Winter taking shape in Changchun

Lion dance at the Jingyue Snow World. [Photo by Wang Jing/China Daily]

Even lavatories have been built with packed snow.

The sculpture contest is one of 113 festival activities. Others include ice fishing and winter swimming, and temple and trade fairs.

But while a host of mythical characters make cameos in Changchun - mostly as snow sculptures - the fabled creator who constructs this winter wonderland doesn't appear as a graven image. Jack Frost's likeness isn't carved in snow, but his omnipresence conjures others' presences.

And Jack demands human sacrifices - a pound of frigid flesh. He doesn't merely nip at your nose in Changchun. He gobbles whatever he can.

It's as if he's looking for something to eat in his freezer and finds you.

When the scores of Scandinavians who join Changchun's Vaseloppet complain it's cold, well, it really is really cold.

Yet subzero temperatures conjure landscapes as magical as those of Frozen.

Ice glazes deciduous branches. Trees sparkle like crystal chalices.