What if a city's biggest asset is winter?
In Harbin, ice isn't just art.
It's the engine of a booming economy.
Today we'll go inside the world's largest ice and snow festival to see how a frozen wonderland is creating a red-hot tourist boom.
We're live from our studios in Beijing.
This is Roundtable.
I'm Steve.
Thank you very much for sharing your time with us today.
And for the show, I'm with Yushan and Yushan.
First up.
Today we journey to Harbin in northeast China, where the 42nd International Ice and Snow Festival has just opened its gates.
On January 5th of twenty twenty six, this legendary winter spectacle transforms the city into a frozen art gallery of breathtaking sculptures and glittering snow creations.
But beyond the visual wonder lies an economic powerhouse that revitalizes the region, fuels countless businesses and attracts a global audience.
We're going to explore how a festival of ice and snow has melted into the heart of the local economy, generating billions in revenue and warming up international tourism like never before.
And to say that it is an international event really is a true statement, Yushan and Yushan.
Good afternoon.
And it's not just because of the tourists who go there and not just because of the artists who take part in the competitions which we'll talk about.
But I was watching a news report from Canada this morning, as a matter of fact, talking about the Harbin Snow and Ice Festival and how cool and how amazing it is.
And the comments online were saying, why don't we have this type of thing in Canada?
We have the snow.
Wait a minute.
I thought there are this type of thing in Canada, too.
We do.
We have something similar, but not to this scale and not to this degree.
So let's get into it.
The gates have opened.
It is time to play in the ice and snow.
Yeah, exactly.
Here's the good news that the 42nd China Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival officially kicked off on January the 5th in Harbin, the capital city of northeast China's Heilongjiang province.
And just look at the theme that it's kind of held under this year.
One frozen wonderland, one shared future.
That sounds very Olympics-style to me, if you ask me.
But yeah, this whole festival, I can't believe it's already the 42nd time that it's being held, or the 42nd edition.
It's been held for many, many years.
And over the years, there are millions and millions of tourists attracted from around the world that's attending to this event.
And this year, it continues through the end of February.
And it's also overlapping with some of China's most important traditional holidays, such as the Spring Festival and also the Lantern Festival, which is usually on the last day of the Spring Festival holiday period.
I can imagine there's going to be a lot of colorful, different shapes of lanterns will be there during that festival.
And then there are 10 top quality ice and snow tourism routes that's been already launched during the festival and over 200 ice and snow related cultural, sports and economic and trade activities that we will touch upon later on as well.
Speaking of ice and snow tourism routes I actually ran into.
I just totally randomly ran into a live stream last night And it was a girl.
And she works for a very well-known travel company.
And she herself, yesterday evening, was in Harbin.
And in the background, I can see all the lights from the ice and snow world.
And she was live streaming and selling the travel tourism products that her company kind of operates on.
And it's 3399 yuan per adult kind of package covering a five-day tour in Harbin from inside the city to really famous nearby travel destinations like the Yabuli Skiing Resort, where the Asian Winter Games were held, and also the snow town called Xuexiang, which is really a fairytale-like uh how do you describe it like the christmas-ish kind of little town, fully covered.
I know what you mean yeah yeah, plus a free gift entry ticket for the harbin ice and snow world.
So all of that under 3 400 yuan per person.
Pretty good price.
That's pretty good price, also covering plane tickets and transportation within the city and the accommodation too.
Oh seriously yeah, that's amazing.
That's a steal of a deal, as they say.
That's how they're trying to promote local tourism routes.
That's why, as you said, a lot of tourists, no matter domestically or internationally, are traveling to this area for maybe that scene or this.
Ice and Snow World.
And as the venue for the opening ceremony, Harbin Ice and Snow World has also introduced a guest of honor country for the first time this year.
The Kingdom of Belgium is the guest of honor.
And inside the park there's a stunning ice sculpture of the iconic Little Man Pea statue from Brussels and created to promote that friendly exchanges between the two nations through this art of ice and snow.
It's kind of one of the main themes every year of the Ice and Snow Festival is cultural exchanges and cooperation and things like this.
It's a very, very friendly event for sure.
