“Winter Wonderland” doesn’t do it justice. The annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival is a monument to creativity, drawing ice sculptors from around the world to create a glistening display of frozen delight.

Located in China’s northeastern province of Heilongjiang, near the Siberian border, Harbin is known for its stunning natural landscape — and its bone-chilling winters.

While 17th- and 18th-century fishermen were probably thinking in practical terms when they created wintertime ice lanterns by freezing buckets of water just enough to create an ice shell with a hollow to hold a candle, the iridescent light from the lanterns blanketed the landscape with an almost magical glow.

By the mid-20th century, the practical craft of making ice lanterns had taken on an artistic bent, with locals outdoing one another with more intricate and elaborate designs. The result was the inaugural Harbin Ice Festival in 1963. The annual fest has grown from a celebration of the traditional craft to a bona fide blizzard of icy delight spread across almost 150 acres of frozen landscape.

Using water and natural ice sourced from the city’s Songhua River, artists create a breathtaking world of sculpture, arranged by theme to depict everything from classic Chinese masterworks to European folktales to ice gardens and replicas of famous buildings. Magnificent by day, the sculptures are even more stunning illuminated at night.

The heart of the festival, Harbin’s Zhoalin Park, stands testament to the original craft, showcasing an awe-inspiring array of twinkling lanterns. Even more elaborate ice sculptures — replicas of the Colosseum and the Empire State Building took shape last year — draw visitors to other locations around the city, including Sun Island and Ice and Snow World. The festival runs Jan. 5–Feb 28, 2015.