Snow business: The icemen behind China’s frozen festival | Malay Mail

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HARBIN (China), Dec 19 — Liu Yantao and six co-workers start toiling on a frozen river in northeast China before dawn, using hand tools and machines to carve large ice blocks for an annual winter sculpture festival. Liu and his team are among more than 100 people who work on the Songhua River to...

This photo taken on December 12, 2019 shows workers using picks to cut ice blocks from the frozen Songhua river in Harbin, China's northeastern Heilongjiang province. — AFP pic

Liu’s team cuts out 2,000 pieces of ice every day for about three weeks, arriving before sunrise and leaving after sunset. “Prices of everything are going up. I make a little more money to make life easier,” says the chain-smoking farmer.Liu has been mining ice for more than a decade. He is the team leader among a group of farmers who drive from Harbin’s countryside to arrive at the river before 5am every morning.

One by one, the crystal bricks are lifted onto a conveyor belt and picked up by a forklift that takes them to waiting trucks. “If you fall down, you will be pulled out by your companions,” Liu says, lighting up yet another cigarette. “Only farmers take this job, why are farmers always slaving away? I can’t believe it,” said Liu Zhiwen, who watches the work being done from the warm comfort of his car.Even their lunch comes from the river: The workers throw nets in the water to catch some carp. They cook and eat the braised fish right on the ice with steamed bread, sitting around the stove. A few downed some liquor to stave off the bitter cold.

 

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