The event is recognized as the largest of its
kind in the world.
The Festival officially lasts for one month, but
with winter temperatures in the city averaging
a bone-chilling minus 17C, many of the
sculptures remain in place for considerably
longer than that.
The sculptures are formed either from
compacted snow, or from blocks of ice which
are hauled out of the nearby Songhua River.
Purified water is also used, - frozen into
blocks of clear ice. Many of the sculptures are
illuminated to add another dimension to the
displays during the long hours of darkness at
this time of the year.
The Festival began in 1963 but it was only
held sporadically, because of the upheaval
during the Cultural Revolution. It became a
regular event in 1985.
In 2001 the Harbin Ice Festival was merged
with the Heilongjiang International Ski
Festival, to become the event we know today.
In 2007, a sculpture celebrating the work of a
revered Canadian doctor, Norman Bethune,
was recognised as the world’s largest ice
sculpture. Featuring both Niagara Falls and
the Bering Strait, it measured 250m in length
and 8.5m in height. A total of 13,000 cubic
metres of snow was used in its construction.
The country star, who will perform with the "All About That Bass" singer at the Country Music Awards, said she has yet to meet the newcomer with the year's biggest hit. "I've not met Meghan yet, but we've been texting back and forth," Lambert said in an interview Monday in Nashville, Tennessee, where the CMAs will be held Wednesday. "We've listened to 'All About That Bass' probably about a thousand times this summer on the tour, so I already know it, obviously." "Bass" is spending its eighth week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Trainor, who released an EP this year, will drop a full-length album in January and launch a tour a month later.
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