Jilin's rime ice is counted among China's four great natural wonders, alongside Guilin's karst scenery, Zhangjiajie's pillar mountains, and the Three Gorges. The claim is justified: from December through February, when conditions are right, the trees along the Songhua River embankment are coated in crystalline rime ice formations so dense and white they appear artificial. The effect at dawn, when the ice catches the first light before the warmth of the day begins to loosen it, is genuinely extraordinary.
The riverside promenade along the Songhua embankment is the main viewing area, and local activity around the ice is a spectacle in itself: photographers at dawn, families walking in extreme cold, ice sculptors, and the general atmosphere of a city engaging with winter as an event rather than an endurance. The Jilin government monitors conditions and issues forecasts for rime ice formation, and the city fills up when the ice is at its best.
The phenomenon depends on the temperature differential created by the Fengman dam — the water stays warm, the air is arctic, and the meeting point produces ice. Without the dam, there would be no rime ice. It is one of the more beautiful unintended consequences of hydroelectric engineering.