BEIJING, Dec. 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — An ice collecting festival kicked off in northeast China’s Harbin on Thursday, marking the beginning of the snow and ice tourism season of the “ice city”.
Workers collect ice from the Songhua River in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, Dec. 7, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)
Ice collecting has been a time-honored custom in the city. After Major Snow, or “Da Xue,” the 21st of the 24 Solar Terms on the Chinese lunar calendar, which falls on Dec. 7 this year, local people take tools to the frozen Songhua River to collect ice cubes,which will be used in icehouses for food storage and for the materials of ice sculptures. The custom has now turned to a major festival, which attracts visitors from all over the world.
A Harbin citizen Zhou Jie came in advance to watch the ice collecting closely. “I didn’t expect such a grand scene of ice collecting. It’s so interesting,” said Zhou.
Apart from ice collecting, tourists can also enjoy local food and ice sports during the festival.
Huang Jing, a first-time comer and a local resident, enjoyed hot and fresh dumplings on the ice and experienced snow and ice vibe during the festival. Huang sincerely invited nationwide tourists to Harbin as the Harbin Ice and Snow World is about to open.
It is learned that Harbin ushers in the ice and snow season each year with the ice collecting festival. This year’s Harbin ice and snow season will be organized into four thematic sections and feature seven major series of activities. With the launch of over a hundred ice and snow events, the city is committed to building itself as an internationally renowned destination for snow and ice tourism.
The snow and ice tourism is becoming a major growth engine of Harbin and Heilongjiang Province. According to an industrial report released by China Economic Information Service, the Heilongjiang snow and ice tourism development index stood at 185.5 in 2022, up 9.38 percent year on year, with a growth rate of 65.95 percent in the investment of the industry.
The province will seek high-quality development of its ice and snow economy, unleashing the potential of its special natural endowment, said He Jing, head of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism.
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