CNN broadcasts New Year's Eve special live from Harbin's ice park

In this ice and snow season, the 27th Harbin Ice and Snow World once again became the focus of global attention, thanks to video coverage from CNN.

Fireworks lit up the sky above towering ice sculptures in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province as CNN broadcast its global New Year's Eve special live from Harbin's Ice and Snow World on Dec 31, putting the winter city in front of an international audience.

Harbin became the second city on the Chinese mainland to host CNN's New Year's Eve program, after Shanghai. The live broadcast connected the northern city's signature winter attraction with viewers around the world, highlighting its role in China's expanding ice and snow tourism sector.

The 2026 Harbin Ice and Snow World, themed "Frozen Expanse, Frosted Fairyland", spans about 1.2 million square meters. As the world's largest ice-themed attraction, the annual festival features an impressive 400,000 cubic meters of ice and snow, sourced from the nearby Songhua River, CNN said in its promotional video.

The broadcast featured ice replicas of iconic Chinese landmarks, including Wuhan's Yellow Crane Tower and the tulou earthen dwellings of Fujian province, underscoring the festival's blend of regional architectural styles and winter artistry.

The park operates from late December to late February, when temperatures in Harbin often dip below -20 C. The extreme cold helps preserve the structures and has become part of the city's appeal, drawing visitors seeking a distinctly northern winter experience.

For Harbin, long known as China's "Ice City", the New Year's Eve spotlight provided an opportunity to showcase its flagship attraction and position itself as a winter destination with growing international reach.