A visitor holds a fish caught at Jingpo Lake in Mudanjiang.  [Photo provided to China Daily]

A crystal-clear castle carved from ice. Red-crowned cranes that swim through the skies. White waterfalls frozen in time.

Literally.

A red-clad Santa in a Christmas village is, indeed, a jolly old soul. (The question is: how packed is his sack with black coal?)

These are the colors that imbue the hues of Heilongjiang province's wintertime palette.

It's an appeal forged by freezing temperatures that takes the shape of ice formations, one as unique as the countless snowflakes that cover its terrain.

The white stuff arrived in Mohe county early last month and typically stays 120 days.

Winter tourism surged last year, when China's northernmost province introduced five routes, featuring skiing, hot springs, seasonal landscapes and polar experiences in such destinations as Yabuli, Mohe, Daqing and Qiqihar.

Tourists paid 9 million visits to the province during the last Spring Festival, up 31 percent compared with the same period of the previous year, the provincial tourism authority reports. Tourism income grew 14 percent to 10.7 billion yuan ($1.6 billion).

Major sites have experienced growing influxes.