Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival
Originating from the Ice Lantern Show in 1985, the Harbin Ice Festival has become one of the world's four largest ice and snow festivals, along with the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan, the Quebec Winter Carnival in Canada and Norway's Ski Festival. The festival is held every year in January, and last until the end of February when the ice starts to melt.
Various activities including firework displays, ice lantern garden parties, photography contests, ice and snow sports, draw a large number of tourists to Harbin to enjoy the ice and snow. The annual event is also a platform for domestic and overseas businesses to seek economic and trade cooperation opportunities.
The China Harbin Ice Lantern Garden Party
The China Harbin Ice Lantern Garden Party is held in Zhaolin Park in Harbin, capital city of Northeast China’s Heilongjiang province. It has been held annually from January to February since 1963.
It's the oldest and largest open-air artistic exhibition of ice lanterns in the world, covering an area of 6.5 hectares, with about 1,500 ice lanterns on display. With the illumination of colorful lights, the whole park turns into a fairytale world, attracting numerous tourists from around the world. The lantern garden party has become a platform to display a distinctive cultural art combining ice and snow.
China Harbin Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo
China Harbin Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo is held at Sun Island scenic area in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province. The annual event starts in December and has run since 1987. It lasts until the end of Chinese Spring Festival, running for 60 to 70 days.
The expo is the origin of China's snow sculpture art. Every year, beautiful snow sculptures are displayed to the public. The expo includes a four-day sculpture competition, attracting famous sculptors from home and abroad to demonstrate their skills. It has become the main event to promote ice and snow tourism.
Harbin Summer Cultural Tourism Festival
The Harbin Summer Cultural Tourism Festival has become an important brand for Harbin since it was established in 2008. The theme, "Fantastic Ice City, Romantic Summer Capital", has become the city's major publicity slogan in the summer.
The cultural tourism festival demonstrates Harbin's tourism resources, including natural ecology, historical culture, and European-style and festival activities, through the integration of over 50 special festival activities and about 100 tourism, economy and trade, sports, cultural and art activities in summer. The "Ice City and Summer Capital" has become a high-end brand for the city.
The China-Russia Expo
The China-Russia Expo is held in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, since 2014. It often runs together with China·Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair, which has been held for 28 years.
The expo is an important place for the two countries to increase cooperation on a large scale, and an international exhibition site for the two to show their respective advantages, with the focus on matchmaking of enterprises and projects, with more businessmen from different countries taking part.