A record-breaking indoor ice and snow theme park has opened in Harbin, northeast China, building on the city’s ice lantern traditions, and the success of its annual Ice and Snow Festival. But unlike the festival, the theme park, which is now the world’s largest, according to the Guinness Book of Records, will be aiming to charm and delight visitors all year round.
Ice City festival
Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province where China’s northernmost and easternmost points lie, is known as the Ice City, owing to its long, freezing winters and short summer season. Every year since 1985, it has played host to an Ice and Snow Festival, where, on the frozen Songhua River, hundreds of ice sculptures appealing to all ages are created from blocks of river ice, attracting tens of thousands of tourists from China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, as well as abroad.
Although the festival is only open for two months from December, there is a certain charm in its fleetingness. As China Highlights tour company points out, the art created there is sometimes monolithic, yet “ephemeral. It is a large project, but short-lived: it lasts no more than 2 months. How big is it? Consider for example the amount of ice used: over 200,000 cubic metres (80 Olympic pools). As a normal truck carries 4–7 cubic metres of ice blocks per time, at least 30,000 to 50,000 truck journeys are used for transportation.”
Festival magic set to last all year
Now though authorities in Harbin are hoping to make that “ephemeral” magic last throughout the year, with the advent of the city’s new Harbin Ice and Snow World Park, which opened on 6 July, amid ironically unseasonal high temperatures of 29°C. Anyone seeking to escape the heat and stay cool during the summer, can now retreat to the indoor theme park, where temperatures hover at a shivery -8°C to -12°C.
That’s warm, compared to winter temperatures that can dip to -25°C without taking wind chill into account. Visitors must bundle up appropriately in thermal layers, gloves, hats, earmuffs and arctic-proof clothing, to ensure they can enjoy the sculptures at their best, in afternoon daylight and with their enchanting early evening illuminations.
23,800-square-metre wonderland
Inside the new 23,800-square-metre year-round park there are nine themed sections where visitors can explore 13 interactive installations. Cutting-edge ice sculpting techniques and special effects promise to immerse old and young alike in a wonderland carved from 20,000 cubic metres of ice, again taken from the Songhua River.
Other local offerings include sledding, karting and the opportunity to see some brave sea ice swimmers in action, then warm up with hearty regional specialities like stew and dumplings.
