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Agence France-Presse

Gruff men shout over an angry motor as they float huge blocks of ice towards a rusty conveyor belt on the bank of a frozen river in northeast China.
Every winter, dozens of workers brave sub-zero temperatures to hack ice from the mighty Songhua River and deliver it around Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province.
It forms the building blocks for the massive sculptures that are the centrepiece of the city’s Ice and Snow World, an annual festival that draws tens of thousands of visitors.
But this year, a warmer autumn has delayed the freeze and left the river ice thinner than normal.



“By now, the ice is (usually) 57cm or 58cm (22.4 to 22.8 inches) thick,” said Huang Wu, 52, who has been harvesting it for two decades.
“This year, the ice has only reached about 44cm or 45cm,” he said as he rested close to the shoreline in the pink light of dawn.
Like the rest of his eight-man crew, Huang is a fisherman who trades his net for a handheld ice pick once the river freezes over.
Clad in orange life vests and knee-high work boots, his team stood in a neat line on the snow-dusted surface, with one man chanting the count as they chiselled out slabs exactly 1.6 metres (five feet, three inches) long.



The crew earns about two yuan (US$0.27) per brick and can produce up to 2,700 in each gruelling 16-hour shift, Huang said, adding that they split their earnings equally.
Despite its high quality, Huang said the relative lack of ice has hit his income so far this winter.
“When the ice is thick, you make more money. When the ice is thin, you make less,” he said.
Once cut, the white, glossy blocks are hauled onto a motorised ramp that transports them to a line of forklifts.
From there, they are loaded onto trucks and lugged to the festival about a five-minute drive away.

Sculptures in recent years have included a towering palace, a tricoloured snowflake and replicas of China’s iconic Terracotta Army – all illuminated in bright colours at night.
The attractions delight visiting tourists, but Huang said he has seen enough ice to last him a lifetime.
And while the frozen air chills outsiders to the bone, to hardy locals it still feels unseasonably warm.
Daytime temperatures in Harbin would usually hover around minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus four degrees Fahrenheit) by this point in the year, but lately it has got that cold only at night, Huang said.
Climate change has brought extreme heat to large parts of the world this year, and Europe’s climate monitor has said 2024 is “effectively certain” to be the hottest ever recorded.


China is the biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that drive global warming, but has been building renewable energy infrastructure at a rapid pace and aims to become carbon neutral by 2060.
For others, however, warmer temperatures bring welcome relief from northeastern China’s notoriously bitter winters.
“When the wind blows, no one can stand it,” said first-time ice cutter Zhu Weizhong. “When it’s cold, we suffer.”
Zhu, a father of three who farms and works in city maintenance for most of the year, said the back-breaking labour was better than sitting around at home.
There was “little work for the winter” in Harbin, he said, adding that he earned around 260 yuan for each eight-hour shift.
Compared to other jobs, chipping away at the frozen river was “tiring”, Zhu, who is in his fifties, said.
But, he added, “you finish, and you look and think, ‘Ah, I’ve done so much today’”.


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A worker harvests ice from the frozen Songhua River in preparation for the annual Harbin Ice and Snow World festival, in Harbin, Heilongjiang province. Photo: AFP

Ice blocks harvested from the frozen Songhua River for the annual Harbin Ice and Snow World festival in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China. Photo: AFP

Workers float blocks of ice on the Songhua River in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, China. Photo: AFP

Workers separate the ice blocks from the frozen surface of the river. Photo: AFP

Workers are finding the ice thinner on the Songhua River this year, because of the warmer autumn Harbin has experienced. Photo: AFP

An aerial picture of ice blocks that have been cut from the frozen Songhua River. Photo: AFP

Wearing boots and high-visibility vests, workers harvest ice from the frozen Songhua River. Photo: AFP

A worker cuts the ice blocks on the frozen river. Photo: AFP

Ice buildings at The 17th Harbin China Ice and Snow World, in January 2016. Photo: Shutterstock

A worker uses a forklift to move harvested ice on the frozen Songhua river. Photo: AFP

Ice blocks cut from the frozen Songhua River. Photo: AFP

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Workers harvesting ice from the Songhua River for the city of Harbin’s Ice and Snow World are finding thinner ice


Workers harvesting ice from the Songhua River for the city of Harbin’s Ice and Snow World are finding thinner ice.


Tourism

China travel

Climate change