After experiencing an unusually heavy downfall of snow from the past week, residents from a northern China city now have a reason to rejoice: making snowmen out of the massive amounts of snow.

The organizing committee for the annual Ice and Snow festival held in China's Harbin City, in Heilongjiang province, has released guidelines for everyone who wants to participate in making snowmen, reported Chinanews.com on Thursday.

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According to the committee's guidelines, before a snowman can be considered “real,” it should reach a height of at least 2 meters and weigh more than 250 kilograms. More than that, a snowman's head should be the equivalent of at least the size of about six and a half human heads.

Committee members also said that a snowman should be able to withstand melting for up to two months from the date that it was made.

In addition, the guidelines also require that a snowman's body should be tough, strong enough to be bumped by a car running at a speed of 100km/h – and not get a scratch.

The committee said that snowmen who are not able to meet the said criteria should not be classified as snowmen. Instead, they should be considered mere snowballs.

Southern counterparts

The committee for the festival in Harbin city reportedly scorned the snowmen that were created by those living in the southern parts of China in the past week.

Residents of Guangzhou, in Southern China, made snowmen of their own after they were hit by cold weather on Sunday, reported the South China Morning Post.

Some of their creations, which can be seen via social media site Weibo, show bizarre and odd-looking snowmen, quite different from those in Harbin.

One snowman, for example, wore a cooking pan for a hat, and a broom for an arm. Other snowmen were just simply “overweight.”

In Chongqing, drivers paraded their snowmen on top of their cars, and were warned by authorities.

The drivers were cautioned that they will be required to pay 50 yuan, and will be given one penalty point on their license should they fail to remove it, reports the Chongqing Evening News.

TagsSnowman, snow, Harbin, Guangzhou, Chongqing