Polina Silicheva, a Russian media anchor based in China, play around with a BabyAlpha Robotic Dog. (Photo: Heilongjiang Daily)

While over hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the globe marvel at the famed ice sculptures in Harbin, China's renowned "Ice City," the city is layering advanced design and manufacturing onto its icy foundations, upgrading from a seasonal spectacle into a sophisticated, year-round snow economy industry.

As the capital city of China's northernmost province, Heilongjiang, Harbin has long been famous for the Ice and Snow World, an annual mega project of transient ice and snow art that rises each winter like a frozen fairy tale. For many Chinese winter tourism enthusiasts, the attraction holds a status comparable to that of Disneyland and Universal Studios in the U.S.

As the highest-latitude provincial capital city in China, Harbin features a mid-temperate continental monsoon climate characterized by long and cold winter. The resulting snow is now being leveraged by the city to create a comprehensive snow-related industrial chain that spans creative design and advanced ice and snow-related equipment manufacturing, showcasing a unique model of urban development shaped by climatic advantage.

The Harbin Design Center structure.

A new hub for global design resources

The story begins at the Harbin Design Center (HDC), a modern and fashionable structure located in the Harbin New District, widely regarded as the heart of the city's design industry.

From its inception, HDC has actively fostered international collaboration with such countries from Asia, Europe, and the Americas, believing that blending local and global creative ideas yields outcomes with broader cultural resonance and more substantial competitiveness. The results speak for themselves.

"From our inception, we sought membership in the World Design Organization, recognizing that international engagement would be crucial to our vision. The global perspective has clearly strengthened HDC's competitive edge," said Yan Shi, vice director of HDC. "Since our official launch in July 2023, we have won over 34 awards, including world-renowned accolades like, the Red Dot Design Award, iF Design Award, and the International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA). Today, more than 42 design agencies from countries, including Sweden, Japan, and the U.S., have settled here, with recent expansions welcoming new agencies from South Korea and Finland."

Design thinking is now centered on improving personal winter experiences, particularly in the realm of comfort and safety gear. "A tech and design team from the Harbin Institute of Technology has developed a temperature-regulating down jacket. They have employed a liquid-based fabric technology to achieve significant weight reduction, resulting in more efficient warmth," explained Yan. "The winter sports equipment used by enthusiasts, including skis, poles, and helmets, is comprehensively enhanced by creative design. This approach enables the use of less material while delivering a safer and warmer product experience.

Li Zhibo introduces the winter sports equipment manufactured by his company to the visitors. (Photo: Heilongjiang Daily)

The rise of manufacturing in snow equipment

Meanwhile, both the elements of "ice and snow" and design thinking are systematically integrated into the manufacturing of winter sports equipment. Harbin Qianmao Xuelong Sports Goods Co., Ltd. is one such examples of this convergence.

The company's full range of sports equipment now covers over 80% of ski resorts in China, serving diverse scenarios, including competitive sports, professional training, public fitness, and school education.

"For a long time, China's national freestyle skiing aerials team has relied on imported high-performance skis," said Li Zhibo, General Manager of the company. "Now we have developed domestically produced competitive skis that utilize aerospace-level composite materials and aerodynamic structural design. The product has passed multiple rounds of rigorous testing by the national team and is expected to become the equipment of Chinese athletes for the Milan Winter Olympic Games 2026".

For years, Harbin has transformed its harsh climate from a geographical constraint into a unique testing ground for technological innovation. While visitors are captivated by the beauty of the various ice castles, the city is working to create a more resilient and dynamic future beneath the ice.