Ice? Snow? Freezing cold? To some brave folks in northeast China, that means fun. 

They’re making the best of the freezing weather. Sculptors chisel ice into art. 

Harbin, China, is near Russia. It has Russian-style architecture and colder weather than other parts of the country. The Harbin Ice and Snow World festival happens there each year. Tourists come to see it—and for good reason! 

Ice artists carve elaborate statues. They make ice versions of the Taj Mahal (a mausoleum in India), the Osaka Castle (of Japan), and Beijing’s Temple of Heaven. 

“The ice sculpture looks exactly the same [as the Temple of the Heaven],” says one visitor. “I touched the ice cube, and its texture is very good. It’s translucent. It looks elegant when the sunlight passes through.”

Sculptors use thousands of ice blocks. Workers cut those mainly from the Songhua River. 

Visitors wait nearly an hour to get a turn on the festival’s ice slides. Wouldn’t you? The longest slide stretches 1,710 feet! 

A visitor named Gong Caiyun explains what it feels like to ride an ice slide. “At the beginning, it was kind of steady. When I slipped off the slope, the wind was strong, and I felt cold. It was very exciting.” 

By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast. — Job 37:10