The 2011 Harbin International Collegiate Snow Sculpture Contest was Held in HEU

The 3rd International Collegiate Snow Sculpture Contest, in the theme of pursuit and dream, was held successfully in Harbin Engineering University within 4th and 7th January, 2011. 43 teams including China, UK, US, Russia, Japan, Korea and so on, entered into the final competition.

After three days of intense competition, the Contest adjourned on 7th January. The snow sculpture group had been cofirmed as the largest scale of collegiate snow sculpture group in the world by China World Records Association. The sculpture group was The total volume of snow used for this contest was 1,556 cubic meters. Each team was provided with a snow block with the dimensions of 3m. long x 3m. wide x 3.5m. high. Additionally, the snow blocks were supposed to be sculpted on all four sides. Judged by the expert committee, 43 delegations including Nottingham Trent University and Harbin Engineering University, entered into the final competition of 4 days.

Finally, the Contest selected 5 first prize winners, 10 second prize winners, 12 third prizes winners, 16 Excellence Awards winners, 3 Best Skill Awards winners and 3 Best Originality Awards winners.During this Contest, the former Champion, Thailand team, attracted lots of attention and curiosity: Thailand is a tropical country without a piece of snowflakes for the whole year and how could they achieve high cultivation in snow sculpture art? "Snow is a rare thing to my nation, and it was even hard to imagine to make sculptures with snow at very beginning". Said one Thai contestant, "However, in my home, it is easier to have snow replaced by wood, mud pile and sand. In the former contest, our team applied the carving techniques of my hometown into snow sculpture. The combination of Chinese snow and Thai carving techniques inspires creativity to the unique art. Personally we feel white sculptures are amazing ‘cause they present the glamour of purity.

In addition, "Lapse of Time" from North China University, "Pursuit of Dreams" from Dalian University of Technology, "Value" from Nottingham Trent University, "Firebird" from Far Eastern State University of Humanities, etc., were widely recognized as "geilivable" excellent works. Besides of the fantastic works, delicate preparation and wonderful hospitality demonstrated by the host-HEU was the other geilivable merit of the Contest. Prof. Wei Lin, HEU vice President, often inspected the Contest site to check the preparation progress. As the host, HEU organization team is critical to each tiny specification, in order to ensure a perfect event without any flaw. One staff introduced:"the secret to consctruct snow sculptures lies in the quality of snow. The temperature must be below -16℃ to ensure the quality of snow blocks. The team can complete with snow makers 10 blocks for the most within one day."Therefore the team was operating the snow makers onsite always till "freezing” midnight. The spirit of HEU team was the essence of the "geilivable” contest.