Harbin - Harbin Ice-Snow World, the world's largest ice and snow theme park, has received more than 3 million visitors as of Tuesday (February 11), setting a new record just 52 days after its 26th edition opened, organizers announced.
Located in Harbin, the capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, the theme park, often dubbed the "ice city" this year, was built using 300,000 cubic meters of ice and snow. This year, the park featured complex ice sculptures inspired by the ninth Asian Winter Games, held in Harbin.In addition to the artistic ice sculptures, the park also offered interactive winter attractions, including a snowflake ice maze, an ice rink, and a giant ice slide with over 20 smaller ice slides."It was very cold, but it was amazing! During the day, the ice sculptures sparkled like crystals, and at night, the twinkling lights turned the park into a winter wonderland," said Mandizvidza Shalom Zivo, a visitor from Zimbabwe.The park covers an area of 1 million square meters, up from 800,000 square meters last year. It is the largest in its 26-year history.As a famous ice and snow theme park, Harbin Ice-Snow World is renowned as one of China’s iconic winter attractions. Its popularity exploded on Chinese social media last winter, going viral on the internet as interest in winter sports and tourism grew across the country.“Through this park, we aim to enhance the global reputation of Heilongjiang and Harbin as a top winter destination,” said Sun Zemin, deputy director of the marketing department at Harbin Ice-Snow World Park Co., Ltd. Thebooming ice and snow tourism in northeastern China has given the region a new appeal. Once known as a struggling industrial region, northeastern China has long grappled with a tough economic transition and an outflow of skilled labor seeking better opportunities elsewhere.