One of the Best Festival Light Shows is at a Snow Festival in China

Article by: Laura Mason|@masonlazarus

Fri January 19, 2018 | 14:40 PM


During the coldest months of the year, the town of Harbin in China turns into a dazzling -- if teeth-chatteringly arctic -- spectacle of sculptures and mini cities made of ice from the Songhua River, all lit by colorful, twinkling lights, for the Harbin Ice & Snow Sculpture Festival. Seriously, the rainbow of lights rival any lasers or pyro you'll see at EDM or rock festivals.

Between the four primary parks' worth of sculptures and amusement zones, there are a few thousand pieces, not to mention all the ice architecture created throughout the city for the winter (it's everywhere you look). The two-month Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in January and February gives a whole new meaning to the name Winter Wonderland.

Deionized water is used on some pieces to produce ice as transparent as glass, and multicolored lights add multi-dimensional depth and beauty. Over the course of a hurried half-month, more than 15,000 people carve (by hand or laser) more than 4 million cubic feet of ice. From scaled-down versions of the Forbidden City and the Great Wall to simpler student-created pieces, the sheer volume of beauty is staggering. The festival starts and ends on a loud note, with a huge fireworks display on the opening and the chance for visitors to smash the sculptures with ice picks when things close down in February.

Check out the video above to catch some of this year's amazing creations and the light shows that breathe life into them.