Culture and Sports

Técnico students participate in snow sculpture contest in China

Sara Serpa and João Simão, master's students in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, built a replica of the Padrão dos Descobrimentos.

Harbin is a town in China known for its tradition of snow and ice sculpture festivals. Sara Serpa and João Simão, Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering master’s students at Instituto Superior Técnico, headed for the Chinese city where they were awarded prizes for building a replica of the Padrão dos Descobrimentos on ice. The 17th edition of the International Collegiate Snow Sculpture Contest took place between 4 and 7 January.

The trip arose from an invitation extended to the two students by Haitong Xu, a professor at Técnico and a researcher at the Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering (CENTEC), with whom both had previously worked on the production and publication of a scientific paper. Upon arriving in China (and after a visit to Ice and Snow World, one of the largest ice and snow theme parks in the world), the three teamed up to take part in the competition hosted by the Harbin Engineering University and decided to build an icy replica of the Padrão dos Descobrimentos.

‘The Monument was chosen because it aesthetically and symbolically represents the intersection of our field of study with Portugal’s contribution to maritime exploration,’ shared João Simão, who describes his time in China as “a great experience”. The trip was ‘a good opportunity to meet some researchers and students from other universities around the world’, using the sculpture contest as a motto.

Sara Serpa mentioned that studying Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering allowed her to connect ‘a great passion for maths and physics’ with ‘a long-standing passion for the sea’. The student highlighted the help of the Harbin students who generously offered to guide them, enabling the group to ‘try local cuisine and learn about the customs of the region’.