Local team wins Japan’s Snow Sculpture Contest

The Macau Culinary Association Team, representing the territory, won the champion’s title on the 44th edition of Japan’s International Snow Sculpture Contest held in Sapporo, the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) said in a statement.

The team invited by MGTO to represent the region brought home the major title with a sculpture titled “Crane Dance in Spring.”

In its second participation in the contest and after having achieved second place last year, this year’s team consisting of Perry Yuan Kam Hung, Patrick Li Hing Cheung and Tam Kuong Wu managed to impress the judges with an artwork that took them four days to carve.

The Sapporo Snow Festival is a winter festival held in the eponymous Japanese city and attracts over two million visitors every year from Japan and abroad.

The 44th Edition of the International Snow Sculpture Contest is one of the highlights in the Sapporo Snow Festival that this year reached its 68th edition.

In the contest, 11 teams, from different countries and regions including Latvia, Hawaii, Poland, Singapore and Macau, were called to carvetheir snow sculptures at on Odori Site from February 5 to 8.

Winners were announced at the site yesterday morning.

Last year’s edition of the festival enjoyed the presence of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, who led a delegation of MGTO to take part in the Festival and promote Macau as a travel destination, showcasing a snow sculpture of the Ruins of St. Paul’s paired with video mapping projections.

According to the official figures, Japan is the second largest international source of visitors to Macau, accounting for over 300,000 visitors. This marks an increase of 6.5 percent over last year.