On January 2, in the Sun Island Snow Expo Park, tourists toured in front of the snow sculptures. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Tao
Harbin, 10 Feb (Xinhua) -- With the Beijing Winter Olympics approaching, China's ice city of Harbin has added color to the Winter Olympics in a unique way. This city with ice and snow genes transforms into an "ice and snow kingdom" to welcome the Winter Olympics and convey the Olympic spirit.
After the Spring Festival, the night temperature in Harbin is still below minus 20 degrees Celsius. Located on the banks of the Songhua River, Harbin Ice and Snow World is a variety of buildings built with ice cubes, which are full of light and dreams at night.
This year's Harbin Ice and Snow World focuses on the elements of the Winter Olympics, with the theme of "The Light of the Winter Olympics Shines the World", and the park is divided into seven areas: the Light of the Winter Olympics, the Sacred Area of the Five Rings, the Peak of The Shining, the Dream Ice Field, the Joyful Gathering, the Passionate Snow Circle and the Flying Snow Mountain.
"It's so beautiful." Li Min, a tourist from southern China, and friends hold a fiery red ice sugar gourd in their hands and pose in front of a torch-shaped ice sculpture building. She was dressed "fully armed", and her eyelashes were frosted with a layer of white frost, but she looked very happy.
The first prize of the 28th National Snow Sculpture Competition "Hongyan" (taken on January 14). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Tao
Ice and Snow World is a beautiful city business card of Harbin. The 23rd Harbin Ice and Snow World covers an area of 820,000 square meters, and 65 groups of ice and snow landscapes have been built with 230,000 cubic meters of ice and snow, showing the world a magnificent and dreamy ice and snow wonder.
Hu Song, an ice carver, is one of the more than 2,000 builders of this year's Harbin Ice and Snow World. "I've been doing ice sculpture for 17 years, but this year is very special because the Winter Olympics are closest to me."
In the center of Harbin Ice and Snow World Park, the 42-meter-high ice sculpture "Top of the Sacred Flame" is like an Olympic flame lit, towering and sacred. It integrates the triple design concept of time and space silhouette, Olympic imprint and ice and snow flame, and integrates the silhouettes of previous Winter Olympic Games into it to form a time and space matrix. Visitors can feel the style of the previous Winter Olympic Games.
Hu Song said: "Using ice to make a sacred fire, I think it is a very good idea. The design of these buildings around the flame is inspired by the countries that have hosted the Winter Olympics, implying that the countries are reunited again around the Winter Olympic flame. ”
To help the Beijing Winter Olympics, the beauty of ice and snow blooms. In the quiet and magnificent Harbin Sun Island, a giant snow sculpture based on the mascots of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, "Ice Pier" and "Snow Rongrong", towers on the island. This huge snow sculpture mascot, which is 30 meters high, seems to welcome visitors from all over the world with open arms.
Tourists play in the Harbin Ice and Snow World Park on January 2 (drone photo). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Tao
Entering the ice and snow season, the Harbin Ice Lantern Art Garden Club held a number of ice sculpture competitions in the park, of which a group of ice sculpture works called "Winter Olympic Athletes" was the most eye-catching. This group of ice sculptures not only shows the emblem of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, but also shapes the cool and heroic posture of the three Winter Olympic athletes. In order to allow tourists to enjoy the beauty of ice lanterns and feel the spirit of the Winter Olympics in the fun, swimming and playing, this year's Harbin Ice Lantern Art Park will be open to the public free of charge.
Zhang Guihai, president of the Heilongjiang Ice and Snow Industry Research Institute, said that Harbin has created a magnificent "ice and snow kingdom" and conveyed the Olympic spirit through the magnificent ice and snow landscape, crystal clear ice sculpture buildings, glittering ice and snow night scenes, and brilliant and dazzling lighting special effects.
As one of the earliest cities in China to carry out ice and snow sports, Harbin has trained a large number of ice and snow athletes. Of the 176 athletes in the Chinese sports delegation at the Beijing Winter Olympics, 41 were Harbin athletes, including Ren Ziwei, who won the men's 1000m short track speed skating final.
In recent years, relying on its unique ice and snow resources, Harbin has carried out a series of ice and snow activities such as ice and snow tourism, ice and snow art, ice and snow economy and trade, and ice and snow sports, so as to promote the integrated development of ice and snow sports, ice and snow culture and tourism.
Known as the "pearl in the crown of China's ice and snow", Harbin is exuding a unique Charm of the Winter Olympics.