Ice sculptor from Heilongjiang thrives on cold

Over the past 13 years, Wang Haifeng has won lots of honors in various competitions for ice and snow sculptures at home and abroad.

She created many of them in Heilongjiang province, as well as constructed indoor snow and ice sculptures in Beijing and Tianjin with her team from the Heilongjiang Forestry Design and Research Institute.

Born in Harbin, Heilongjiang, in 1988, Wang now is the head of the model worker innovation studio founded in her name at the institute.

"I have been fascinated by the ice and snow sculptures on roadsides and in the parks since my childhood," she said. "After being admitted to the department of art design at the Harbin Institute of Technology in 2008, I got the chance to make the unique artworks."

From 2010, she began to participate in various competitions on ice and snow sculptures at home and abroad.

After earning her master's degree in design art from Harbin Normal University in 2017, she became director of the newly founded office of ice and snow tourism planning and design at the research institute.

In December 2020, Wang was awarded the title "Craftsman of Heilongjiang" and the office was officially renamed Wang Haifeng Model Worker Innovation Studio.

In April 2022, she was selected as a delegate to the 13th Communist Party of China Heilongjiang Congress as a technician in the ice and snow industry.

"As a representative of the ice and snow industry, I hope I can speak up to the public," she said. "It is an opportunity and my boundless responsibility."

Few females are involved in ice and snow sculpture, which has relatively high requirements for physical strength.

"It is really a challenge to work outside in the winter in Northeast China," she said. "We often work outdoors for 10 hours a day, but I enjoy every minute."

Moreover, sculptors have to always pay attention to protecting themselves, especially when they climb up and down several meters of ice and snow blocks carrying carving tools.

"As the leader in the ice and snow industry, Heilongjiang has a long history and profound winter culture," she said. "Facing the current fierce competition in the ice and snow industry, we should get together to improve scientific innovation and promote the high quality development of ice and snow in our province."