As of 2018, where is the world's largest ice and snow festival located?

The Harbin International Ice and Snow is an annual winter festival that takes place within Harbin, Heilongjiang, China, and now is the largest ice and snow festival in the world.

At first participants in the festival were mainly Chinese, however it has since become an international festival and competition, with the 2018 festival attracting 18 million visitors and generating 28.7 billion yuan ($4.4 billion USD) of revenue. The festival includes the world's biggest ice sculptures.

Officially, the festival starts on January 5 and lasts one month. However, exhibits often open earlier and stay longer, weather permitting. The festival originated in Harbin's traditional ice lantern show and garden party that takes place in winter, which began in 1963.

During the festival, there are ice lantern park touring activities held in many parks in the city. Winter activities during the festival include Yabuli alpine skiing, winter-swimming in the Songhua River, and the ice-lantern exhibition in Zhaolin Garden.

Harbin is located in Northeast China and receives cold winter wind from Siberia. The average temperature in summer is 21.2 °C (70.2 °F), and –16.8 °C (1.8 °F) in winter. Annual lows of -35 °C (–31 °F) are not uncommon.