Beijing Ice Sculpture

Ice sculpture is a skill with strict requirement for both materials and machines. Ice must be carefully selected to be suitable for the sculptor’s purpose. But the clear, trasparent ice is a result of the freezing process and not necessarily related to the purity of the water. Certain machines and processes allow for slow freezing and the removal of impurities. Colored ice blokcs are produced by adding dyes to the ice. Ice sulptors sometimes combine clear ice and colored ice together to create a desired effect. Ice sculptures are generally associated with special or extravagant events because of their limited lifetime. An ice sulpture can last from a few minutes to possibly several month determined by the temperature. In China, Heilongjiang Province is the ideal region for ice sculpture. But in Beijing, due to the cold weather in mountain area in winter, there is also an Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival held annually in Longqing Gorge. Besides, on the Latern Festival or Chinese New Year, some parks in Beijing will also hold Ice Latern Festivals.

Located 80 kilometers to north of the city center, Beijing Longqing Gorge (Longqingxia) is best known in winter for hosting the world’s lowest latitude outdoor ice sculpture & lantern show. It’s a outdoor gallery of massive blocks of ice carved into animals and figures of all shapes and sizes. The Ice and Snow Festival held in Longqing Gorge features myriad attractions including the main event, an international ice and snow sculpture contest and various winter activities. Besides the ice sculptures that can be admired here, there are fireworks ceremonies, folk dancing, and pageants. In addition, there are other nearby ice sports activities separate from the sculptural exhibits, such as skiing, ice fishing and ice slides. You can also participate in the tour to visit the Great Wall at Badaling and the Kangxi grasslands from here. When illuminated at night, the icy slides and mazes decorated with ice lanterns turn Lonqing Gorge into a real winter wonderland. Though Longqing' s winter wonderland will not quite match the famous ice sculpture festival in Harbin for scale or beauty, still it is a fun choice for tourists who travel to Beijing in winter.
Open Time: Regularly starting from mid January till mid of February. Telephone: 010-6919 1020
Location: North of Gucheng Village, Yanqing County, 80 kilometers(56 miles) north of Beijing center.
Admission fee: RMB 100 (50% off for students or children under 1.2m).

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