The Breaking Ice (Chinese: 燃冬) is a 2023 romantic drama film written and directed by Anthony Chen.

[5] Haofeng, a quiet young man from Shanghai, has come to Yanji, a cold border city in northern China near North Korea, for the wedding of a friend.

Xiao and Nana are fascinated by Haofeng's wealthy life working in finance in Shanghai, especially with both of their jobs impacted by the pandemic.

The three visit a bookstore, where Haofeng gets intrigued by depictions of the Changbai Mountains and Heaven Lake, while Nana lingers on a book about figure skating.

Haofeng stands at the edge of a cliff and looks down, almost taking a step forward, but runs back to the group when a bear appears.

In June 2021, Chen was challenged by a Chinese writer during his stint as the jury of the Shanghai International Film Festival.

[1] The film was written in a matter of days during director Anthony Chen's quarantine in a hotel in China during the pandemic period.

It was filmed around the Changbai Mountains for 38 days with wintry scenes shot in temperatures that reached -18 degrees Celsius.

The website's consensus reads: "A beautifully filmed portrait of twentysomething ennui, The Breaking Ice explores interpersonal connections with a subtle, delicate touch.

"[7] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 71 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.