China's annual ice festival in the north eastern city of Harbin has stepped up its game with one of the world's largest displays of ice sculptures.

As the country gears up for the 2022 Winter Olympics, snow and ice tourism has been become a key focus alongside the frozen sculptures of animals, cartoon characters and famous landmarks.

The opening ceremony of the 36th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. Photo / Getty Images

The 36th festival, which officially opens on Thursday and last year drew more than a million visitors, showcases the region's tradition of snow and ice carvings as well as ice swimming in the Songhua River. Harbin's temperatures can fall to minus 25 degrees Celsius.

No average snowmen: Tourists visit the Harbin snow sculptures. Photo / Getty Images

Harbin's best ice and snow carvers have been busy putting the finishing touches to their sculptures, which are based on big chunks of ice that are dragged out of the nearby river and carved, brushed, and lit up.

An Ice Palace at the cetnre of the 36th Harbin ice festival. Photo / Getty Images

Blocks of ice are used to build ice castles at the Harbin International Ice and Snow festival. Photo / AP

The sculptures range from animals and cartoon characters to replicas of famous world monuments and landscapes, as well as a 340-meter-long slide that state media say took around 500 builders to complete.

Lu Fu was helping to finish a giant ice castle on a busy roundabout in Harbin, brushing it with a small rake.

"I feel happy. Especially after completion, I feel so excited when looking at the ice wall with lights on in distance," said Lu, who has been carving ice for more than 20 years. "Ice building is the pride of Harbin people."

China's first TIA international cross-country skiing marathon in Harbin as the country prepares for the 2022 winter games. Photo / Getty Images

The festival also coincides with the city's first ski marathon this week reports the Xinhua news agency and the promotion of the Beijing Winter Olympics is everywhere.

However, this doesn't mean that other sports have been missed out. Part of the festival involves a swimming competition in which brave competitors must race in a pool caved into the frozen Songhua River.

Swimmers compete in the icy Songhua River as part of the Harbin festival. Photo / Lintao Zhang, Getty Images

With the winter games only two years away, the country has set its sights on drawing 340 million tourists to snow and ice attractions over the 2021-22 season. This would be an increase of 61% from last season, according to the South China Morning Post and a sign of appetites for winter sports in China that is snowballing.

The festival features snow sculpture exhibitions as well as giant Ice structures. Photo / Getty Images

With additional reporting from Associated Press