Harbin Snow and Ice Festival: still open, but events canceled due to Covid outbreaks

Harbin Snow and Ice Festival: still open, but events canceled due to Covid outbreaks

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(CNN) – The 37th annual Harbin Snow and Ice Festival continues as planned, but with changes due to new outbreaks of coronavirus in the area.
The winter festival, which is a major event in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin in Heilongjiang province, has attracted travelers from all over China and the world every December and January since 1985.

The festival ahead according to plan was seen as a sign of China’s success in containing and controlling the coronavirus. Many restrictions have been lifted across the country, and residents can travel freely within China’s borders.

Now, however, small outbreaks in the nearby cities of Shenyang and Dalian have led to a change in plans. While the festival is still open and visitors can buy tickets to browse through the artworks of ice art, events and performances have been canceled. This includes a planned wedding ceremony that would take place on January 5th. An organizer of the event confirmed the changes to CNN.

Ice sculptures at the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in Heilongjiang Province in northeastern China on January 5, 2021.

Ice sculptures at the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in Heilongjiang Province in northeastern China on January 5, 2021.

STR / AFP / Getty Images

‘All visitors must strengthen the precautions, submit their health codes when entering the park, measure their temperature, wear masks at all times and a [safe] distance from others in the park, ”reads a statement shared on the festival’s social media pages on December 29.

New Year’s Eve celebrations and a fireworks display were also canceled.

The health codes mentioned in the statement refer to the app that everyone in China should have on their phones to verify that they are free of Covid-19. The app is also used for contact tracking when someone gets sick. Restrictions on domestic travel have already begun to take effect in April 2020 in some provinces.

The annual festival is the world’s largest of its kind.

Workers annually pick up blocks of ice from the Songhua River, which artists use as material for their creations. The pressure should always exceed the previous year, and the highlights of 2021 include a ‘crystal palace’, a 220-square-meter ‘fridge’ and a scale model of China’s first aircraft made entirely of snow.

Beijing is hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics in partnership with the snow-capped city of Zhangjiakou in the north, making the Chinese capital ever the first city to host a Winter and Summer Games.

CNN’s Hannah Zheng in Beijing also reported.

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