The festival also features five super ice and snow core events, including the Asian Speed Skating Super Endurance Race.
Yeah, I actually checked that you know different age group can participate and different range, that you can participate from 12 kilometers to two kilometers everything that you can anticipate.
It's pretty cool.
They're bringing together almost 2000 athletes, both domestic and international to compete.
They're also having the National Public Snow Soccer Challenge, some soccer in the snow.
That'll be a showdown between northern teams and southern teams.
I don't know, would the southern teams do very well in a snow soccer competition?
I'm not sure.
First of all, we don't have that natural environment to practice, but it's soccer.
If you're good at it, you're good at it.
Exactly um 42nd edition.
So this has been, this has been around for for a very long time.
Yes, so this is the annual event held at the um harbin ice and snow world, and it has grown kind of big ever since its original form, which is a very humble beginning, called the ice lantern garden party, and that one started way back in history.
So um, It can date back all the way back to early 1960s, when winters in Harbin were really long and frozen and quiet.
Most importantly, people stay indoor instead of outdoor.
And that was also a period of history, historical time, when the country was going through economical challenges in a way that there are less spiritual and cultural challenges life than we are nowadays.
So back in that time the provincial party secretary of Heilongjiang province was attending a national industry conference in the south, actually in the city of Guangzhou in southern China.
And as he wandered around in Guangzhou, he discovered how the local people in Guangzhou were decorating their parks with flowers and you know, just shows and lanterns.
So they wanted to do it too.
Yeah, he got the inspiration there.
And then back in Harbin, they have really humble and cheap ways of celebrating too, which is to hollow out a block of ice and then place a candle inside to make it as an ice lantern or something like that.
That's how the local people kind of designed this low-cost lighting trick for farmers and fishermen along the Songhua River in Heilongjiang Province.
That's a really cool origin story.
So this leader, this provincial party secretary, he drew that idea back.
He kind of brought it back and have people carve out that same kind of local ice lanterns and then pour colored ink onto it.
To make them even prettier.
To make them prettier and also more colorful.
Kind of like how, you know, the colorful flowers are like in Guangzhou.
That's very cool.
So yeah, that's back in 1963, on February the 7th, just right before the Lantern Festival of that year.
That's when Harbin held its very first ice lantern garden party.
And Some of the sources that I read said that it kind of got one-tenth of the whole city's population out to one site, a park that has over 100 years history, to just see all the colorful lanterns that they kind of get used to.
But hey, that's for the Spring Festival celebration.
So obviously this festival I mean if the history goes back that far to the early 1960s and has that kind of a story to the origin of it, This would have a really special meaning to the people of the community.
And I mentioned that, you know, there are international snow festivals too.
In Japan, they have the Sapporo Snow Festival.
In Canada, I mentioned it.
We have the Quebec Winter Carnival.
I don't think it's to the scale.
I could be wrong.
I've never visited.
But I don't think it's as big a production as it is here in Harbin.
And when I say big, it is huge.
One of the most important parts of this festival is the park, the 12 million square meter park which has opened for the 27th consecutive year.
And it is the world's largest park ice and snow theme park and the park is 20 larger than the previous year even.
They're keeping challenging themselves, because we have always seen that kind of new numbers of yeah, we've got longer slides, bigger parks.
And more people attending.
Yeah, that's true.
If you don't know how big 12 million square meters is, don't feel bad, because neither did I, So I looked it up.
Here's a couple of examples that's the same size.
168 full-sized soccer fields. or about 60 city blocks.
60 city blocks, that's how big the Harbin Ice and Snow World is.
It would take you a couple of days to see the whole thing, I would think.
All right, so they make it really pretty at night.
They use things like 3D mapping, light shows and augmented reality interactive technology to allow the The buildings, the crystal clear buildings, to change colors with the light and the shadows.
And it makes the park resemble a crystal palace of sorts.
How do they use that tech to accomplish that?
It feels like they're inheriting that kind of tradition of using lights, because this is a crystal, ice and snow world, right.
And lighting on them will make it just more colorful and more fantastic.
