HARBIN: As mayors from around the world jointly lit the torch marking the opening of a dialogue event in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, they also ignited a shared vision for developing the ice and snow economy and advancing cooperation among global winter cities.<\/p>\n
The Global Mayors Dialogue, starting Tuesday, brought together mayors and representatives from nations including Canada, Finland, and the Republic of Korea (ROK) to Harbin, hailed as China’s “Ice City.”<\/p>\n
During the three-day event, delegates visited major city landmarks such as the century-old Central Street and the Harbin Ice-Snow World — the world’s largest ice and snow theme park, where the 42nd Ice and Snow Festival opened on Monday — gaining a first-hand experience of how the city is turning severe cold into gold.<\/p>\n
Andrew Knack, mayor of Edmonton in Canada, which has maintained a sister-city relationship with Harbin for over 40 years, said that the annual Ice and Snow Festival has injected strong impetus into Harbin’s tourism.<\/p>\n
“This is something that I could have never imagined and the scope and the scale of what’s been created here is truly a wonder. It’s a profound privilege to be here to experience this and just see what has been created now,” he said.<\/p>\n
His views were echoed by Nam Dong-gyeong, vice mayor of Bucheon in the ROK, also a sister city of Harbin. Nam noted that Harbin’s Ice and Snow Festival is far more than a simple cultural celebration — it’s a great example of how unique festivals can boost the ice and snow economy.<\/p>\n
Both Knack and Nam said decades of sister-city cooperation with Harbin has yielded fruitful results in trade, education, culture and tourism, and expressed their hopes for deeper cooperation in the future.<\/p>\n
On his sixth visit to Harbin, Heikki Kontiosalo, deputy speaker of the city council of Rovaniemi in Finland, expressed his continued amazement at the city’s ever-prospering ice and snow economy.<\/p>\n
Kontiosalo said Rovaniemi, located within the Arctic Circle and known as the hometown of Santa Claus, has a long snow season. This opens up lots of opportunities for the city to grow its winter tourism and help boost the economy in other ways, too.<\/p>\n
He expressed hopes to strengthen cooperation with Harbin in areas including ice and snow technology, winter sports and related equipment.<\/p>\n
Coinciding with the dialogue event, the inaugural Harbin International Ice and Snow Expo commenced on Tuesday in Harbin. Advanced ice-and-snow equipment, including industrial-grade unmanned snow-removal machines, snowmobiles and carbon fiber skis, is displayed, offering opportunities for international investment and cooperation.<\/p>\n
So far, Harbin has established sister-city ties with 37 cities in 28 countries.<\/p>\n
“Harbin has always embraced the world with an open attitude,” said Li Mian, the city’s executive vice mayor. He also highlighted the Global Mayors Dialogue’s role as a bridge for sharing development experience and promoting cooperation in the ice and snow economy.<\/p>\n
As the origin of modern winter sports in China, the city recorded a total ice and snow economic output exceeding 160 billion yuan (about 22.8 billion U.S. dollars) in 2024, accounting for about one-sixth of the national total, official data showed.<\/p>\n
China is positioning the ice and snow economy as a major driver of development and consumption, and its scale is expected to reach 1.2 trillion yuan by 2027 and 1.5 trillion yuan by 2030.<\/p>\n
A report from the China Tourism Academy shows that the country’s ice and snow economy exceeded a scale of 1 trillion yuan in 2025, with more than 14,000 tourism-related ice and snow enterprises operating nationwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HARBIN: As mayors from around the world jointly lit the torch marking the opening of a dialogue event in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, they also ignited a shared vision for developing the ice and snow economy and advancing cooperation among global winter cities. The Global Mayors Dialogue, starting Tuesday, brought together mayors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":70725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,30],"tags":[103],"ppma_author":[213],"class_list":{"0":"post-70724","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-china","8":"category-latest","9":"tag-top-stories"},"yoast_head":"\n