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Snow and ice festival in China: ice block on ice block

2022-01-10T03:21:24.175Z


High in northeast China, in the Manchurian city of Harbin, ice castles glow against the winter sky. The festival this time also celebrates the controversial Olympic Games.


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A pinball game?

No, the season of the snow and ice festival has started again in Harbin - here you can see the illuminated ice buildings from a bird's eye view.

Photo: Xie Jianfei / AP

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Chinese Tower: The city in northeast China is located in Manchuria and has hosted the world's largest festival of its kind for decades.

Photo:

STR / AFP

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Down with an icy bum: around a hundred sculptures were created at the end of last year.

In Harbin it can get cold down to minus 35 degrees Celsius in winter.

Photo: Xie Jianfei / Xinhua / IMAGO

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Inner glow: the festival has been taking place under his name since 2001, but as early as the 1960s, the residents of Harbin were celebrating lantern shows and garden parties in winter.

Photo: STR / AFP

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A bird's eye view: Seen from the air, the illuminated facilities of the "Ice and Snow World" show completely different structures - here a labyrinth made of ice cubes.

Photo: Wang Jianwei / Xinhua / IMAGO

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And here the colorful tower from above.

The exhibition will remain open until February, during which mass weddings will also take place.

Photo: STR / AFP

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Brave visitors from above: The tourists who travel to Harbin have to reckon with cold, dry winds from Siberia.

Photo: Zhang Tao / Xinhua / IMAGO

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Olympic ice rings: The symbol for the Olympic Games can only be seen from the air.

They are scheduled to begin in Beijing on February 4th.

The event is boycotted by many Western countries - the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will not travel to China either.

Photo: Xie Jianfei / imago images / Xinhua

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There are two central exhibition areas in Harbin - in the "Ice and Snow World" the ice buildings have been erected, which glow in the dark.

Photo: Zhang Tao / Xinhua / IMAGO

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And snow sculptures will be installed in "Sun Island" - like this friendly snow face.

However, German visitors are currently not welcome in the corona crisis.

"In principle, there is an entry ban for, among others, German nationals," it says in the travel advice of the Federal Foreign Office.

Photo: Wang Jianwei / dpa

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Winkewinke: The snow panda is the mascot of the Olympic Winter Games.

This is where the workers put the finishing touches on.

Photo: Zhang Tao / Xinhua / IMAGO

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Still under construction: work began weeks before the festival opened.

Tens of thousands of ice blocks were broken daily from the Songhua River, which flows through Harbin, and transported to the exhibition area.

Photo: Xie Jianfei / imago images / Xinhua

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More than 12,000 workers are involved in building the ice world every year.

The ice blocks are placed on top of one another and then shaped with chainsaws, picks and chisels.

Photo: Zhang Tao / imago images / Xinhua

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Tower under construction: The largest sculptures are up to several meters high and are illuminated from the inside at night with LED light sources.

The naturally created ice should be thicker and more resistant than artificial.

Photo: Zhang Tao / imago images / Xinhua

abl

Source: spiegel

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