Incredible images show construction of China’s famous Ice and Snow Festival

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Sophie Williams28 December 2018

Incredible images show the construction of China’s famous Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin.

The annual festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and opens to members of the public on January 5.

Temperatures in Harbin at this time of year drop to -35C, allowing the festival to stay open for around a month.

The venue spans some 600,000 square metres and contains copies of famous world landmarks such as Rome’s Coliseum

A Chinese worker takes a picture with his phone of ice sculptures he and others built in preparation for the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival
Getty Images

Visitors will be able to see over 2,000 ice sculptures created by artists from all over the world.

To celebrate its anniversary, the festival will present popular ice and snow landscapes from the past 20 years.

Cranes are seen next to workers sculpting a giant snowman by the Songhua river in Harbin
Reuters

It will also increase its number of slides from three to six.

According to Xinhua, it took workers around 15 days to build the ice and snow theme park.

Images show workers using ice picks to dislodge large blocks of ice that were then used to create the giant structures.

Chinese laborers gather around ice sculptures as they work in preparation for the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival
Getty Images

The blocks each weigh up to 700kg.

In other images, labourers are seen installing lights into the blocks of ice to create the beautiful colourful buildings.

The ice blocks each weigh up to 700kg
Getty Images

According to Newsweek, around 10,000 labourers have worked on the project this year.

Last year, around 18 million people visited the festival.

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