WorldJanuary 11, 2025

HARBIN, China (AP) — Faced with temperatures dipping to -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit), visitors to

ANDY WONG, Associated Press
A woman eats hot food to keep warm at a giant hotpot restaurant inside the Harbin Ice and Snow World in Harbin in China's Heilongjiang province, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A woman eats hot food to keep warm at a giant hotpot restaurant inside the Harbin Ice and Snow World in Harbin in China's Heilongjiang province, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Li Long serves customers at his iron pot stew restaurant, a popular food which residents eat to keep warm, in China's Heilongjiang province on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Li Long serves customers at his iron pot stew restaurant, a popular food which residents eat to keep warm, in China's Heilongjiang province on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)ASSOCIATED PRESS
A child eats a Madie’er ice cream bar in the freezing weather in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A child eats a Madie’er ice cream bar in the freezing weather in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Residents gather to buy pork at a roadside store in the freezing weather in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Residents gather to buy pork at a roadside store in the freezing weather in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Visitors wearing thick winter clothing tour a popular shopping street in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Visitors wearing thick winter clothing tour a popular shopping street in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)ASSOCIATED PRESS
A worker lights up wood to heat up the pot for customers at an iron pot stew restaurant, a popular food with residents in the cold weather, in China's Heilongjiang province on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A worker lights up wood to heat up the pot for customers at an iron pot stew restaurant, a popular food with residents in the cold weather, in China's Heilongjiang province on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)ASSOCIATED PRESS
A resident walks out from a covered roadside store selling daily food in the freezing weather in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A resident walks out from a covered roadside store selling daily food in the freezing weather in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)ASSOCIATED PRESS
A man buys pig trotters at a roadside store, in the freezing weather in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A man buys pig trotters at a roadside store, in the freezing weather in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Visitors wearing thick winter clothing tour a popular shopping street in the freezing weather in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Visitors wearing thick winter clothing tour a popular shopping street in the freezing weather in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Visitors enjoy a ride on a tube slide pulled by a vehicle on the frozen Songhua river in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Visitors enjoy a ride on a tube slide pulled by a vehicle on the frozen Songhua river in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)ASSOCIATED PRESS
A couple takes a tour of the ice carnival held on the frozen Songhua river in the freezing weather in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A couple takes a tour of the ice carnival held on the frozen Songhua river in the freezing weather in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)ASSOCIATED PRESS
A woman carries bags of meat and stands near a meat store in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A woman carries bags of meat and stands near a meat store in Harbin, China's Heilongjiang province on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Li Long serves customers at his iron pot stew restaurant, a popular cold weather food for residents, in China's Heilongjiang province on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Li Long serves customers at his iron pot stew restaurant, a popular cold weather food for residents, in China's Heilongjiang province on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Visitors eat hot food at a giant hotpot restaurant inside the Harbin Ice and Snow World in Harbin in China's Heilongjiang province on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Visitors eat hot food at a giant hotpot restaurant inside the Harbin Ice and Snow World in Harbin in China's Heilongjiang province on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)ASSOCIATED PRESS
A man walks into an iron pot stew restaurant, popular with residents in the cold weather, in China's Heilongjiang province on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A man walks into an iron pot stew restaurant, popular with residents in the cold weather, in China's Heilongjiang province on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)ASSOCIATED PRESS

HARBIN, China (AP) — Faced with temperatures dipping to -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit), visitors to China's wintertime resort city of Harbin often make a beeline for stalls selling padded clothing to augment their wardrobes.

Oddly perhaps for some, frozen ice cream bars are also considered a key part of the visit.

Each winter, the industrial city in China's northeast turns into a magnet for those from China's balmier regions wanting to experience the extreme cold and take in the sculptures built from ice blocks carved from the Songhua River, which freezes from late October to late March.

“I searched for tips on the internet and am now wearing knitted wool pants and the thickest sweater possible,” said Jin Yiting, who was visiting with her parents from the financial hub of Shanghai, where a light jacket is usually sufficient winter garb.

Jin Yanlong runs a stall selling winter hats, gloves and boots in the park. He said that most of his customers are tourists from southern China who underestimate the frigid weather in Harbin.

“Some of the tourists wear ‘too thin.’ They come here immediately from the airport. They would find us to buy warm trousers padded with cotton,” Jin said.

Despite the freezing weather, some curious tourists are brave enough to taste the cold itself. Zhuang Chang and his friend enjoyed their Madie’er ice cream bars while strolling on a commercial street whose architecture reflects the Russian influence on the city. The brand was established in 1900s by a Russian company and has steadily grown in popularity among tourists.

“It’s cold, but my heart is warm,” Zhuang said. He also compared the humid cold months of his hometown in Zhejiang province, where “people would be frozen to the core when being hit by wind.”

"But here only my hands and face feel cold,” Zhuang said.

For those seeking a warmer alternative, there are hot drinks and steaming hot pot, a kind of stew mixing meat, vegetables, tofu and other favorites.

Restaurant owner Chi Xuewen claims to own the world's largest hot pot, where 18 individual pots featuring a variety of flavors circle the giant bowl.

"Eating anything in a hot pot makes people warm,” Chi said.

Li Long’s restaurant uses wood both to cook the food and warm the air in the ice block structure.

“The pot also radiates heat,” Li said. "Once the pot cover is lifted, customers see the hot food. In one word, it just feels hot."

Prolonged cold has left local residents with few options for fresh vegetables, so frozen food has become an alternative. Frozen tofu left outside overnight becomes porous and is particularly good at soaking up soup and flavor, local resident Liu Xiaohui said.

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Olivia Zhang and Caroline Chen contributed to this report.

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