Yeah, and yeah, sorry to interrupt if you look at, if you look at videos or pictures from the daytime yeah, it looks impressive for sure and it looks like a lot of fun, but it feels like it comes alive at night, exactly because when you're putting lights or even images on that things and they have they are just specially designed because if, thinking about just putting a projector on and right, they have to be projected on a flat screen.
And then these are just ice castles and everything.
So they have specially designed images on that.
Just imagine that nighttime light shows in Universal Studios or Disneyland.
Yeah, I was thinking about Disney too.
They will have images on these magical castles.
So these things are only just much bigger and projected across an entire castle built physically completely out of ice and snow, and make it more colorful.
Very impressive, yeah.
Tourists will have access to winter fishing, if that's your thing.
Cross-country skiing, that's a challenge if you've never done that before.
Snow soccer, as we mentioned.
And yes, I think you referenced the ice slide.
521 meters this time.
That is the park's longest slide to date.
Pretty impressive.
And there are more kind of entertainment design this year, too.
There are well.
In addition to its sparkling attractions and all the ice sculptures and the light performances, the park also introduced new performances and activities, especially those held indoor.
And some including singing competitions, dance battles and fantasy indoor shows.
And that's also kind of expanding the entertainment offerings.
And then, if you are like me, who fears the cold weather and low temperature there, the park offers free hot drinks.
And better.
They also have a 5000 square meter air-supported dome that is now open in the park to offer visitors a warm retreat.
I think that's where you kind of get to get back alive from the frozen limbs outside.
Yeah, you can go and thaw out before you go out and freeze again.
And here's how it's going to be helpful to you, Steve.
The park also have streamlined payment services that allows tourists to use overseas bank credits for ticket purchases and also access multilingual guides.
Making it easier for people who are visiting for the first time.
All right, so let's get into some of the activities then that are held in Harbin.
The opening ceremony for the ice festivals were held at the Ice and Snow World.
Those were a couple of the main attractions.
But what else is going on?
There's the ice.
I don't know if it's the main attraction or not, but the ice sculpture competition has to be at least one of the main draws.
Yes.
When you're looking at these beautiful sculptures, they are made of ice and also snow.
So 37th China Harbin International Ice Sculpture Competition and also the 28th.
China Harbin International Snow Sculpture Competition was held in this ice and snow world.
And these two events are among the major attractions of the 2025 to 2026.
This ice and snow festival because they're inviting people and artists.
From all around the globe, including Australia Poland Russia France Kazakhstan, South Korea and US Mongolia Spain, India and China.
A total of 76 artists showcased their skills and carving incredible eye sculptures that bring these natural eyes to life with their incredible talent.
Yeah, I think it was that competition is finished.
I think it was the Russian team who won this year for their ice sculpture.
But I don't even know how you pick a winner.
I mean, they're just so, so, so impressive.
And to watch them, to watch the artists from the beginning.
And I think this would be true for the snow sculpture competition as well.
Yeah.
To watch from the artists from the beginning, you don't see what's happening.
You can't tell what they're going to be creating.
But slowly it starts to come into picture.
And they're just, it's just gorgeous.
They truly are artists.
There's no question about that.
Yeah, we saw like news reports featuring photos of how they do it.
It's a team.
Sometimes it's more than two to three people, if not five to six people, some under the sculpture or the whole huge block of ice or snow that they're working on, some on top of it.
So so it's like slowly trying to make a piece of art instead of just playing around and sculpt ice.
Yep, absolutely.
And as I mentioned, that's true for the snow sculpture competition as well.
I think it was the 28th edition of that particular competition.
And that is the ice sculpture competition is finished, but the snow sculpture competition is going on for, I think, a couple of more days.
And they have artists from around the world for that competition as well.
Poland Belarus, again Russia Georgia Kazakhstan Korea, the Netherlands Mongolia Spain, Belgium and more.
And there are 100 artists from 25 different teams that are using snow as their canvas.
And it's the same thing.
You can't tell what they're making in the beginning, but it ends up to be something really cool and really beautiful.
And the thing I think that's maybe one of the main highlights about those two competitions is that it really highlights the efforts of the city to promote cultural dialogue between the East and the West.
