Making art and fun from the ice, snow and freezing cold in Harbin, China

HARBIN, China (AP) — People are reveling in the joys of winter amid frigid temperatures in northeastern China. Sculptors have meticulously carved blocks of ice into elaborate structures resembling landmark castles and temples. At the annual Harbin Ice and Snow World, visitors are admiring these works of art and experiencing the thrills of ice slides and other attractions.

The ice sculpture festival is a major tourist draw for the former industrial hub, which still prides itself on its proximity to Russia, featuring Tsarist-era architecture not found elsewhere in China. The riverside site displays dozens of massive artworks such as India’s Taj Mahal, Japan’s Osaka Castle and Beijing’s Temple of Heaven, all carved from clear blocks of ice.

“The ice sculptures look exactly the same as (the Temple of Heaven),” said Jin Yiting, a tourist from Shanghai visiting with her parents. “I touched the ice, the texture is very good, it is translucent. When the sunlight shines through, it looks very elegant,” she added. Another visitor, Song Shukun, who was pushing his girlfriend on a donut-shaped sled, said the ice gives insight into how the structures are assembled. “We can see the internal structure of the ice. The way they are arranged and how they touch each other reminds me of the bricks of the Great Wall of China,” Song said.

The main venue covers 1 square kilometer (0.6 square miles) of the city and the sculptures use 13,000 cubic meters (460,000 cubic feet) of ice, mostly taken from the nearby Songhua River. There are also satellite parks elsewhere in Harbin. “When I came here and saw all the ice sculptures and snow, it’s just amazing,” said Gu Junyan, who came from Henan province, where it rarely snows.

Ice slides are a major attraction, with the longest reaching 521 meters (1,710 feet), and visitors lining up for nearly an hour for a chance to experience them. “It was relatively smooth at the beginning. When I slid down the slope, the wind was very strong, and I felt very cold. It was very exciting,” said Gong Caiyun, who had just come off the slide. While the carved features include famous buildings and figures from Western and Chinese mythology, artist Andrew Alea said carvers prefer to keep it simple for maximum effect.

“We don’t want to do too much detail, we just want to play with the size, and these very clean, simple lines. Because (with) the snow, sometimes it’s difficult to appreciate the detail. Because everything is white. So we decided to use some lines, planes, and curves to make this fine art,” Alea said. AP video producers Olivia Zhang and Caroline Chen contributed to this report.