Harbin Ice Sculptures, Harbin

An exciting experience is to go to the home of the famous Harbin ice carvers - each year the display of often very intricate and ornate ice carvings are able to be displayed sitting in the park as its minus 30 degrees or more.

So head for the far north of China, rug up, lots of layers or even better like I was lucky enough to be given, put on a PLA coat and rabbit skin hat and roam around on a night visit with the display done up in lights, music etc.

Heading up that way in sub zero winter though have a good read before you head off and before you get there of a good guide book such as the travel bible for China I relied on - the Lonely Planet.

If you travel to Harbin for the Ice an Snow Festival in held January-February, there are three Festivals held in three different Parks that you may want to visit.

The most notable is the Ice Lantern Festival, a must-see during night hours (after 4:00 pm) when the ice sculptures are lit. The Park is quite out of town and you will need transportation to get there. Many hotel offer free shuttle service to this Festival. Entrance to the the Ice Lantern Festival in January 2010 was 200 RMB per person.

The second Park you may want to visit is the Sun Island Snow Festival, held in Sun Island and exhibiting snow sculptures. It can be easily reached with the cable car (from the River Bank look in the sky where the cable car is) plus a 5-minute walk. It is open only during the day hours and closes at sunset. In January 2010 entrance to the Sun Island Snow Festival was 150 RMB per person.

The smaller, most conveniently located in Harbin's city center Zhaolin Park Snow Festival, though not majestic like the other two, will give you a good introduction with a good variety of snow and ice sculptures. Open during both day and night hours, entrance in January 2010 was 50 RMB during the day hours and 100 RMB after sunset, when the ice sculptures are lit.

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Harbin holds an international Ice & Snow Festival every year beginning in January and ending around the middle of March. It is a must see if you're in the Northeast part of China during the winter. Be sure to take plenty of warm clothes!

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If you are coming to Harbin for the Ice Festival attractions, book hotels and all early. It seems to be a popular time. I will get photos this winter, if I can, and upload them then. For now, some information. It's become an international festival, though I can't say it was as impressive as I imagined.

There are a few places to go to see Ice: Sun Island Park, Harbin Ice and Snow World and Zhaolin Park . Each has something different.

Sun Island Park holds the Snow Sculpture Exposition and the largest snow/ice art museum in the world, I believe.

Harbin Ice and Snow World is the site for other Chinese ice sculptures, buildings made from blocks of ice with colored lights inside. Get here around dusk (which can be 4:30pm during the winter). In the summer, get here around 8pm, but don't expect to see any ice... ;)

Zhaolin Park has the more traditional ice lanterns. Supposedly well worth a visit.

There are several bus lines that run to these. For more information, the website http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/heilongjiang/harbin/ice_snow.htm has good information.

Three images.

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We trudged across the Songhua river, with a faint hope that the odd shapes in the distance resolved into something related to ice sculpting. Harbin's Ice and Snow World cost an astounding 150RMB to get into. Once inside, it was a nifty place to visit, cold, of course, but an interesting way to spend an evening.

What impressed me most was the sheer quantity and size of the piles of feces that sat freezing behind (and in) some of the ice buildings. Human, no less. I'm not sure what's worse... that people couldn't use the bathrooms (which were probably filthy with no toilet paper or soap- which really makes me wonder why China hasn't had an enormous epidemic... or if it's due for one...) or that no one cleaned it up. Anyway, that about summed up the place for us: cold crap with colored lights.

Ha ha! It wasn't that bad, really. The Parthenon was really neat, and they have slides which aren't that great to slide on, I hear... but if you plan to go, buy some crampons or those little things that fit over the soles of your shoes to help walk on ice... the place is slippery and in China if you fall and hurt yourself, you're on your own... welcome to the real world, I guess.

They turn the lights on around dusk, which can be around 4:30pm!

It's bright, colorful and famous... why not?

Five images here, many more in the travelogue, "9th Harbin Snow and Ice World".

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Zhongyang Dajie is lined with Russian-style buildings, and in winter with small-scale ice sculptures too. One end of it ends at the Flood Control Monument beside Songhua River.
At night it's lit up and looks very atmospheric.

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Harbin is the homeland of China's ice sculptures, the Ice Sculpture Festival has been held annually in January/February since 1963.
Plenty of ice sculptures and buildings here, especially beautiful when lit up at night -- that's the reason for the higher admission price after 1600.
Some are competition pieces by countries such as China, Japan, Russia, Malaysia etc. Some are even made by primary school students!
Plenty of family fun for the kids and everyone else at the ice slides and "playgrounds". There's also sledding for free.
Admission 20 RMB before 1600, 40 RMB after 1600; students get half price. Price also seems to fall as you get nearer to the end of the festival (usually February).

The night I was there, it was pretty cold (approximately -25 degree). My youngest call it quit after an hour outdoor and when to an heated indoor cafe for a cup of hot chocolate (20 RMB). My 2 teenager kids played for 4 hours outdoor and wanted to continue.

Myself, I fell twice on the slipping floor / ice. Learned that one has to walk with the upper torso leaning slighting forward to swift the body centre of gravity forward.

Entrance fee: 150 RMB (Adult) and 75 RMB (child) fixed regardless of time of buying ticket.

Shangri-La hotel's room promotional rate gives a 20% discount for the entrance fee to the Ice Sculpture.

Best time of visit: After 4pm when the sky gets dark.

Get a good pair of shoes easily available at Wal-Mart or pay a hefty price at the park's indoor cafe for the same pair.