Each December, as temperatures drop below freezing, a city in the northeast of China becomes a true ice kingdom.
Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province, hosts the International Snow and Ice Sculpture Festival, a snowy spectacle in which enormous blocks of frozen water are transformed into castles, buildings, and illuminated figures that look as though they stepped straight out of a fairy tale.
Along with the Sapporo Snow Festival (Japan) and the Quebec Winter Carnival (Canada), the event is part of the world’s major winter celebrations.
The next edition will again transform the Ice City into a stage for monumental sculptures, winter activities, and dazzling light displays.
Although the official opening is scheduled for January 2027, the emblematic venue—the Ice and Snow World—usually opens its doors a few weeks earlier, around the December 20, provided weather conditions permit, of course.
The realm of Frozen brought to life
One of the festival’s main stars is the Harbin Ice and Snow World, a colossal theme park where ice transforms into fairy-tale castles, replicas of iconic monuments, and sculptures of animals and fantastical characters.
In 2023, the venue earned a place in Guinness World Records as the world’s largest temporary ice and snow theme park, spanning over 816,000 square meters and consuming more than 300,000 cubic meters of ice and snow.
