World's largest ice-and-snow theme park opened in China
The world's largest ice-and-snow theme park, the 26th edition of the Harbin Ice-Snow World, has officially opened in Harbin, the capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province also known as the ‘city of ice’
Themed Dream of Winter, Love Among Asia, the park was built using 300,000 cubic metres of ice and snow, incorporating elements inspired by the upcoming 2025 Harbin Asian Winter Games, which will open right after China's Spring Festival holiday. It is also the first major international ice and snow event hosted by China since the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
With an overall planned area of 1 million square metres, up from last year's 800,000 square metres, the park is the largest in its 26-year history.
The park features nine major zones, recreating landmark landscapes of 42 countries and 3 regions that are members of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) in the form of ice-and-snow structures that can be illuminated at night, including replicas of the Temple of Heaven in China, Osaka Castle in Japan, and the Taj Mahal in India.
The main tower stands on the main axis of the park, featuring towering ice columns that depict the official emblem of the OCA.
The most popular attraction in the park, the Super Ice Slide, has increased the number of its lanes to 24, with a 300-metre-long windproof warm house mounted at the queuing area, allowing visitors to take a break from freezing weather while overlooking the park's scenery.
In addition to ice-and-snow landscapes, the park has added fantasy shows, virtual reality projects and an immersive digital art museum to its inventory of winter wonders, offering new and exciting experiences for both global and domestic visitors.
Last year, China recorded over 385 million winter leisure visits nationwide, a year-on-year increase of 38 percent, with related revenue up 50 percent.
In Harbin alone, last snow season saw over 87 million visitors, up 300 percent year on year, and 124.8 billion Yuan in tourism revenue, up 500 percent. The 25th edition of the Harbin Ice-Snow World, in particular, received over 2.7 million tourists.
