Ice carving contestants from 14 countries gathered for the single-block session of the 32nd Harbin ice sculpture competition in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Saturday. The weekend event is part of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, the largest ice and snow festival in the world, which runs from December through to February. The 68 artists, with two members in each team, are required to complete their chiseling and carving on a single, two-meter-squared, 80-centimeter thick, ice block. The participants hailing from countries including Spain, Slovenia, Egypt, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand and Poland were eager to bring the gems of their own culture to the competition. "This carving is called 'Rhythm of the Silk Road,' that is, the sound of music along the Silk Road. This is a classic image of playing a pipa (a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument) on one's back commonly seen in the Dunhuang Caves, and these are two flying apsaras. In addition, there is the pattern of auspicious clouds, and other ornamentation and jewels will be added in the post-production decoration, as well as orchids, lotuses and peonies. When us Chinese join in a competition with foreigners, we must bring out our traditional culture. As the saying goes, 'the more national, the more international'," said Hu Song, a Chinese carver. The Russian team has been a regular at the competition for over two decades and Paul from the team says the standards are getting higher each year. "Plenty has changed about the competition over the past 20 years, especially in terms of the participants - the teams are getting stronger, a lot of their members are award winners in major events. So it becomes harder for the jury panel to pick out the best work," he said. After assessing the finished carvings, the jury panel will announce the winners based on the art works' shape and artistic value on Monday. http://www.cctvplus.com/news/20180107/8070340.shtml#!language=1 Subscribe us on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CCTVPlus CCTV+ official website: http://www.cctvplus.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cctv-news-content Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewsContent.CCTVPLUS Twitter: https://twitter.com/CCTV_Plus

• published: 07 Jan 2018
• views: 1689