Frozen food is particularly nice to look at when it is warm. Anyone who has ever had Siberian winds blown in their face at minus 35 degrees can confirm this. In Harbin, in the northeastern corner of China, they have such a wind. But because outdoor exercise is seen as fundamentally desirable in Manchuria and the erection of sandcastles or maize mazes is rarely possible for the residents there, they form sculptures out of ice and snow. The photos that are taken are really impressive.
Olympia plays a major role in the “International Ice and Snow Festival” in Manchuria.
(Photo: Xie Jianfei / imago images / Xinhua)
Of course, there are similar festivals in Sapporo, Oslo or Québec – but they are neither as big nor as old as the one in the People’s Republic. More than 12,000 workers worked here with their oscillating saws on blocks of ice from the Songhua Jiang River, creating imposing blocks in the process. At night the sculptures, for example the Olympic rings, are even illuminated with LED lights.
The workers also made meter-high figures out of snow. For example the funny Olympic mascot Bing Dwen Dwen (which translates as something like: “frozen, pure, strong, childlike liveliness” – so it fits).
The Olympic mascot “Bing Dwen Dwen” can also be admired in Harbin.
(Photo: Xie Jianfei / dpa)
Many non-Chinese people have also attended the Harbin Ice Cream Festival in recent years. But in a pandemic this is of course a thing of the past. This time the Chinese are largely keeping to themselves. But, who knows, at least the German IOC President Thomas Bach could somehow manage it, such a nice little Olympic selfie with the frozen Bing Dwen Dwen. When viewed from the warm, icy things are particularly beautiful.