CHINA – The world’s largest ice-and-snow theme park, the 26th edition of the Harbin Ice-Snow World, officially opened at 10 a.m., Saturday in Harbin, the capital city of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province. Themed “Dream of Winter, Love among Asia,” the park was built using 300,000 cubic meters of ice and snow, incorporating elements inspired by the upcoming 2025 Harbin Asian Winter Games. With an overall planned area of a million square meters, up from last year’s 800,000 square meters, 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 which are members of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), in the form of ice-and-snow structures which can be illuminated at night. 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-meter-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. The “Snow Disco” event, which attracted thousands of tourists last winter, will also be held at the Dream Stage in the park for this year’s edition. (Xinhua)