Sun Island Snow Festival 2017

The snow princess sculpture at the entrance to the Snow Festival, held annually as part of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival at the Sun Island Scenic Area. Entrance is ¥240 (about US$35) for foreigners and ¥150 (roughly US$22) for local residents.

A sculpture depicting Harbin's historic fusion of Eastern European, East Asian, and modern influences.

One of the larger sculptures at the Festival this year inspired by Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

It was a little startling (and cool!) to see a desert scene depicted in snow.

Some of my favorites among the snow sculptures incorporated traditional Chinese painting in really stunning ways!

It's the Year of the Fire Rooster on the Chinese calendar, so it was a little funny to see so many roosters made of snow...

More snow/paint gorgeousness!

A snow seahorse! (Or a sea snowhorse?)

This particular sculpture was really striking!

The view over the frozen lake at the heart of the Sun Island Scenic Area.

Sunset over Sun Island!

Another of my favorites!

WHAT is that shark going to do to that poor rooster!?

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!

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!