"Icy hotpot" heats up winter tourism in Harbin, China

HARBIN, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- In a shell-shaped icy building, tourists sit on ice chairs around ice tables, munching on meats and vegetables from steaming hotpots.

The 600-sq-m building has drawn a lot of tourists eager to have a meal of ice and fire in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

"We added some substance to the water to make the ice for the building, which is stronger than normal," said Luo Peng with the Harbin Institute of Technology. "Since there are many people in the building, who produce a lot of hot air, we also dug some ventilation holes on the roof."

The unique dining experience is part of the Harbin Ice-snow World, China's largest ice and snow theme park, which opened for its 21st winter season in December.

Ice and snow have become a magnet for tourism in Harbin.

Harbin Ice-snow World received over 116,800 visitors and brought in 29.91 million yuan (4.3 million U.S. dollars) in revenue during the three-day New Year's Day holiday in 2018.