The main festival covers 1 square kilometer (.6 square miles) of the city, with the sculptures using 13,000 cubic meters (460,000 cubic feet) of ice blocks cut mainly from the adjacent Songhua River.

Visitors eat foods as a woman poses for a photo with the ice structures at the Harbin Ice and Snow World in Harbin, China’s Heilongjiang province on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) ...

The origins of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival date back to 1963, when the city hosted its first ice lantern show — a modest event that resembled a garden party.