And there's appreciation from all the artists about what they do and the collaborations on what they're working on.
So it's really kind of a special, special couple of events.
Yeah, it's an exchange, more like an exchanging opportunity than just a competition.
Yeah.
Now another one of the big events and it's also a first is the 2026 Harbin International Ice and Snow Economy Expo.
Tell us what that's about.
That one um kind of started from january the 6th to 8th and also this is the expo that's kind of gearing up to be a major event for the ice and snow industry as well.
You said this is come uh, its debut for the first time, but i think it's more like a starting point where they probably plan to host it like more often in the future.
It's They kind of highlight a lot of the products, the industrial grade kind of products, such as unmanned snow removal machines.
There's the snow mobiles and carbon fiber skis on display.
And also a lot you've been you've we've covered a lot of expos before.
There's like small stands or small stations for each country or for each company.
And they all showcase their latest products. kind of like products for research outcomes.
Speaking of research outcomes, there are even universities and R&D teams attending too.
So this one is the Harbin Engineering University kind of led under its president Yin Jingwei, who introduced the university's latest technological innovations at the expo as well.
That include polar operation, unmanned aerial vehicles and also vessels equipped with polar fuel systems.
So you see, it's not really about sports fun entertainment anymore.
It becomes a huge stage for a lot of people from in and outside of china to showcase some latest um like products and research outcomes from from their lab and from their companies and from their country.
100 yeah, this expo is not small.
There are 300 exhibitors from china and around the world And they have special zones and different themed zones.
And it's a really huge event.
There was a quote from Heikki Kontiosalo, if I'm saying his name correctly.
He's the deputy speaker of the city council of Ronaniemi in Finland.
Wow.
And he was saying how he was impressed by China's evolving winter equipment, talking about the snow removal machines and snowmobiles and the skis.
And it just demonstrates how snow and ice and carbon has evolved from just a natural resource into a global attraction for business and innovation.
That's what he had to say.
About that.
They're sister cities, by the way.
Yeah, which I did not know about.
Between Harbin and that Rovaniemi?
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
So what he was saying was he had hoped that the Expo would be a platform for the Finnish city to share their experience in cold region infrastructure and optimization and ice and snow tech and research and all that type of thing as well.
Really kind of cool.
So, speaking of the economy and I talked about this as we were getting started with our chat here this is a big deal for the local economy.
Yeah.
First of all, think about it.
It has already turned that winter season as a seasonal tourism boom, because normally we'll think yeah, that cold weather is not really suitable for people to go out and have a lot of these activities.
Like outdoor fun.
But now, with these ice and snow world and all of these equipments and infrastructures, winter tourism has become a new peak season rather than just an off season, and destinations nationwide are rolling out these themed routes, student snow holidays and large-scale like voucher programs.
They have special, different routes, right and coupons, offering consumers right and stimulating these travel accommodation, dining and also retail.
And also, right now, ice and snow tourism is no longer a niche.
It is now a mass, it's a thing yeah, it's a mass market and you contribute to this, don't you?
Absolutely, i was.
We were talking about this.
I officially like join back ice and snow economy in these recent three years, because I started snowboarding two years ago and yeah, I.
I did like, influenced by these whole, like the nationwide vibe or enthusiasm toward these winter sports.
It's kind of exciting, isn't it?
Yeah.
So you've never tried it before.
No.
But this is the first time you started to pick it up.
Yeah.
Two years ago, that was my first time to try that snowboarding.
I really enjoyed it.
Yeah.
And Yushun is just one of the 292 million Chinese residents who participated ice and snow.
That's a big group chat.
Yeah, that's between 2024 to 2025, but we are expecting more.
So we mentioned Harbin, like many times throughout our chat today, but Harbin is kind of just one small not small, forgive me one iconic example of this whole industry behind it and is also representing this whole ice and snow world.
It is a key driver of economic growth that's going beyond the city itself in recent years, because last winter the park itself attracted a record-breaking 356 million tourists tourist visits during the 68-day operation and that's boosting the market size of the ice and snow economy in Heilongjiang province to reach 266 billion yuan, or roughly 38 billion US dollars.
