Olivia PowellThe Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in China has opened for another year.
The opening ceremony took place on the 5 January 2020, where crowds gathered to see a firework display and enjoy the spectacle of the festival.
The annual festival, held in China’s north-east Heilongjiang province, has been said to be ‘one of the biggest ice and snow festivals in the world’.
The festival was held within a sparkling ice world made out of around 220,000 cubic metres of ice and snow, which included an ice steam train, and a frozen palace.
As well as the ice structures, the festival also includes activities like ice hockey, sledging, ice football, Alpine skiing and speed skating competitions, in addition to swimming competitions held in the frozen water of the Songhua River.
Among the highlights of the festival was a snow-themed group wedding ceremony, where 40 couples got married in a joint marriage ceremony this year.
Harbin Ice Festival will run until 25 February 2020.