The annual Ice Festival is Harbin's main winter draw. The Harbin International Ice Festival only started about 10 years ago, and it is already one of world's four biggest such ice and snow festivals, along with the famous ones in Sapporo, Norway, and Quebec. Harbin is called “Ice City”, and the winters are bitterly cold, but the conditions are right for the ice festival.
At first, mainly Chinese participated, but in the last few years, it has become an international festival and competition. As the festival grows in international participation, and as China's economy grows, the size of the snow sculpture and ice architecture exhibits keeps growing. The work going into making these exhibits is astounding, and their size and beauty is amazing.