This photo taken on December 10, 2019 shows a worker on the frozen Songhua river in Harbin, in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province ahead of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. PHOTO: AFP
Fireworks marked the festival's opening on Sunday night as tourists wandered between colourfully illuminated ice towers and monuments in the northeastern city.
This photo taken on December 10, 2019 shows workers carving up ice blocks on the frozen Songhua river in Harbin, in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province ahead of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. PHOTO: AFPEarlier in the day, 43 brides in lace wedding gowns and down jackets waited in line with grooms to take part in a "mass ice and snow wedding".
A few brave swimmers plunged into a pool carved from the frozen Songhua River on a day when temperatures stayed below minus seven degrees Celsius (19 Fahrenheit) even in the afternoon.
This photo taken on December 11, 2019 shows workers cutting into the ice to make blocks on the frozen Songhua river in Harbin, in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province ahead of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. PHOTO: AFPThis year's Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in the province of Heilongjiang required 170,000 cubic metres (six million cubic feet) of ice harvested from the Songhua River by more than 100 workers.
The workers toiled for hours on the ice each day in the weeks before the festival, cutting out thousands of pieces of ice every 12-hour shift.
This photo taken on December 11, 2019 shows workers using picks on ice blocks on the frozen Songhua river in Harbin, in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province ahead of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. PHOTO: AFPThe Harbin festival, featuring glittering palaces and fantastical scenes sculpted out of ice, has drawn millions of people over the years to one of China's coldest cities.
This year's festivities will coincide with the city's first skiing marathon this week, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
This photo taken on December 10, 2019 shows a worker moving ice blocks on the frozen Songhua river in Harbin, in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province ahead of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. PHOTO: AFPChina has ramped up its promotion of snow and ice tourism ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
An expressway is under construction linking Beijing and Zhangjiakou, a city in northern Hebei province that will co-host the Olympics, while a high-speed railway line connecting the two cities opened on December 30.
This photo taken on December 10, 2019 shows a worker cutting in the ice to make blocks on the frozen Songhua river in Harbin, in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province ahead of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. PHOTO: AFPChina expects 340 million people to visit snow and ice attractions in the 2021-2022 winter season, up from 224 million in the 2018-2019 season, Xinhua reported Monday.
This photo taken on December 12, 2019 shows workers cutting into the ice to make blocks on the frozen Songhua river in Harbin, in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province ahead of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. PHOTO: AFP
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