Ice City’ is now getting worldwide recognition for its “Ice and Snow Festival” – an annual event that is usually held on every January.
Harbin’s one month-long ‘ice fest’ is particularly known for some extraordinary ice / snow artworks and sculptures, which includes scenes from Chinese fairy-tales as well as duplicates of world famous architectures such as ‘Great Wall of China’, ‘Egyptian Pyramids & Sphinx’, ‘Roman Colosseum ’, ‘Japanese Pagodas’ …. And, the traditional ice lanterns.
The best collections of ice artworks in Harbin festival are generally exhibited in spots namely – ‘The Sun Island Scenic Area’, ‘Harbin Ice and Snow World’, ‘Zhaolin Park’, ‘The Ice Lantern Garden Party’ and ‘Yabuli International Ski Resort’. Harbin city also has the world’s largest “indoor ice & snow art museum”, which opens to public from November every year.
Together with Japan’s ‘Sapporo Snow Festival’, Norway’s ‘Ski Festival’ and Canada’s ‘Quebec City Winter Carnival’, China’s ‘Harbin Ice and Snow Festival’ constitutes the four largest ice & snow festivals in the world.
Apart from the locals, people across the globe regularly flock to see Harbin’s gigantic and marvelous ice-architectural parks – a totally different kind of World !
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