The 27th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival started on Jan
5th, 2011. A worker shapes a snow sculpture prior to the Harbin
International Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin, Heilongjiang province.
Can you see a man in this picture? - It tells you the scale.
Man Adding Lights
A worker installs lights on a snow sculpture prior to the Harbin
International Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin, Northeast China's
Heilongjiang province.
You can also find the world's largest Santa ice carving in the Chinese
city of Harbin The giant Father Christmas,
160 metres long and 24 metres high. It centres on an enormous face of Father Christmas, complete with flowing
beard and hat.
Its huge size and unseasonably warm temperatures have made the job
especially challenging, Tang Guangjun, one of the sculptors, informed Will
and Guy. 'It is even bigger and higher than last year's, and more difficult. The weather swings between warm and cold, so it becomes very wet and
slippery on the ice. It is very dangerous for us,' he said.
Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province, China is one of the
country's coldest places. Winter temperatures can drop to below -35 C. Every
year the city plays host to a world-renowned ice festival. But the effects
of global warming are taking a toll as the snow and ice now melt more
rapidly than in the past. Organizers reported that they had to artificially
make snow for their Santa Claus sculpture.
Not only are these beautiful sculptures, but they have been photographed
thoughtfully, in particular the apt background to the pictures. You
can see them in Sapporo, Japan.
See more ice sculptures
The Great Wall of China is even greater than once thought, after a
two-year government mapping study uncovered new sections totalling about
180 miles, according to a report posted on the website of the *country's
national mapping agency.
Using infrared range finders and GPS devices, experts discovered
portions of the wall concealed by hills, trenches and rivers that
stretch from Hu Shan mountain in northern Liaoning province to Jiayu
Pass in western Gansu province, the official China Daily reports. The
newly mapped parts of the wall were built during the Ming dynasty
[1368-1644] to protect China against northern invaders and were
submerged over time by sandstorms that moved across the arid region, the
study said.
The additional parts mean the Great Wall - construction of which
began more than 2,000 years ago to prevent incursions into China by the
Mongols and others - spans about 3,900 miles through the northern part
of the country.
Recent studies by Chinese archaeologists have shown that sandstorms
are reducing sections of the wall in Gansu to "mounds of dirt" and that
they may disappear entirely in 20 years. These studies mainly blame the
erosion on destructive farming methods used in the 1950s that turned
large areas of northern China into desert. In addition, portions of the
wall in Gansu were made of packed earth, which is less resilient than
the brick and stone used elsewhere in much of the wall's construction.
China in recent years has begun restoring parts of the wall as well
as trying to curb commercial development on or next to the ancient
structure.
The wall's modern sections around the Chinese capital date from the
Ming dynasty, including those restored since the Chinese Communist party
took power in 1949, and several areas - including the most popular,
Badaling, just north of Beijing - draw hundreds of thousands of visitors
each year.
Tourist encroachment also has been a major problem in recent years,
with state media saying that near Badaling, almost every brick on a
popular section of the wall has been carved with people's names or other
graffiti.
* The latest mapping project, a joint venture by the State
Administration of Cultural Heritage and State Bureau of Surveying and
Mapping, will continue into 2010y in order to map sections of the wall
built during the Qin and Han dynasties [221 BC-9 AD].
»
Great Wall of China in Winter
The Great Wall of China is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and is
indeed great because it can be observed by man even from outer space. This
wall measures more than 1500 miles in length and is also referred to as the
"Ten Thousand Li Wall" with each Li being equivalent to 500 metres.
See more interesting Chinese
facts.
The Chinese never give apples to invalids because "ping", the
Chinese for apple, sounds a bit like "bing", which is Chinese for
illness.
14 countries share a border with China and they are Vietnam,
Laos, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia and North Korea
In ancient China, mouse meat was considered a delicacy, now, a
favorite food of most Chinese is sun-dried maggots.
In China, there is a type of tea called white tea which is
actually simply boiled water.
24% of the world speaks Chinese. There are over 200 different
Chinese languages and regional dialects. The official state language
is Pu-tong-hwa [Mandarin].
China manufactures 60% of the world's bicycles.
People of ancient China believed that swinging your arms could
cure a headache.
According to economists, China will become the world's
wealthiest nation by the year 2012.
Fingerprinting was used in China as early as 700 AD.
One for luck: 20% of China's plants are used in medicine.
Footnote: Please write to us if you have any interesting
articles on the Chinese Ice festival.
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