Shimmering ice city unveiled in China

Harbin unveils a glittering winter wonderland made up of 110,000 cubic meters of snow. The event in its 36th year attracts millions of visitors from all over the world.

Harbin: In the dark depths of winter in the northernmost province of China, a riot of fireworks and twinkling lights sparkle in the night sky.

A glittering winter wonderland built of ice and snow and sprawling across four enormous sites has been unveiled to thousands of delighted visitors and locals.

Here, thousands are braving some of the coldest temperatures in China to experience an annual display that glitters and shimmers. And this extraordinary spectacle is built entirely of snow and ice.

The 2020 Harbin Snow and Ice Festival officially opened this weekend. The event - in its 36th year - attracts millions of visitors from all over the world.

The festival sprawls across four sites, with the largest two the Sun Island Snow Park, and the Harbin Ice and Snow Park, both near the banks of north-eastern China's mighty Songhua River.

This year, the Sun Island Snow Park covers an area of 600,000 square meters.

110,000 cubic meters of snow have been used to build the ice-cold environment and the structures.

In the main, the artists work outside, in temperatures that rarely rise above -15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit). Here in Snow Park, the sculptures made from packed snow tell a uniquely Chinese story.

There are rats some giving the thumbs-up sign to mark the start of the Year of the Rat on the Chinese Zodiac calendar. There's also a phoenix, carved from the snow: in Chinese culture, the phoenix symbolises femininity and grace.

It displays like these that are winning over even the most cynical of visitors, like Chen Chen, who has traveled here from the much milder climes of Shanghai.

"(At first) I thought it was boring to see the sculptures. (But) once I am here and become part of the environment, I feel different. The frigid weather and the snow only enhance the beauty of each one at this moment," he says.

With its famously long, cold winters and its short cool summers, Harbin is known throughout China for its ice and snow. Here on the city's Central Avenue, a shopping area famous for its Russian-style architecture, locals and tourists can admire ice and snow sculptures every few meters.

And it doesn't all come together overnight. At the beginning of every December, local workers start the painstaking work of preparing the Harbin Ice and Snow Park.

They cut into the frozen Songhua River, and drag and haul large chunks of ice which are then shaped into all manner of structures, from castles to slides.

Wang Xiaoyu has worked for five years as a landscape designer at the Park. This year, executing her vision took 360 hours, with 10,000 workers required for the job.

"One of our design ideas this year is "traditional inheritance", she explains.

"You can see the elements of Western classical architectures were blended into our design. In the meantime, we have ice and snow entertainment facilities in the ice castles like slides, mazes (and) bikes."

Many of the attractions this year provide fun for visitors of all ages and interests.

Across the festival's locations, there are more than 20 games and activities on offer. Adults and children are loving the ice slides and are also enjoying their time in the ice city.

There are also bikes of different sizes, that can be safely ridden on the packed snow and ice.

A key part of the spectacle as the daylight dims is the light display: for the past five years, Wang and her team have been using LED strip lights, which Wang says makes things softer.

"It makes the whole piece of ice block bloom. This is an effect that traditional light bulbs cannot make," she says.

And as the tourists cycle and walk their way around the park, their interactions with the displays have an effect too, Wang explains.

"The lights in each ice sculpture change together with tourists' interactions. For example, it changes with the rhythm of a bell ringing, and with music. Also, the ice sculptures in one area echo with each other to create a general effect," she says.

The glittering, icy spectacle is known throughout China, with families, couples, groups of friends and singles traveling here from far and wide. Chen Bailing is here with her parents from Hebei province, in central China.

"My father has never seen the ice lights, but he knows the ice lights are magnificent, so I want to show my parents how it looks like. After I came, I realized the lights are very beautiful indeed. We don't even want to leave. Although it is cold, we enjoy ourselves so much," she says.

The ice festival was first held here in 1985.

This year, the event also includes competitions like ice swimming, skiing, and even a triathlon.

But for most visitors, it's vistas like this one that keeps them returning.