Chilling Out at Display of Chinese Ice Sculptures

The coolest spot to spend a scorching summer afternoon these days may literally be inside a strip mall in Rosemead, just off busy Valley Boulevard.

There, in the shadow of a Vietnamese noodle shop, local entrepreneur Sam Tsao transformed empty store space into a giant walk-in freezer. A crew of chain-saw- wielding craftsmen flew in from China and then turned blocks of ice into 18-foot-high replicas of the U.S. Capitol, the Great Wall of China and the Terra Cotta Warriors of Xian.

Tsao calls the show “The Spectacular Chinese Ice Sculpture and Lighting Exhibition.” Depending on your view, it’s either an impressive display of some of the world’s man-made wonders in miniature or a giant version of a Las Vegas buffet table, sans food.

More than 70 sculptures, each lit up in neon blue, green, yellow and red, make up the exhibit. For $7.50--plus a dollar to rent a parka--visitors can take in the brisk air, bright lights and meander through the freezing scene as the Christmas carol “Oh Tannenbaum” resounds through speakers.

“It was so nice in there, now I dread going out,” said Arcadia resident Helen Flores, 72, as she took off her knit gloves in the exhibit’s anteroom and braced herself for a return to the hot gray haze of the parking lot.

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The freezing climate inside is generated by $300,000 worth of refrigeration equipment, machinery purchased when an ice cream parlor chain canceled its order. The big freeze was a new experience for some native Californians.

Several women remembered to bring heavy coats but wore open-toed sandals.

“She was starting to do a jig in there,” Cheryl Thompson, 50, joked of her sandal-clad friend Jeannie Sagoian, 49. After making one pass through the hall, the Fountain Valley women were in the waiting room warming up for another trip through the steel freezer doors. “It’s real nice, I could have stayed in all day if I had my tennis shoes,” Sagoian said.

Tsao said he sponsored the exhibit as a way to beat the L.A. heat and to “introduce an aspect of Chinese culture to the U.S.”

The ice sculptures are smaller versions of those carved every winter in the city of Harbin in northeastern China. Since 1962, sculptors in Harbin have been carving sculptures out of giant blocks of ice cut from the frozen Songhua Jiang river. The Harbin sculptures can be as tall as 70 feet--heights too tall for indoor display, Tsao said.

Along with the ice carvings of Chinese mythological figures are Santa Claus and reindeer as well as cavorting penguins and seals.

Children can ascend a set of ice stairs to the top of the Great Wall of China and slide down its sloping walkway. The slide became so popular that it was beginning to wear down.

The exhibit’s organizers now charge a dollar to slide down twice. “We had to find away to limit its use,” said Jay Chiang, a UCLA student who works as a guide at the show.

It took three sculptors and 21 crewmen from Harbin just over two weeks to put up the exhibit, which hit a few international glitches.

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When the crew arrived, they found their power tools would not work with American outlets, so special lines had to be installed. The crew was also miffed when told they could not drink on the job, as they often do when working in frozen Harbin, Tsao said. But they agreed to keep a lid on the Chinese liquor they brought with them.

Tsao, an Arcadia travel agent, was inspired to put on the show when he took a tour group to Harbin. Local ice sculptors told Tsao that they hoped to stage an exhibit in the United States but could not find a backer.

When Tsao returned to the United States, he began to line up investors and was able to raise about $1 million to put on the show.

About 20,000 people have visited the exhibit since it opened May 3, Tsao said. So far, only about half the 1,000 visitors a day Tsao needs to break even have been showing up. That prompted him to cut the ticket price from $15 to $7.50.

The show will continue until Oct. 31 at its location on Valley Boulevard between San Gabriel and Rosemead boulevards. When it is over, Tsao will hold a benefit for the Red Cross in which donors can take sledgehammers to the ice.