So it's a one chain, a pillar industry within the province.
That's kind of driving up the whole provincial capital up in recent years.
And that's something that I believe many other provinces across China is kind of learning too.
We have the Zibo barbecue last year, or is it a year before?
And then in Gansu province There is the malatang, like a kind of hot and spicy dish, boiled vegetable with sesame sauce on it.
So each different place has its own unique style that they're trying to develop either as sports or fun, or entertainment or food that they're trying to build as part of their iconic labels.
And Harbin is the leading role of that.
Yeah.
And the cool thing about Harbin is that it's not just this ice and snow festival.
It's kind of the whole season, it seems, because the searches are For ice and snow world started.
They peaked in the middle of December and they were skyrocketing five fold compared to just a day before, on the 15th day of that month.
And so, yeah, it happens in different spots, but it feels like Harbin is the top spot.
And during that three-day New Year holiday, guess how many people.
So the three-year New Year holiday was not a major holiday here in China, right?
It's just, you know, the rolling over of the calendar from 2025 to 2026.
It's not one of the biggest holidays.
But even still, during that three-day break, 4.1 million people visited Harbin.
4.1 million just during that time.
So that's my point is that it's not just the snow and ice festival.
It's on people's radar for sure.
One of the things that I think is really cool as well is that yeah, here in the northern part of the country, we have the weather that's conducive for this type of activity.
There's snow, there's ice, the temperatures are cold, hovering around zero or a little bit above, sometimes a little bit below.
But in the southern part of the country, the climate is very different.
It's a lot warmer.
Shenzhen would be an example of a city where you wouldn't expect to find skiing or snowboarding, but you can.
In a lot of these cities in southern China, we actually built some of these indoor ski resorts.
And that is, I have to say, the fun part, when it is in winter, or even like fall season, you know, because they're indoor.
They can create snow all year round.
So also my hometown as well.
They are building up, they built these kind of resorts, indoor ski resorts and a lot of people.
Even when we're talking about the economy.
That's because not only this brings like tourism and sells for this one resort or this one city, because it can bring up the whole like tourism and economy around that whole city.
People around that city can travel to that area and do that kind of ski things and when whenever they want.
Yeah, i remember two years ago there were jokes made in northeastern china when during the winter holiday period that Southerners who see snow and feel the ice for the first time are acutely referred to as little potatoes.
Remember that?
And now they're no longer little potatoes because they know how to ski.
They know how to use snowboards.
And a lot of experts also say that this expansion of winter sports into southern China also helped people addressing the north-south gap in ice and snow activities.
And then, if we kind of zoom out to the whole nationwide kind of data, this is, according to a report released by the Winter Sports Management Center of the General Administration of Sport of China, that as of April 2025 the country had 79 indoor ski resorts.
And that's up by 20 and also marking around 33% increase.
So this shows a trend that in the past few years there are more and more ice rinks, skiing resorts, built in southern China.
And I think it's just in recent shows that we talked about ice hockey.
And we mentioned in Kunming, which is the city in the tropical area of Yunnan province in far southern China. they're even it's nickname is the city of spring yeah because they the the temperature is always it's always spring and they're even building ice rinks for kids to play hockey well in shenzhen um that's what i think it's one of the newest indoor resorts it launched in september of 2025 this indoor um facility for skiing and snowboarding it is huge and they invested a lot of money into that almost 30 billion yuan And it's really popular.
They're welcoming over 5000 visitors a day.
I watched a video of that this morning.
When I say huge, just believe me.
You walk inside and you think, oh OK well, it's going to feel like some sort of indoor facility.
It kind of looks like you're indoors, but also outdoors on a mountain at the same time.
And it's cool.
They have different levels for like beginner and advanced and things like that.
So it really is a place for everyone.
The Harbin Snow and Ice Festival is something that is actually it's on my bucket list.
Yeah.
Nice.
Yeah.
It's year number two for me in China.
I haven't had an opportunity to get there just yet, but hopefully next year.
So if you do have the opportunity, don't miss it.
It is kind of a once in a lifetime, I think, opportunity for people.
