Photos from the Harbin Ice Festival

Ice festivals and winter carnivals are common celebrations in northern countries; where I grew up in Minnesota, the St. Paul Winter Carnival had been an annual event since 1886 (when it was established in response to a New York reporter's claim that the area was "another Siberia, unfit for human habitation." The bottom photo above shows the Ice Palace of 1887.

Among the modern winter festivals, one of the most spectacular is held in Harbin, in the PRC (next door to the real Siberia). I've embedded two photos above. There are impressive collections of photos here and here.