In beautiful northern China, where Horizon's factories are located, the temperature reaches forty below zero and stays below freezing nearly half the year. The region is further north than notoriously cold Vladivostok, Russia in Siberia, just 300 miles away. Of course, the modern Horizon factories are well-heated and locals have learned to bundle up well when coming and going to work. So what does one do here every winter? Hold an outdoor festival, of course! Rather than suffer the cold, the residents of China celebrate it with an annual festival of snow and ice sculptures and competitions. I thought I would share some of these mid-Winter scenes with you.

This is the amazing sculpture made of snow greeting visitors to the snow festival.

Snow and ice sculpture in northern China dates back to Manchu times, but the first organized show was held in 1963, and the annual festival itself only started in 1985. Since then, the festival has grown into a massive event, bringing in over a million tourists from all over the world every winter. The sculptures have become more elaborate and artistic over time; this bear and cub are just one small part of a fifty-meter-wide mural sculpture.

Most of the sculptures appearing at the snow festival are competitive entries. Each team starts with a cube of packed snow that appears to measure about three meters on a side, and then starts carving away. Teams come in from all over the world - Russia, Japan, Canada, France, even South Africa. Part of the fun is guessing the nationality of the team, based on their sculpture's artistic style, before reading the signs. This is a Russian entry.

The sun begins to set behind the magnificent entryway sculpture. The snow festival is actually separate from the ice festival; both take place on the wide open spaces of the City's north park next to the vast river Songhua Jiang which freezes solid several meters thick in the winter.

I was surprised to discover this sculpture of a Native American sitting in the frozen northeast of China; sure enough, I read on the sign that a Canadian team sculpted this entry. Chinese teams had many sculptures at the festival as well.

Even the sunsets are cold as the mid-afternoon sun sets over the snow festival and the temperature begins falling even further below freezing. But the coming darkness is actually good news for most as it signals the opening of the ice festival when the lighted sculptures start "coming to life".

The ice festival, a few miles away from the snow festival, is anything but dull and colorless. Crowds flocking to the entrance are greeted by dance music booming in the distance, as if at an outdoor pop concert. And bright neon colors shine everywhere, buried within huge blocks of ice forming structures as high as thirty meters, such as this huge structure beyond the entryway. You can just make out people standing atop its blue and red stairway.

A view from atop that structure, looking back on a Russian-styled building and a mock Great Wall, both constructed out of ice. Making it to the top of this structure is an accomplishment in itself - imagine walking up a stairway of solid ice for two floors with no handrails. The yellow block wall on the right and the balcony work on the lower left are all ice, with no internal support structure; just lights.

The Great Wall doubles as a long ice slide; just sit and go. You can pick up some serious speed and wipe out spectacularly at the bottom if you're wearing a slick coat.

An overview of the ice festival from atop the Great Wall of ice. It's reminiscent of a Disney theme park, with multiple attractions and food hawkers and kids running around and people lined up for bathrooms. The only differences are that the temperature is about a hundred degrees colder than the typical Disney park, and all the structures are made out of ice rather than plastic. Plus, the slipping and falling here doesn't result in tremendous lawsuits; it's not heard of in China!

One of the popular activities at the festival is climbing a wall of solid ice. While there, I didn't see a single person fall and most everyone made it to the top. All the ice comes from Songhua Jiang, the nearby river, which provides a limitless supply; huge chainsaws are required to cut through the ice.

The snow festival is mostly a display of art while the ice festival is mostly a display of architecture. Nevertheless, a number of sculptures can be found at the ice festival, such as this life-sized horse. Agile youngsters with good balance climb atop the horses to have their pictures taken. Notice the layers of ice in the horse; blocks of ice are fused together to form larger blocks so that sculptures - or huge buildings - can be made.

This is an entire ship constructed of ice, and yes, those are real passengers onboard. Though it might not be seaworthy, the ship would certainly float, after all, it is made of ice. Hundreds of years ago during the Manchu days of ice lantern art, the sculptures were lit only by candles; now they are fully wired and carefully illuminated by lamps, LEDs and fiberoptics.

This is a Thai temple of ice complete with hallways and rooms inside. Long ago, Disney made a Circle-Vision 360 film called "Wonders of China" which still shows at the China pavilion in the World Showcase at EPCOT Center in Orlando; it includes a brief section on Harbin's ice festival. In the movie, the sculptures are quite low-key, little more than blinking light bulbs inside small globes and ice carvings. Things have changed a bit since those days. Horizon has also designed and installed computer-contolled 360 Circle-Vision cinemas in Beijing at the nation's proud new Science Spectrum.

I hope you enjoyed this beauty and talent from across the world that convenes in China each winter.

Horizon Film Systems International