As the “Frozen” Version 2.0 made by Disney hit cinemas, Harbin Ice& Snow World “Version 21.0” was on the stage. Different from the “virtual kingdom” constructed by film and television producers on the screen, the spectacle of snow and ice in northeast China that infinitely closes to and even surpasses the image quality in the film was created by nearly 10,000 Chinese craftsmen and hundreds of construction machinery in the extreme cold of more than 20 degrees below zero.
Issued by Xinhua News Agency (photographed by Zhang Tao)
On December 23, 2019, the 21st Harbin Ice& Snow World themed “enjoy ice and snow together” opened officially, which covers an area of 600,000 square meters, with total ice quantity of 120,000 square meters, containing about 130 independent scenery including large ice building, snow-covered landscape, ice and snow sculpture. It hits a new record in both scale and volume.
The Harbin Ice& Snow World was born in 1999. In the 20 years, XCMG cranes from K series to G generation participated in its construction as important equipment, helping nearly ten thousand of constructors build a magnificent ice city in less than a month.
It is understood that the 21st Harbin Ice& Snow World began to take ice for landscaping in early December 2019. Countless pieces of ice, 1.6 meters long, 0.8 meters wide, 0.5 meters high and weighing a ton, were continuously transported to the construction site. This year, more than 50 XCMG lifting equipment including XCT25, QY25K5-1 and QY70k-1 were on-site.
The construction site built with ice is like a large ice cellar; it is a “year-end test” for both workers and equipment to construct the Ice& Snow World especially in the month with the lowest temperature.
The process to construct the Ice& Snow World and ordinary buildings is similar, but the raw materials are different. The Ice& Snow World is built by ice cubes that are “heavy and smooth”, while ordinary buildings are made of bricks. The Ice& Snow World needs the assistance of lifting equipment from the foundation.
What’s more important is that the buildings in the Ice& Snow World are unique and cannot be copied, with the shortest stay up to three months in the world. To meet the freezing conditions, tens of thousands of people will work orderly to make seamless link here. The lifting procedure is simple but frequent, and the lifting equipment should hoist a piece of ice every five minutes on average, and work 12 hours from 6 am to 6 pm, and work around the clock continuously per day on the construction site.
The construction of the Ice& Snow World comes at the coldest season of the year in Harbin. The snow may fall at any time, and the crane must not only hold the extreme cold without shutting down, but also maintain the original function without delay. XCMG K-series 25-ton and G-generation 25-ton products are most widely used in this project. As the first “Olympic ice torch” with a body of 21 meters in height, the 157-meter-long snow sculpture for “celebrating the 70th anniversary” and the 420-meter-long ice slide are built this year, which are the top of the world, and there is a high demand for “lifting high and delivering far” at the construction site, many QY70k-1 have also joined the project.
How did XCMG cranes behave in such a “big test”? During the construction period, the service team of the Harbin representative office contacted the user several times to inquire about maintenance requirements, but declined by the words that “no time to find you, you don’t have to come.” The reason why they declined is that the vehicle was really fault-free and they worried that the shutdown for inspection might “delay” the construction process. To this end, the Harbin representative office sent a service team to carry out free repairs at the site, inspect vehicles during the stop for a rest, and take corrective measures for some vehicles with slow movements.
Right now, this glazed city built by nearly 10,000 Chinese craftsmen and equipment made in China has been perfectly displayed to the world. The K-series and the G-generation XCMG cranes, which handed over the full score in 2019, are rushing to the next location to meet the new test in 2020.
