Greatest Ice Show On Earth
By tony leather, 8th May 2012 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutTravelAsiaChinaThe Northwest
The annual Sculptural wonder display is made more spectacular by the outstanding light shows, the whole thing genuinely one of the artistic wonders of the world.
Greatest Ice Show On Earth
In the bitterly cold north-east of China, the city of Harbin was recently home to the 28th annual International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, in which ice from the Frozen Songhua river is used to sculpt gigantic replicas of buildings, along with massive snow sculptures, and other attractions, illuminated from inside and outside as well, creating stunning spectacles.
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Greeting visitors this year is a 20ft tall snow sculpture of Marilyn Monroe depicting her as she appeared in that iconic Seven Year Itch scene from 1955, her dress blowing high over a subway grate. The 45 colorful ice sculptures on display along the streets are truly stunning.
Established in 1985, the wondrous Festival is held annually in the capital city of Heilongjiang Province - China showing off with her original and greatest ice artwork sculptural extravaganza, attracting of local people and visitors from all over the world by the hundreds of thousands.
Harbin being located in such a cold arctic climate provides abundant natural ice and snow, meaning that the city is dubbed the Ice City -recognized as the cradle of Chinese ice and snow art and world-famous for ice and snow sculptures which are both exquisite and artistic.
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Forerunner of the current festival was the aptly named fabulous Ice Lantern Festival - still the best loved part of the overall event - which this year is scheduled to last for three months, with lots of winter-themed in which tourists can take part.
On the opening night, glorious fireworks lit up the skies behind glistening ice castles to mark the opening night, with a main venue - Ice and Snow World - constructed ice and snow volumes equivalent to 300 standard-sized swimming pools.
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All of the stunning exhibits on display are in temperatures averaging minus 21 degrees, so no wonder that tourists get bundled up in down jackets and thick boots, because keeping warm is anything but easy, even if those wandering around the sculptures are mesmerized.
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Festival opening day is a public holiday in Harbin city, the event partly sponsored by the Chinese government, and costing almost $20 million U.S. dollars to stage, expected to draw up to1.3 million visitors. The annual Sculptural wonder display is made more spectacular by the outstanding light shows, the whole thing genuinely one of the artistic wonders of the world.
Comments
9th May 2012 (#)
nice article... amazing pictures...
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9th May 2012 (#)
These are amazing ice sculptures. Thanks for sharing, Tony.
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9th May 2012 (#)
I loved these myself
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