Where does the ice in the ice and snow world come from?

Currently, the 26th Harbin Ice and Snow World is in full swing, with tens of thousands of tourists coming from all corners of the world every day to enjoy the ice and snow. In preparation for the next ice and snow season and striving for innovation and breakthroughs, the ice storage work of the 27th Harbin Ice and Snow World officially started on January 15 .

So, where does the ice in Ice and Snow World come from? What is the ice harvesting process like?

Ice harvesting has a 3,800-year history?

China's earliest ice harvesting activities began in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, with a history of more than 3,800 years. It is recorded in "The Book of Zhou: Heavenly Officials: Lingren": "Lingren is in charge of ice. In the twelfth month of the first year, he is ordered to cut ice."

Among them, Lingren is actually the person in charge of ice making, the official in charge of ice politics and ice-making related work, and the person who is specifically responsible for managing the ice cellar is called Bingzhang. The ice cellar where ice is stored is also called "Lingyin".

At that time, people began to harvest ice in the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, which is similar to the time when we harvest ice during the Big Snow solar term. In ancient times, ice was harvested mainly to be stored for use in the summer of the following year, mainly for drinking, sacrificial ceremonies, and indoor cooling.

At that time, the main areas for ice harvesting were concentrated in the Central Plains, which is now Henan and Shaanxi. At that time, the Central Plains was in the Little Ice Age, and the winter was cold and long, which provided a natural environment for people to harvest and make ice.

In early China, due to the imperfect ice harvesting technology, the amount of ice produced was very limited and only available to the royal family and nobles. Therefore, if there was an ice cellar in the house, it was a symbol of identity and status.

Where does the ice in Ice and Snow World come from?

Due to the stable water flow and clear water quality, the ice formed on the Songhua River has uniform density and is crystal clear, making it an ideal material for building ice landscapes.

The specifications of ice used in the Ice and Snow World are that a piece of whole ice is about 1.6 meters long, 0.8 meters wide and weighs about 700 kilograms.

The first step for the ice harvesting team is to open the ice line, pull a line on the ice to measure the distance, and use an ice saw to make preliminary cuts, dividing the huge ice layer into small squares like a checkerboard.

Next, the ice harvesters lined up along the ice line, shouted uniform slogans, and worked together to smash the ice with ice picks to divide the ice layer into ice rows. A large ice row could be divided into more than a hundred pieces of ice.

As ice blocks are continuously transported out, ice harvesters need to move the ice rafts forward in time. They call this step "ice skating rope".

After completing the previous steps, the ice harvester stands on the ice block and uses an ice pick to break the ice block along the line, and a whole piece of ice is "out of the water".

Pieces of whole ice float on the surface of the river. Ice harvesters use ice forks to send them to the ice dispenser. Then the ice is transported by forklifts to the nearby Ice and Snow World for ice sculpture making.

In addition to newly mined ice, "New Year's ice" will also be used for early construction. That is, ice harvested last year, stored using a combination of traditional ice storage and modern multi-layer insulation technology.

Under the conditions of low temperature, light avoidance, heat insulation and sealing, the ice can be ensured not to melt even in midsummer when the temperature exceeds 30℃.

The process of getting ice at the Ice and Snow World is a real-life version of "Frozen". While enjoying the charm of ice and snow, remember to keep warm.

Source: Comprehensive network, if there is any infringement, please contact us to delete.