In compensation for the cruel winter weather, the annual Ice Lantern Festival , centred on Zhaolin Park, is held from January 5 to February 5. The park becomes a fairytale landscape with magnificent sculptures and sometimes entire buildings, complete with stairways, arches and bridges, made of ice, carved with chainsaws and picks, and often with coloured lights inside them to heighten the psychedelic effect. Sculptors, some of them teenagers, work in -20°C December weather, earning ¥20 for a twelve-hour day. Highlights of past festivals have included detailed replicas of St Paul's Cathedral and life-size Chinese temples, though these days cartoon characters outnumber more traditional Chinese subject matter. Over on Sun Island, a snow sculpture display is held. You can walk across the river yourself or take a horse-drawn carriage for ¥10. During the festival, plenty of other cultural events take place, and its end is marked by fireworks.

In summer, Harbin hosts a classical and traditional music festival from the middle to the end of July, during which orchestras and smaller groups play in the city's eight theatres.