Ice Festival preparations hot up in Harbin, China

Over 7,000 artists and workers in the norhern Chinese city of Harbin are working around the clock putting the finishing touches to the annual Ice Festival grounds. Now in its 30th year, the Ice Festival features huge sculptures of famous buildings, a gigantic 240-metre-long ice slide and even a loving tribute to Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman's globe trotting rubber duck. According to the festival's organiser over 180,000 square metres of ice and 150,000 square metres of snow have been used in constructing the winter wonderland. To coincide with the 30th anniverary the festival is on a much larger scale than previous years and features sponsorship from big name companies like Samsung. Over one million visitors are expected to attend the festival which officially opens on Sunday. Report by Laurie Blake.