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Summary It's in preparation of the grand opening of the annual Snow and Ice Festival in Harbin, China.
Chinas chilly city of Harbin gears up for its 28th annual Snow and Ice Festival, with workers creating castles, slides and sculptures out of ice and snow.Liu Xiaodong puts the final touches on his ice creation.To create this winter wonderland, attention to detail is key. And thats not hard for Liu, whose love of ice sculpting started at an early age.For me, as a Harbin native, I have special feelings towards ice. Because when I was young and took part in my first ice sculpting competition, how do you put this, When I took up the knife, or lets say when I look at other people working and Im not working, my hands feel as if they want to say let me help you. And I feel very emotional.The Ice festival here is one of the largest and the best-known in the world. Operating manager Zhao Hongjun explains the magnitude of the project.It took 15 to 17 days to finish constructing the Ice and Snow World. The Ice and Snow World takes up an area of 600,000 metres square. The total amount of ice used is 180,000 cubic metres. The total amount of snow used is 600,000 cubic metres.Although Harbin is known for its cold winters, averaging minus 17 degrees Celsius -- or 1 degree Fahrenheit -- this winter has been unusually warm.
