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The flame for the 2025 Asian Winter Games was lit at Sun Island Park in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, on Monday, which also marked the last of the 24 solar terms in China's Lunar Calendar, the Major Cold.
The special day was chosen because the occasion means the period is followed by a new year. The event connects two different 12-month spells, while also prefacing an impending seasonal change, making the date a perfect symbolic backdrop for the Asian Winter Games flame lighting ceremony.
"On Major Cold Day, using the water of the Songhua River and sunlight, together we created the light of the Harbin Asian Winter Games," said Tong Xiaoyu, Deputy Director of the Torch Relay Operations Office. "The flame expresses enthusiasm for winter sports, and honors friendships among athletes from Asia, as they gather in Harbin to compete and cooperate in the pursuit of excellent quality and human life, as well as the unremitting pursuit of sports, inheritance and the development of the spirit of sports and continuity."
As an important icon of events like the Olympics, the flame symbolizes light, unity, friendship, peace and justice, with the lighting ceremony's location especially selected to stress the harmony between humanity and nature.
"Sun Island has the same theme as the 'Sun' symbol we want to use for the Asian Winter Games," said Wang Zheng, Chief Director of the Flame Lighting Ceremony. "The Harbin Sun Island Snow Fair is the birthplace of snow sculpture art in China, which is the largest snow sculpture event with the highest artistic level in China. And with the 37th Harbin Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Fair currently ongoing, you can see a giant snowman on the side, as we try to combine the lighting ceremony with the natural landscape, to highlight the natural scenery and cultural customs of Harbin."