A child skis at the Lyucongpo Ski Resort in Badong, a county in Hubei province, on Feb 26. (Hu Jingwen/Xinhua)
Twenty-six-year-old Yi Wei could barely contain her joy as she watched snowflakes swirling around her while on a trip to Lushan Mountain in Jiangxi province in January last year. “My friends and I had planned to climb the mountain and enjoy a snowy day,” said Yi, who rarely gets to see snow in her native Fujian, a southeastern coastal province.
She did not have to travel too far to experience the thrill of this winter wonder. Jiangxi is right next to Fujian. After seeing numerous posts on the social media platform Xiaohongshu, Yi and her friends decided to go and enjoy the snow for themselves.
“We began monitoring the weather in Guling town about a month in advance because snowfall can be very unpredictable.
“When we noticed the temperature dropping below zero for three consecutive days on various weather apps and saw videos from local bloggers on Xiaohongshu showing heavy fog, we knew there was very high chance of snowfall,” Yi said.
On Jan 22 2024, Yi and her friends went to Lushan from Xiamen by high-speed train and set out on a three-day, two-night ice and snow tour.
“Fortunately, we experienced heavy snowfall in the mountains, it was breathtaking,” she said.
“As I walked, all I could hear was the sound of my boots crunching on the thick layer of snow and the wind whistling through the trees. A song called Sweet Rumors started playing in my mind. At that moment, my surroundings were entirely white, and the joy in my heart swirled like the snowflakes falling from the sky,” she said.
In recent years, thousands like Yi have visited Lushan Mountain to admire the snow-clad scenery. On social media platforms, Lushan Mountain is often referred to as the best place for viewing snow in southern China, with some even calling it the “Hokkaido of Jiangxi”.
In December 2023, Lushan Mountain attracted 174,100 visitors in just 10 days. Traditionally a summer resort, Lushan Mountain’s daily visitor numbers during winter now rival that of the summer months.
People visit Lushan Mountain after a snowfall in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province. (Liu Lixin/China News Service)
South bound
The craze for ice and snow tourism has heated up with dropping winter temperatures. Unlike in previous years, southern regions like Jiangxi are now actively competing for a share in the ice and snow tourism pie, luring visitors away from well-known northern winter attractions such as Harbin in Heilongjiang province.
Data from the hotel booking app Qunar indicates that since November, nationwide bookings for ice and snow-related attractions have risen by 30 percent compared to the same period last year.
Additionally, searches for terms such as “skiing”, “ice and snow”, and “ski resorts” have tripled. Notably, half of the most popular ice and snow destinations going by early bookings before the end of December are located in southern China.
Another popular winter destination in Jiangxi is the Qixingling International Ski Resort in Tonggu county, Yichun city, which is just a four-hour drive from Lushan Mountain.
At an altitude of approximately 1,400 meters, the ski resort offers various slopes, including beginner and intermediate trails, as well as a snow play area.
This spread attracts numerous visitors from nearby cities such as Yichun, Nanchang and Changsha in Hunan province, who come for skiing and recreational activities.
One such avid skier is Nanchang resident Guo Yajian. “I’ve been skiing for two years now, and the excitement surrounding the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics has deepened my passion for this sport,” said Guo, who has mastered both single and double-board skiing techniques through constant practice.
As a skiing enthusiast, Guo has visited Qixingling several times, each time taking more and more friends along.
“Gliding on the snowboard, speeding down the slopes, and experiencing the exhilaration of chasing ice and snow-it’s a truly refreshing experience,” he said.
However, it’s not only young people making a beeline for the resort, it’s the destination of choice for a number of families too.
Deng Xide, the deputy general manager of the resort, said that since Dec 15, the resort has welcomed over 10,000 visitors a week. Early bird ticket sales have surpassed 8 million yuan, and he expects a vibrant snow season this winter.
Yuan Zhiqiang, director of snowfield planning at the resort, said that since the ski resort opened in 2016, it has attracted not only local visitors from Jiangxi but also guests from Hunan, Guangdong, Fujian, and other provinces, totaling over 300,000 so far.
“Last year, during the Spring Festival, we introduced night skiing, which allowed us to host 5,000 visitors daily, setting a new record,” Yuan said, adding that Qixingling ski resort exemplifies the growing trend of ice and snow sports moving southward.
For southerners, there is a sense of novelty surrounding ice and snow tourism, and thus its market potential is huge.
