Workers brave the cold to harvest ice on the frozen Songhua River in Harbin City in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, December 11. /VCG Photo

About 11,000 cubic meters of ice blocks will be mined and turned into ice art for the upcoming 35th Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival. /VCG Photo

In order to finish the huge mining project, workers have to spend hours every day probing, cutting and transporting the ice. /VCG Photo

The annual snow and ice festival in Harbin is internationally famed for displaying massive, elaborate and colorfully lit ice sculptures that attract millions of visitors every year. /VCG Photo