Thursday, December 29, 2011

Snow Sculpture in China

This isn't new, but I happened across a great post about the Harbin Snow and Ice Festival--filled with lots of photos.

There are snow sculptures such as the beautiful woman playing a flute (?) as well as sculptures carved from ice--including a full-sized ship you can walk upon!

The temperature in Harbin reaches forty below zero, both Fahrenheit and Celsius, and stays below freezing nearly half the year. This Chinese city is actually further north than notoriously cold Vladivostok, Russia, just 300 miles away. So what does one do here every winter? Hold an outdoor festival, of course! Rather than suffer the cold, the residents of Harbin celebrate it, with an annual festival of snow and ice sculptures and competitions. The festival officially runs from January 5 through February 15, but often opens a week early and runs into March, since it’s usually still cold enough. This is the amazing sculpture made of snow greeting visitors to the snow festival in 2003. ~R Todd King
Check out complete R Todd King's information: http://www.rtoddking.com/chinawin2003_hb_if.htm