Icy extravaganza in Harbin prepares for tourists

Staff members from the Harbin Ice and Snow World and Harbin Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo released the blueprints of the two parks for the coming winter tourism season at a news conference held in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, on Thursday.

The 22nd Harbin Ice and Snow World, a 600,000-square-meter wonderland of sculptures, will open at the end of December and run until the end of February.

An important part of Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, the park has opened for 21 consecutive years. It is built each winter with ice rather than commonly used construction materials.

Tourists who visit the park this winter will appreciate famous architecture from foreign countries, including Russia, Mongolia, Greece and Latvia, all built from ice.

The park will have preferential policies for tourists this winter, with a ticket price of 100 yuan ($15.20), about 30 percent of previous years.

It usually takes three weeks to finish construction of the snow sculpture park, located at Sun Island Park in Harbin.

At this year's 33rd China Harbin Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo, tourists will be able to view 50 groups of snow sculptures using more than 90,000 cubic meters of snow.

During the winter, several snow sculpture competitions will be held at the park.