Photos: 30th Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival

Visitors are silhouetted against lighted ice sculptures at the Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province January 5, 2014. The festival kicks off on Sunday. (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon)

The annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival is originated from local Harbiner traditional ice lantern show garden party in winter since 1963.

It was halted for a number of years during the Cultural Revolution.

On January 5, 1985, it was declared as an annual event at Zhaolin Park.

Harbin is located in Northeast China where the climate is influenced by the cold winter wind from Siberia.

The average temperature in summer is 21.2 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Farenheit), and -16.8 degrees Celsius (1.76 degrees Farenheit) in winter.

Annual low temperatures below –35 degrees Celsius (–31 Farenheit) are not uncommon. (EPA)

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Visitors walk by ice sculptures in the Zhaolin park at the 30th Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in Harbin, capital of China’s Heilongjiang province, December 26, 2013. This ice lantern festival opened on December 26, displaying more than 2,000 ice sculptures and will last until February 2014. (EPA/STRINGER)

Visitors gather next to an ice gate sculpture in the Zhaolin park at the 30th Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, capital of China’s Heilongjiang province, December 26, 2013. This ice lantern festival opened on December 26, displaying more than 2,000 ice sculptures and will last until February 2014. (EPA/STRINGER)

A general view shows visitors walking among large ice sculptures palace at the 30th Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival which shows the lighting scene at Sun Island, in Harbin city, Heilongjiang province, northern China, December 30, 2013. Some 180,000 cubic meters of ice and 150,000 cubic meters of snow were used to build the 600,000-square-meter ice wonderland. (EPA)

People tour between the large-scale ice sculptures at the 30th Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China, December 30, 2013. Some 180,000 cubic meters of ice and 150,000 cubic meters of snow were used to build the 600,000-square-meter ice wonderland. (EPA/Hao Bin)

Visitors are silhouetted against lighted ice sculptures at the Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in the northern city of Harbin, Heilongjiang province January 5, 2014. The festival kicks off on Sunday. (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon)

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