A night view of the Harbin Ice and Snow World in Heilongjiang province. ZHANG SHU/FOR CHINA DAILY
Since its opening on Dec 21, the 26th Harbin Ice and Snow World, in the capital city of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, has welcomed numerous tourists from home and abroad.
With the theme of "Dream of Winter, Love Among Asia", the world's largest ice-and-snow theme park has been expanded from 810,000 square meters to 1 million this winter.
"The park's design and construction fully integrates elements of the 9th Asian Winter Games, creating a more dazzling ice and snow theme park this winter," said Luo Xin, deputy general manager of Harbin Ice-Snow World Co.
A series of activities, including an ice harvesting festival, a new fantasy show, outdoor performances and ice carving competitions, among other events, have been held during the winter.
Gliding down an ice slide more than 500 meters in length, Zhang Jiajia felt like she was flying, and that her one-minute experience had been worth the hour-plus wait in line.
"It's super exciting, and my heart soared with me," said Zhang, a tourist from East China's Zhejiang province, after completing her descent.
A girl enjoys her time at the theme park. WANG JIANWEI/XINHUA
The park boasts the largest scale in its history, with more than 300,000 cubic meters of ice and snow sculpted across nine zones, recreating landmarks and landscapes of the 45 countries and regions, including China's Temple of Heaven, Japan's Osaka Castle and India's Taj Mahal.
The main attraction of the park — a tower called Love Among Asia — draws inspiration from the official emblem of the Olympic Council of Asia.
The tower's core has the shape of a radiant sun, representing the vigorous development of Asia and Asian sports.
The structure is surrounded by a dragon and an eagle, symbolizing East, Central and West Asia, respectively. Their appearance together expresses unity and common development among Asian countries. The tower's main structure is composed of staggered ice columns, creating the visual effect of ascending levels. Designers also incorporated the latest lighting technology, using a full-color variable lighting linkage control system.
Via preset programs and wireless cloud platform control of its color and display modes, it makes for a stunning visual feast.
A bird's-eye view of the park. ZHANG SHU/FOR CHINA DAILY
There is also a supersized maze in the shape of a snowflake in the park this year, providing visitors with a brand-new experience, according to the organizers. As night falls, the ice walls will be illuminated.
The paths inside the ice maze are meticulously calculated and carefully planned. They feature interactive scenes inspired by the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac, which were designed by renowned artist Han Meilin. There are also more than 20 carefully designed small ice slides scattered throughout the park, each with a beautiful and whimsical appearance.
The park has strategically located commercial services and multiple high-end boutique restrooms to meet the practical needs of visitors during their tour.
All four-season ice and snow projects are fully operational, with additional warm shelters added throughout the park for visitors to take a break and warm up whenever they feel cold or tired.
