Mr. Bai’s family had to buy an ice cream for 28 yuan (about 6 USD) with a picture of Ky Nien Palace, the symbolic building where the Emperor came to pray in the summer for good crops.

`My wife saw this ice cream on Xiaohongshu (a Pinterest-like social networking platform) and we knew we had to buy one when we came here to visit,` Bai, 30, said.

3D ice cream with the image of Ky Nien Dien costs 28 yuan.

The Temple of Heaven is just one of the attractions in China that has caught on to the 3D ice cream fad.

Uniquely shaped ice cream cones made waves on Chinese social networks during the Labor Day holiday in early May, when hundreds of millions of domestic tourists set out to travel after a long time staying at home due to restrictions.

Even museums are getting in on this 3D ice cream race: from the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City, the Tianjin Museum, to the Emperor Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum Museum in Shaanxi launching printed ice cream

Mr. Zhao Dan, co-founder of In Between Taste, a company that cooperates with dozens of tourist destinations to produce 3D ice creams, said that depending on the popularity of a tourist destination, sales can vary.

In Between Taste is in charge of every step of the line, from choosing the logo to design and production, even developing its own popsicle recipe.

`We started with the hope that young children and more and more people can understand more about Chinese culture,` Mr. Zhao said, pointing to the caption on the back of each ice cream’s packaging.