Harbin in China, above, hosts a spectacular ice festival each year. As we saw at the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony, when the Chinese choose to do something big, they go for it.
February 6, 2009
23rd Int'l Ice Sculpture Competition in Harbin
![A visitor looks at an ice sculpture during the 23rd International Ice Sculpture Competition in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, January 8, 2009. About 60 competitors from 12 countries and regions took part in this event which concluded on Thursday. [Xinhua]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20090109/000cf1a48b7f0ad100331c.jpg "A visitor looks at an ice sculpture during the 23rd International Ice Sculpture Competition in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, January 8, 2009. About 60 competitors from 12 countries and regions took part in this event which concluded on Thursday. [Xinhua]") |
![A visitor looks at an ice sculpture during the 23rd International Ice Sculpture Competition in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, January 8, 2009. About 60 competitors from 12 countries and regions took part in this event which concluded on Thursday. [Xinhua]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20090109/000cf1a48b7f0ad101721d.jpg "A visitor looks at an ice sculpture during the 23rd International Ice Sculpture Competition in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, January 8, 2009. About 60 competitors from 12 countries and regions took part in this event which concluded on Thursday. [Xinhua]") ![An ice sculpture is seen during the 23rd International Ice Sculpture Competition in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, January 8, 2009. About 60 competitors from 12 countries and regions took part in this event which concluded on Thursday. [Xinhua]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20090109/000cf1a48b7f0ad101c11f.jpg) |
A visitor looks at an ice sculpture during the 23rd International Ice Sculpture Competition in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, January 8, 2009. About 60 competitors from 12 countries and regions took part in this event which concluded on Thursday. [Xinhua]
Snow/Ice Festival in China 2008
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The structures on display at ICE! are created by a team of artisans who also participate in the International Ice & Snow festival in Harbin, China. This event, held in January and February, is constructed by thousands of professional artisans working with millions of pounds of ice. As part of the festival, more than 2,000 artisans carve a 100-acre walk-through Ice Park each year from blocks of ice taken from the Songhua River.
This annual festival starts in early January at Zhao Lin Park, which is named after a general buried in the park. Extremely popular among locals and tourists, the festival runs for two months. The "Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival" is one of the world's four largest ice and snow festivals, along with Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada's Quebec Winter Carnival, and Norway's Ski Festival.
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