From the New York Times: “For decades, locals in this frigid outpost south of Siberia shaved and chipped and hacked away at big blocks of ice to create China’s most popular wintertime tourist attraction. Rising among the barren trees, the sculptures of the Harbin Ice Lantern Festival took the shapes of iconic Chinese monuments: the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and sacred Buddhist Mountains.

They took those shapes, that is, until this winter, when in sauntered Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Winnie the Pooh.”

Well, yes, it looks like Disney – in its aggressive branding campaign to conquer the Chinese market – has found a highly strategic location for one of its theme parks. Only that this park it is not really a Disney one – a licensing company has bought the rights to operate it and Disney itself has simply looked over the sculpture to make sure that these were in line with the Disney brand. People travelling to the northern city to visit what is arguably the most famous ice festival in the world this year have been finding enchanted castles and princesses rather than pagodas and temples, and apparently quite happily so as many seem to have welcomed the change. In fact, the park maintains a section for the traditional ice sculpture context – which features Chinese themed ice creations - but this was rather empty.

Are the traditional ice lantern sculptures going to disappear? We definitely do not think so – Harbin has also other 2, and bigger, ice parks featuring traditional colorfully lit-up ice sculptures. Still, Disney has certainly taken advantage of a great opportunity here – what can help them increase brand awareness better than linking people imaginary between Disney and one of the country best beloved traditions?