Hong Kong may be a place where it never snows, but surprisingly it is home to the world's most successful snow sculpture team.
Led by Alan Tam Wai-lun, a chef at the InterContinental Grand Stanford Hotel, the Hong Kong ice-carving team was crowned champion of the 39th International Snow Sculpture Contest in Sapporo, Japan, in February. It was the second time Tam had won the contest and the 12th victory for the Hong Kong team, giving it a record number of wins in the 39-year-old contest.
But for Tam, the contests are not about winning awards. 'I very much treasure interacting with ice and snow sculptors from around the world,' he says. 'The competition is not all about winning; it feels great to talk with people who share the same interests.'
Tam also thinks participating in such competitions is a great way to promote Hong Kong. 'When I am competing, I am not representing myself or the hotel, I am representing Hong Kong,' he says. 'This year, I created 'The Leaping Dragon' sculpture, because it is the year of the dragon, and to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.'
In this year's International Snow Sculpture Contest, participants were given four days to carve a sculpture from a three-metre-high cube of snow.
'The outdoor temperature can swing between zero degrees Celsius and minus 10 degrees, but I was sweating because snow carving is very physical,' Tam says. 'As sunshine, wind and rain can affect the sculpture, we have to cover it quickly to protect it. Often when I return from a competition, people ask if I have been to the tropics to sunbathe. I get tanned from the sunlight reflected by the snow.'