Northeast China city holds ice sculpture competition

HARBIN, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Artists from around the world are wielding shovels and knives to sculpt ice chunks at an ice sculpture competition in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

The 8th international ice sculpture competition has drawn 64 artists from 12 countries, with each of the 16 teams required to create their works from no more than 10 ice chunks.

The competitors have taken to their own culture for inspiration. The joint team from Egypt and Poland, for example, looked to ancient Egyptian mythology to make their sculpture.

The result will be announced on Friday, and all works by the competitors will be displayed at the Harbin Ice-Snow World, a tourist park presenting ice and snow works.