A big hand for snow sculpting

These artists were shaping snow into massive sculptures yesterday for the Harbin Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo.

It is part of the Harbin Ice Festival that is held every winter in the capital of north-east China's Heilongjiang province.

Touted as one of the top four ice and snow festivals in the world, the event sees Harbin transform into a fantasy wonderland, with giant sculptures, ice lanterns, illuminated ice buildings and all manner of winter activities.

Sculpting snow on a large scale is no easy task, but the artists participating in the expo have taken it all in their stride.

A previous edition had sculptures shaped from 120,000 cubic metres of snow, spread over 600,000 sq m, according to China Daily.

As is traditional, this year's festival will have a trial run from around Dec 24, and will be officially open to the public from Jan 5 next year to the end of February.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 07, 2017, with the headline A big hand for snow sculpting. Subscribe