The 41st Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival officially opened Sunday with a spectacular fireworks display and drone show in the northeastern Chinese city known as the "city of ice".
Coinciding with the upcoming 2025 Asian Winter Games, also known as the 9th Asian Winter Games, this year's festival shares the same theme as the sports event, "Shared Dreams of Ice and Snow, United Asia."
The opening ceremony centered around the 9th Asian Winter Games. The mascots of the Games, Siberian tigers "Binbin" and "Nini", along with figure skaters and ice acrobats, presented the six major events and 11 sub-events of the Asian Winter Games to the audience.
In addition, the theme song of the sports event, "Light Up Asia," was officially released at the opening ceremony. Aligning with the overarching theme of "Shared Dreams of Ice and Snow, United Asia," the song showcase the dynamic vitality of ice and snow sports while vividly depicting the vision of building an Asian Community with a Shared Future.
This year, the Harbin Ice-Snow World, where the festival is being held, has expanded to an astonishing scale of 1 million square meters, with approximately 300,000 cubic meters of ice and snow having been crafted into miniature versions of landmark buildings and sculptures.
The annual ice and snow festival, founded in 1985, has become a name card of Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province, and a major contributor to its booming winter tourism.
41st Harbin Int'l Ice and Snow Festival kicks off
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that he is stepping down as the Liberal Party leader but will stay on as prime minister until a new leader is selected, while the opposition leader complained that "nothing has changed".
The prime minister said Governor General Mary Simon had granted his request to prorogue Parliament until March 24.
"Nothing has changed," federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said on his social media, questioning what has changed with Trudeau's announcement.
"Every Liberal MP and Leadership contender supported everything Trudeau did for nine years, and now they want to trick voters by swapping in another Liberal face to keep ripping off Canadians for another four years," said Poilievre, the official opposition leader.
Trudeau is facing a revolt within his caucus and dismal public opinion polls, which indicate that his party is likely to be swept from power by Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives in an election, according to local media.
The House of Commons was scheduled to resume on Jan. 27, with the Conservatives planning to advance a non-confidence motion. Other opposition parties had indicated their readiness to bring down Trudeau's minority Liberal government. Trudeau's request for prorogation buys the Liberals time to run an expedited leadership race without facing a confidence vote.
A new session of Parliament would begin with a Speech from the Throne, setting the stage for a key confidence vote that could trigger a federal election in May if the Liberals fall.
Trudeau's decision to continue as prime minister through the next two months comes as Canada braces for the start of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's second term and his threats of 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada.
A majority of members of Parliament from the regional Liberal caucuses told Trudeau over the Christmas break that he must step aside. A national, daylong caucus to discuss the matter had been set for Wednesday, but this is now moot with a leadership race underway.
Liberal members of Parliament and party members will be briefed in the coming days on the party's constitution and caucus' role in the upcoming leadership campaign. According to the Liberal Party of Canada's constitution, "upon the occurrence of a leadership trigger event," or if the leader announces resignation, a meeting of the national board of directors must be called within 27 days. In consultation with the caucus, the board could appoint an interim leader. The top party officials would also be required to set a date for a leadership vote and other parameters around the race.
Trudeau has been the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada since 2013 and prime minister since 2015.
Canadian prime minister to step down as opposition complains "nothing has changed"
