Zhongyang Ice and Snow Festival 2017

This isn't part of the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival per se, but it was cool to see the lanterns rising over the Flood Control Monument the evening I went to check out Zhongyang Avenue's ice and snow sculptures!

The snow and ice sculptures of Chinese dumplings near the Flood Control Monument - the ice sculpture is almost good enough to make you hungry!

One of the ice-block beer gardens set up along Zhongyang this winter! 

This year's Coca-Cola store and snow sculpture.

My favorite of this year's ice sculptures along Zhongyang!

Zhaolin Park Ice Festival 2017

The south entrance to Zhaolin Park this winter. Every year the Park features incredible ice sculptures as part of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. The entrance fee is ¥150 (about US$22) and well worth it!

The inner gate at the south entrance to the Zhaolin Park Ice Festival.

Looking back towards the inner gate. This year the walkway featured plaques with the history of Harbin's Ice and Snow Festival.

The skill and diversity of the ice sculptures featured at Zhaolin is just incredible!

There were two or three ice sculptures featuring dolphins, but this was my favorite...

Dancers - simple, yet elegant.

I believe this depicts a character from Chinese opera.

An ice sculpture of a Kazakh eagle hunter!

Some of the sculptures were simple, others (like the one pictured above) were quite complex.

There were some ice sculptures depicting cartoon characters, but I definitely wasn't expecting to see something from Alien!

Seriously so much gorgeousness!

One of the smaller entryways to the park. A lot of the more monumental ice structures at Zhaolin Park were beautiful homages to classical Chinese architecture, something sadly not seen in most Chinese cities today...

Year of the Monkey in Ice

One of my favorite finds this year at the intersection of Aijian Road and Shanghai Street: A ring of ice sculptures depicting the signs of the Chinese zodiac. Pictured is the sculpture of this year's animal on the Chinese calendar, the monkey (猴 / hóu).

Ice and Snow Sculptures on Zhongyang

大白! A snow sculpture of Dà Bái or 'Big White,' as Baymax is known here. Apparently Baymax likes Manchurian kvass...

A sweet ice sculpture near Zhongyang Avenue's Bomele 1931.

An ice sculpture commemorating the 118th anniversary of Harbin's founding in 1898 by Russia's Chinese Eastern Railway.

Another lovely ice sculpture.

Another of the snow sculptures up now along Zhongyang Avenue.

Harbin Ice Festival 2016

The entrance to the Harbin Ice Festival on Sun Island, part of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. I didn't realize until recently that there are actually two separate festival grounds, one housing ice sculptures and ice block buildings and the other of snow sculptures.

The Ice Festival was pretty amazing, although quite pricey by local standards as entrance tickets cost ¥300 (just over US$46).

I was able to visit the Ice Festival from mid-afternoon to evening, which was a great way to see the grounds in both the pre-sunset light and lit up in the dark. (As you can see, the lights were already on when I got there in the afternoon.)

The Ice Festival featured ice block structures inspired by buildings all over the world, although this is obviously a tribute to Harbin's Russian foundations.

It really is amazing how large some of the structures are!

A view of ice block buildings modeled on a Chinese building and either the Ottoman Blue Mosque or Greek Orthodox Hagia Sophia Cathedral.  

An overview of the Ice Festival grounds from the sledding hill.

The lighting was magnificent in the dark! 

I'm pretty sure you would easily be able to spot the Ice Festival grounds if you had an evening flight in or out of Harbin!

The Ice Festival did include this rather striking snow sculpture. I can only imagine how amazing the Snow Festival itself must be!

Another view of the night lights at the Ice Festival

A closeup of the Ice Festival's tribute to the Hagia Sophia or the Blue Mosque.

I still have no idea what this was supposed to be!

Although the festival grounds were markedly colder than the rest of the city, the Ice Festival is definitely worth checking out the next time you find yourself in Harbin in the winter!

Ice Sculptures In Progress

An ice sculpture dedicated to the coming New Year!

It's amazing how delicately beautiful so many of the ice sculptures along Zhongyang Avenue can be!

One of the ice sculptures outside the Coca Cola hall on Zhongyang Avenue.

An homage to the contents of the Songhua River, which I'm told is where all the ice blocks for Harbin's Ice and Snow Festival come from.

Ice Blocks Building an Ice City

It was so neat to see the ice buildings and ice sculptures start to go up on Zhongyang Avenue recently! Despite the at times horrific air pollution the winter really is a magical time in Harbin!

Streetside Ice Sculpture

Winter is a magical time of year in Harbin, thanks in large part to the many gorgeous ice sculptures and ice block constructions scattered around the city. I passed this particular beauty on Zhongyang Dajie, the city's pedestrian avenue. (It was just one of many lovely ice sculptures lining the street!)