Ice lanterns are an ancient folk art form popular in northern China. Due to its unique geographical advantages, Heilongjiang can be considered the earliest place for making ice lanterns. According to legend, long ago, every winter night on the Songnen Plain, people would see groups of farmers and fishermen leisurely feeding horses and fishing. The lighting tools they used were lanterns made of ice. This was the earliest ice lantern. At that time, the technology for making ice lanterns was very simple: water was placed into wooden buckets to freeze into ice blocks, then hollowed out, with an oil lamp inside, used for lighting. The ice cover blocked the biting cold wind, and in the dark, there was an unextinguished lamp. Ice lanterns became an indispensable helper in people's lives. Later, during the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival, people decorated them, turning them into a unique artistic expression for viewing. The Qing Dynasty's "Heilongjiang Outer Records" has detailed records about it: "During the Lantern Festival, the city is illuminated for five nights, and women from villages come to watch plays, with the sound of carriages never ceasing all night. Some make ice lanterns as tall as five or six feet, with double torches burning inside, which look like crystal figures." At that time, ice lanterns also appeared in some places in the south. During the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods, Sichuan poet Zhang Wentao wrote a poem specifically describing ice lanterns, titled "Ice Lantern," with lines: "In the dark, there is heat and cold; the ice lanterns emit flames long. Illuminating away hot thoughts, the carved parts let cold light through. The shadow wets stars sinking in water, the spirit clear with frost in the moonlight. Three winters full of literary history, why bother to search for fireflies?" Jin Derong, a poet from Nanjing, while exiled to Balikun in Xinjiang, also praised in his classical poem "Ballikun Ice Lantern Song": "The snowy mountains reach the Tian Mountains, with eternal snow on top. A northern wind one night turns it into ice, the skillful hands cut and shape the snow into ice. Adding alum to the ice keeps it from melting, and lighting candles makes the ice shine brightly. Within five miles, everything is bright, and for half a month, the sky does not go dark. On the fifteenth night, the moon shines over the blue sky, and thousands of people enter the crystal palace..."

Harbin is the cradle of Chinese ice art, and Harbin ice lanterns are famous both at home and abroad. Large-scale organized production and exhibition of ice lanterns in Harbin began in 1963. People used simple molds such as basins and buckets to naturally freeze more than a thousand ice lanterns and dozens of ice flowers, which were displayed in Zhaolin Park on the Lantern Festival, causing a great sensation throughout the city and forming a grand scene where everyone rushed to see the ice lanterns. Many old Harbin residents still remember this vividly and feel deeply moved. This was also the first organized and led ice lantern garden party in China. At that time, someone composed a song on the spot to describe this "crowded streets, extremely prosperous" historical spectacle: "Lantern festival, lantern festival, jade trees and ice lanterns under the moon. Crowds are enthusiastic, red lanterns glow north and south. Red lanterns, red lanterns, illuminating the joy of the people."

Ice lanterns are a specialty of the Black Land, a source of pride for the people of Longjiang. From basin-made ice landscapes to large-scale annual ice lantern garden parties, Harbin's ice lantern art has become increasingly mature, and its influence and spread have already made it famous worldwide, popular both at home and abroad. In 1985, the hardworking and wise people of Harbin further tapped into the potential of ice and snow energy, developed ice and snow resources, and centered around the internationally renowned ice lantern garden party, launched the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival, which included ice and snow art, sports, culture, tourism, and trade. They transformed the feared snow and ice into valuable natural resources, adding vibrant spring to the winter of Harbin. Since then, January 5th each year has become a unique local traditional festival for the people of Harbin. Northerners changed their habit of staying indoors during winter, started participating in various ice and snow activities, and Harbin's winter no longer felt lonely, but instead became warm.

In ancient times, the technology for making ice lanterns was very simple, but the ice lanterns we see today are far more complex. It is an ice-based art form that combines landscape gardening, architecture, carving, painting, stage design, literature, and even music. It also uses modern technologies such as sound, color, light, shape, electricity, and movement to create a dazzling and colorful artistic world. It integrates the long history of the Chinese nation and the cultural fields of architecture and folk customs from both within and outside China, becoming a splendid gem in the treasure house of world folk art.

The making of ice lanterns is a systematic project, and its process generally consists of the following stages: In the severe cold of more than minus 20 degrees Celsius in winter, first, strong ice with high plasticity and compressive strength similar to general materials is created from the Songhua River. According to the requirements of the design drawings, electric saws are used to cut the ice into different specifications. Then, tools such as planes and flat chisels used by carpenters are used to process them into ice bricks or ice components. Using water as an adhesive, towering ice buildings and delicate handicraft shapes are made, and thus the crystalline ice carvings are born.

An indispensable helper in life. Later, during the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival, people decorated it again, turning it into a unique artistic form for viewing. The Qing Dynasty's "Heilongjiang Outer Records" has detailed records about it: "During the Lantern Festival, the city is illuminated for five nights, and women from villages come to watch plays, with the sound of carriages never ceasing all night. Some make ice lanterns as tall as five or six feet, with double torches burning inside, which look like crystal figures." At that time, ice lanterns also appeared in some places in the south. During the Qianlong and Jiaqing periods, Sichuan poet Zhang Wentao wrote a poem specifically describing ice lanterns, titled "Ice Lantern," with lines: "In the dark, there is heat and cold; the ice lanterns emit flames long. Illuminating away hot thoughts, the carved parts let cold light through. The shadow wets stars sinking in water, the spirit clear with frost in the moonlight. Three winters full of literary history, why bother to search for fireflies?" Jin Derong, a poet from Nanjing, while exiled to Balikun in Xinjiang, also praised in his classical poem "Ballikun Ice Lantern Song": "The snowy mountains reach the Tian Mountains, with eternal snow on top. A northern wind one night turns it into ice, the skillful hands cut and shape the snow into ice. Adding alum to the ice keeps it from melting, and lighting candles makes the ice shine brightly. Within five miles, everything is bright, and for half a month, the sky does not go dark. On the fifteenth night, the moon shines over the blue sky, and thousands of people enter the crystal palace..."

Harbin is the cradle of Chinese ice art, and Harbin ice lanterns are famous both at home and abroad. Large-scale organized production and exhibition of ice lanterns in Harbin began in 1963. People used simple molds such as basins and buckets to naturally freeze more than a thousand ice lanterns and dozens of ice flowers, which were displayed in Zhaolin Park on the Lantern Festival, causing a great sensation throughout the city and forming a grand scene where everyone rushed to see the ice lanterns. Many old Harbin residents still remember this vividly and feel deeply moved. This was also the first organized and led ice lantern garden party in China. At that time, someone composed a song on the spot to describe this "crowded streets, extremely prosperous" historical spectacle: "Lantern festival, lantern festival, jade trees and ice lanterns under the moon. Crowds are enthusiastic, red lanterns glow north and south. Red lanterns, red lanterns, illuminating the joy of the people."