Dozens of large-scale snow and ice sculptures are once again on display in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, for the Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo. By day, the massive sculptures depicting folklore, mythology, classical art, cartoon characters and castles almost blend into their icy surroundings like natural formations, and after dark, everything is illuminated with a rainbow of glowing lights. Here are some of the festival’s most impressive sculptures that visitors have captured over the years.

Wild Hair Statue, 2012

Harbin has long, cold winters with temperatures dropping to -36 degrees Fahrenheit, making it cold enough to pack snow very tightly, mold it into place and expect it to stay put. Otherwise, statues with elements like this hair would be difficult to make (photo by cdschock.)

Illuminated Ice Architecture, 2009

The annual winter festival is the largest ice and snow festival in the world, drawing international participants to show off their sculpting skills. The ‘Ice and Snow World’ portion, featuring full-sized buildings made from blocks of 2-3 inch thick ice, is best experienced after dark (photo by Ian Carvell.)

Goddess Statue, 2016

Each year, the event has a ‘trial run’ between December 22nd and January 4th, officially open to the public between January 5th and February 25th. Every year has a different theme, with 2016’s revealed to be “The Wonderland in the Land of Snow, The Grand View in the World of Ice and Snow.” Not clear on what that means, but we’ll find out when photos are released in early 2017 (photo by Time Travelo.)

Snow Sphinx, 2013

Maybe it’s not quite as large as the original, but this ‘snow sphinx’ photographed by Priscilla Dorresteijn is impressive nonetheless.

Illuminated Ice City at Dusk, 2015

The combination of reflective ice and snow with colored lights creates a pastel scene at dusk (photo by Jarod Carruthers.)

Massive Santa, 2009

This large-scale Santa is downright mountainous, looming over life-sized snow sculptures of architecture and trees (photos by Morgann and rdog)

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City Of Ice 20 Photos Of Chinas Amazing Annual Snow Sculptures

It’s Suntory time – on the incredibly intricate, CNC-milled, pagoda-shaped rocks.  The Japanese whisky brand famously touted by Bill Murray in the film ‘Lost in Translation’ has enlisted the services of a 5-axis CNC mill to craft miniature works of art in ice, including replicas of the Statue of Liberty and Michelangelo’s David.

The centerpiece of Suntory’s “3D Rocks” campaign is a teeny-tiny, amazingly detailed version of Kyoto’s Kinkaku-ji temple. Watch it in progress in the video above.

Suntory customers were asked to submit their own designs, and the winners were whisked to a secret location in Tokyo where they received a drink featuring their own creation in ice once it was complete.

The CNC router was kept chilled to a temperature of -7 degrees Celsius to keep the ice from melting while the machine was running.

It’s almost a shame to see the whisky splashing over these ephemeral works of art, knowing that they’re inevitably about to melt away.

Ephemeral messages ranging from eight inches to eight feet in height stand in public settings for just hours before they begin to disappear, melting into the snow or concrete beneath them. Artist Nicole Dextras makes social and environmental statements that are present just long enough to incite questions in passersby, making the meaning of the words themselves seem vulnerable and transient.

The letters are made using wooden molds and sometimes, in the case of the larger installations, must be propped up as they start to melt – adding to the message of the word, as in the case of ‘LEGACY.’ Many of the pieces question human ownership of natural resources, and the way in which we take over and consume the world around us.

“The use of text in the landscape relates to concrete and visual poetry but with the added twist of having the word’s meaning alter with the melting process,” says Dextras. “Sometimes the words relate directly to the landscape such as “silence” where the bucolic idealism of nature is transformed by the sound of the crashing waves behind it.”

“Typography absorbs light, melts and eventually leave son trace; these words have more in common with dreams and oral stories than linear language. Words cast in ice interrupt our literal narratives, allowing a more integrated reading of the land we inhabit, as opposed to the past and current commodification of land as limitless resource. I therefore choose to create within an ephemeral vernacular to accentuate the collective physical and psychological experience of flux and change.”