We will take the Harbin Ice World as example.
It's the winter season again, and in the far north of China, a grand ice and snow carnival is about to unfold. In freezing -30℃ weather, the rock-hard ice on the Songhua River reflects the dazzling sunlight. Soon, the ice will be extracted and carved into exquisite works of art for people to admire. However, this incredible display can only happen thanks to the monumental labours of the ice pickers.
Ice picking carries the memory of our nation for thousands of years. To this day, there are still an indomitable group of people who are fearless in the face of the severe cold. They are the ice pickers.
In order to meet the construction deadlines, the workers have to start work at around 4 in the morning. Almost every lunch they eat is on the surface of the river, and it is an experience of constant numbness and trembling hands.
"Eat slowly for a few minutes, maybe the rice will be frozen into ice ball", an old ice-picking master said with a smile while holding a rice bowl. They won't stop working and return home until night has fallen completely and the river is nowhere to be seen.
In the process of ice-picking, danger is often close at hand. The river itself is more than ten meters deep, and if you are not careful, falling into the icy waters is always a deadly possibility . A worker who had fallen once and was rescued said, "I still have lingering fears when I think about it. The soaked clothes hung on me like an iron cloth in an environment of tens of degrees below zero. I was shaking with cold but I couldn’t move. And then I was placed on the ice truck by a colleague and sent back to my residence."
In addition, falling and suffering injuries is of course more common when working on ice. Even so, they still chose to persist for more than ten years, "Although it is very hard, I will come every year, because not only can I make money to support my family, but ice picking for me has a different meaning. It symbolizes perseverance and glory. I feel immensely proud to think that the Harbin Ice and Snow World, which is famous internationally, was built from ice we picked."
Harbin Ice and Snow World has extremely high requirements for each block of ice: it must not only be crystal clear, but also be of the exact same size. Ice pickers must use electric saws to carefully cut into the river's frozen surface by more half a meter and extract blocks 1.6 meters long by 0.8 meters wide. The rectangular blocks of ice each weigh about 500-600 kilograms. Between 1500-1800 pieces of ice are produced every day. There should be no bumps or accidents during transportation, an ordeal which tests the physical strength and carefulness of the workers to the limit.
