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Check out these amazing pictures of the Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture festival

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Fireworks celebrating the start of the festivalImage source, Getty Images
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The world’s largest ice festival began this week in Harbin, a city in the northeast of China.

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Famed as the 'Ice City', Harbin is known as being one of China’s coldest cities in the winter.

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The festival first started in 1983 and this year will run from the 5th of January. Officially, the festival lasts one month. However, exhibits often open earlier and stay longer, weather permitting.

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On average the temperature in Harbin is around -18 January and -14 in February, so not much chance of the sculptures melting then …

Image source, GREG BAKER
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The ice sculptures include recreations of castles, historic landmarks and famous figures, including Moscow’s Red Square, Beijing's Temple of Heaven and Bangkok’s Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

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It took around 10,000 workers make this year's ice world and it’s spread over an area of 600,000 square metres - that's nearly as big as Disneyland

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Last year more than one million people attended the festival, however some people think that 100,000 people a day could visit this year.

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At night thousands of computer-controlled LEDs light-up the huge ice sculptures. It's looks pretty spectacular doesn't it?