Harbin Ice and Snow World, one of the major venues for the 26th International Ice and Snow Festival
Harbin Ice and Snow World, one of the major venues for the 26th International Ice and Snow Festival, officially opens on January 5, 2010. The park features many large ice and snow sculptures based on landmarks from countries around the world.
The annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival has been held since 1963. It had been interrupted for a number of years during the Cultural Revolution until it was resumed in 1985. Officially, the festival starts from January 5th and it lasts one month. However often the exhibitions open earlier and last longer, weather permitting. Ice sculpture decoration ranges from the modern technology of lasers to traditional ice lanterns. There are ice lantern park touring activities held in many parks in the city. Winter activities in the festival include Yabuli alpine skiing, winter-swimming in Songhua River, and the ice-lantern exhibition in Zhaolin Garden. Read the rest of this entry »
MAD’s design for the Urbanism\Architecture Shenzhen & Hongkong Bi-city Biennale, the Monster’s Footprint debuted in the Citizen Square of Shenzhen. It is a sunken space shade of a giant footprint, paved by pink EPDM material, functioning as the playground for the citizens in the city center. Shenzhen is a village turned city overnight. Enchanted by the bursting power of economic development, the city center is filled with extensive, and yet indistinctive icons. The coarse scale and preposterous symbolism of these icons have detached themselves from people’s daily experience. The Monster’s Footprint attempts to enter this very surreal reality, and offer a way for Shenzheners to find their own freedom and joy in the Citizen Square. 
World’s Fastest Train(in commercial use, the highest recorded speed is a Maglev train 361 mph) tops out at a speed of over 380 km/h, or over 235 mph, and the ride is surprisingly smooth. The Wuhan-Guangzhou high speed railway, which will shorten travel time from ten hours to three. Traveling from the central city of Wuhan all the way down the south coast, it’s also the longest rail line in China. The Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway will kick off commercial operation on Dec. 26, after a trial operation starting on Dec. 20. 
