The story
Longqing Gorge Ice Lantern Festival in Longqing Gorge/Yanqing
Longqing Gorge, a scenic ravine northwest of Beijing, hosts one of the capital's longest-running winter festivals, carving more than 400 ice and snow sculptures across the site each year from mid-January into late February. A roughly 70-metre lit ice waterfall anchors the display, alongside walk-in ice castles, folk performances and ice slides best experienced after dark.
Longqing Gorge, a seven-kilometre ravine northwest of central Beijing normally known as a summer resort along the Gucheng River, spends each winter as the setting for one of the capital's oldest ice festivals, running consecutively since the late 1980s and drawing crowds well into its fortieth edition.