“People living in southern China have always been fascinated by snow. At the end of January 2024, during a cold wave, my friends and I visited Mingyue Mountain in Yichun city,” said Zhu Jie, a college student from Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi. Needless to say, she found it a fascinating experience.
“It was the day after a heavy snowfall, and we couldn’t resist going up the mountain. We spent over 100 yuan to take the cable car up. The soft snow and rime filled us with tremendous awe,” the 21-year-old said.
“That was the first time I had seen such a scenery. The mountain was truly worth visiting that day.”
Moving indoors
Recently, the General Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism released the 2024-25 National Ice and Snow Tourism Boutique Routes in a document. It identified 12 routes designated as national ice and snow tourism routes for 2024 and 2025, including three located in southern provinces such as Hubei and Sichuan.
The notice also highlighted that the growth rate of indoor ski resorts across the country had surpassed that of outdoor ski resorts.
During the 2013-14 ice and snow season, there were only five indoor ski resorts in China; however, by the 2023-24 season, this number had increased to 59, predominantly in southern cities.
Liu Gang, the director of the mass sports division of Jiangxi Provincial Sports Bureau, said that Jiangxi currently has two outdoor ski resorts, and cities such as Yichun, Xinyu, Ganzhou and Nanchang also feature both indoor and outdoor ice rinks.
“We encourage various ice and snow-related activities like dry land skiing and grass skiing to expand the ice and snow sports community throughout the province and meet the public’s demand for these sports,” said Liu.
On Jan 10, 2021, the local sports bureau launched a key project with the groundbreaking for the nationally recognized Jiangxi Ice and Snow Training Center in Yudu county of Ganzhou city.
Once completed, this center will not only host Jiangxi’s ice and snow sports teams but will also feature the world’s largest artificial snowfield and ski slopes.
“By constructing a world-class ice training center in Yudu, we can attract professional ski teams from across the country and even globally for training and competitions in Jiangxi. The training center will include professional tracks in addition to amateur tracks and a public fitness area,” said Zhang Songtao, an official from the Jiangxi Provincial Sports Bureau.
“Furthermore, ice and snow sports will be introduced in schools in Yudu, with plans to implement programs in five to six schools annually. This initiative aims to promote ice and snow sports in Jiangxi among the young,” he added.
In neighboring Hubei province, Badong county is also capitalizing on the opportunity to develop ice and snow sports as a means to boost the local economy.
The local government constructed a ski resort in the town of Lyucongpo, located at an altitude of over 1,700 meters.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the Lyucongpo Ski Resort has led to the development of over 160 hotels and homestays and more than 80 dining and entertainment venues in the surrounding area, contributing to local employment and income growth.
This snow season, Badong county expects to welcome over 100,000 ice and snow tourists, generating a total income of over 200 million yuan.
Anhui province, located in the central region of the Yangtze River Delta, is also witnessing rapid growth of ice and snow sports. Ski resorts in scenic areas such as Dabie Mountain and Tianzhu Mountain are currently handling peak crowds.
Due to the distance and high travel costs associated with extremely cold regions like Northeast China, many people in the south often search for and experience “snowy places” within their own provinces to satisfy their cravings.
Xu Mingming, a member of the post-1990s generation, recently drove with friends from Fuyang city, Anhui, to Dabie Mountain ski park. They purchased ski package tickets that included a night’s stay at a homestay and two tickets to the ski resort.
“After watching short videos of Harbin, I wanted to experience the icy landscapes in person. So, I decided to explore the snow and ice nearby first. When I have a longer holiday, I plan to travel to Harbin in the future,” Xu said.
A snow scenery of Youyang Tujia and Miao autonomous county, Chongqing. (Chen Bisheng/Xinhua)
Immense potential
According to a 2023 report on ice and snow tourism, the total scale of China’s ice and snow industry exceeded 800 billion yuan in 2022 and is expected to reach 1 trillion yuan by 2025.
The report said the current ice and snow tourism market primarily focuses on sightseeing experiences, entertainment, and basic skiing activities, indicating that market development is still in its early stages. In the future, ice and snow-themed vacations are expected to become an important sub-market, it said.
Industry experts believe that China’s ice and snow sports segment and its related economy are currently experiencing vigorous growth, and there is potential for many more ski resorts to come up in the future.
Ice and snow sports are expected to stimulate the development of related industries, extend the industrial chain, create new formats, and possibly establish a new model for ice and snow economic development, according to the report.
This industry chain can already be witnessed in Lushan Mountain.
(Web editor: Tian Yi, Zhong Wenxing)
This post was originally published on here
