On the Way to Majesty

This is a progress picture of the ice sculpture outside the main gate at Zhaolin Park. There are so many things in this pic, its hard to tell them all without getting boring but here goes.

You can see the dimensions of the ice wall by the cars driving past and the sculptors standing on the wall. It is entirely made of ice. The only piece of machinery that is used on the site (from what I can see) is the ice cutter as seen in a previous blip. Everything else is done by hand.

You can notice on the left, that they are raising a block of ice to the platform. They use a rope and pulley. Five guys (off camera) are pulling the block up. Once at the top, it is manhandled into place and then shaved to the right size. The guys pulling the rope prepare and 'deliver' the blocks of ice.

The corners are all square and the lines are all straight. The sculptors use what looks like a very sharp paint scraper with a long handle to scrape away any ice that is excess to the required shape. The columns that you can see in the middle at round and more than likely would be almost perfectly circular. I am sure I will get some closeups over the next little while.

The scaffolding is just plain scary (as is all scaffolding in China). Most of the joins use braces but some will most certainly be roped together. There are no comfortable stairs to the top. In fact there are no stairs at all.. Everyone who wants to go to the top to work, has to climb the scaffolding monkey style.

It will be very interesting to see the finished product. So far it looks awesome.

This is only one site around the city. It is the second largest site. It is an entire city block deep and half a block wide. The whole park will probably open early in January.

Across the river, there is another site consisting of 2 sections. One is entirely dedicated to Snow sculptures and the other to ice and snow.

You won't believe what the Chinese can do with Ice and Snow.. I am sure I am not the only one who will post pics. Between the four of us here, I am sure there will be lots. Can't wait to show more.