Ice sculptures decorated with colorful lights at the Harbin Ice and Snow World theme park in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province Photo: VCG.

The forthcoming Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games bring Beijing, the double Olympics city, into the limelight. Beijing is fully prepared to offer a top-notch winter sport gala to the world, and other cities around China are also contributing to the event by boosting winter tourism.

In the report that focuses on China's ice and snow tourism development released by China Tourism Academy in early January, it says the number of winter leisure tourists in China will reach 305 million in the 2021-2022 ice and snow season. Ten Chinese cities such as the Harbin, Heilongjiang Province and Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province were also nominated for the program as the winter touristic cities of best potential. 

The ice and snow tourism has changed from a new "fashionable lifestyle" to becoming an essential part of people's everyday lives in China.

A child plays ice slide at the Harbin Ice and Snow World theme park in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.Photo: VCG

Harbin, the artful ice and snow wonderland in China 

The city of Harbin in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province is a reputed touristic wonderland, especially known for its artfully created snowy landscapes. The city has transferred such invaluable resources into developing the local cultural tourism. 

Early back to the 1985, the first Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival was launched in the city as a popular tourist event. It was the first international festival in China whose theme was ice and snow. The month-long gala included various activities such as the snowfield football match and ice sculpture exhibitions that were all aiming at engaging tourists to experience the fun brought by snow and ice. 

The event has been carried out until the present days, and it is one of the four major ice and snow festivals in the world in line with the other three ones held in Japan, Canada and Norway. 

Another tourist attraction in the city is the "Harbin Ice and Snow World," a theme park that was launched in 1999 in the city to especially feature large-scale ice and snow sculptures. 

On December 25, 2021, the 23rd festival was launched to celebrate the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. It covered an area of 820,000 square meters including 65 ice and snow sculpture groups showing Olympics-related ice figures such as mascots and the five rings.

Other than sports, the city of Harbin has many other tourist spots that embody the cultural exchanges between China and west. The Saint Sophia Cathedral, a former Orthodox church and now a museum, is a highlight and its Neo-Byzantine architectural style has attracted many people to come visiting. 

It now houses prolific documents and photographs that show the history of Harbin. Besides, another tourist magnet is the Siberian Tiger Park that is also located in the city. 

"Snow Ruyi," the National Ski Jumping Center in Zhangjiakou, North China's Hebei Province Photo: VCG

Zhangjiakou, an emerging city glossed by the 2022 Beijing Games 

Zhangjiakou is an emerging vibrant city, which possesses the largest natural ski areas in Northern China and will be one of the main competition venues for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Games. 

The Yinshan Mountains, which traverses the whole city, has formed the transition zones between the plateau and the plain where snowfalls early and heavily every year, and can last for around 150 days.

The upcoming Beijing Games has popularized winter sports and promoted the development of related industries of the city including tourism, sports training and the sports equipment industry. 

Having built nine ski resorts with a total of 177 trails, 19 ice rinks and 24 snow entertainment venues, Zhangjiakou has organized more than 40 elementary and high school students to participate in winter sports. It also tried to form a complete training system with the establishment of 59 training bases and nearly 500 professional staff. 

At the center of this development is the Chongli Ice Snow Resort. It has become a national level tourist resort, which can attract nearly 3 million tourists in every winter season together with six other ski resorts in Chongli District. 

Zhangjiakou will continue to promote the development of tourism in 2022 by adding more facilities like restaurants and guesthouses, said Liu Haifeng, deputy mayor of the city. 

The boom in sports development has also added to the local economy. For instance, Sports Equipment Industrial Park has obtained a total of 430 million yuan (roughly $70 million) of output value in the past three years. 

A steppe covered in snow at Hulun Buir, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Photo: VCG

Hulun Buir, a 'Frozen city' equipped with diverse winter sports facilities 

The city of Hulun Buir, in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is known as the "the frozen city." The city has abundant natural resources represented by its wide grasslands, and its rich ice-snow resources make it a cradle for various winter sports activities. 

There are multiple ice and snow sports facilities in Hulun Buir, providing venues for curling, speed skating and short track speed skating training centers for locals and tourists. 

Besides, it has multiple ski resorts such as the Hailar Dongshan ski resort - its soft snow suitable for all types of skiers all around the world. 

Hulun Buir has ingeniously combined the Nadam Fair, a traditional Mongolian festival filled with various activities such as horse riding, archery and wrestling, with winter-themed activities. The annually held winter Nadam fair has become a major tourist attraction of the city.

To celebrate the upcoming Beijing Games, the 2022 Public Winter Ice-Snow Season event was launched in Hulun Buir on January 18, 2022. The event engages more than 700 athletes from different social sectors such as schools and professional teams to participate in winter sports. Also, more than 800,000 people have participated in ice and snow sports in Hulun Buir every year.

According to a medium and long term development plan (2016-2025) introduced by the local government of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on its website to develop the city's winter sports scene, by 2025, the ice and snow sports system in the region will be further improved to an expected scale of 13.5 billion Yuan. 

There are more than 20 skating halls, about 200 outdoor skating rinks and more than 30 ski resorts planned to be built to contribute to the greater national pursuit of engaging 300 million people to participate in winter sports in China. 

A view of Urumqi, the capital city of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, lies at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains Photo: VCG

Urumqi, the 'Silk Road' tourist city bring local folk culture into winter sports 

Over the years, Urumqi, the capital city of the Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has promoted the development of winter sports. The number of people participating in winter sports in Urumqi has exceeded 700,000 in the past five years, according to the Urumqi Sports Bureau.

One of Urumqi's most popular ski resorts, the Silk Road International Ski Resort, is located in the Tianshan Mountains.It has a snow-making system, guaranteeing a perfect place for those who love to play in the snow.

"Taking advantage of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the resort plans to receive 1,000,000 visitors this winter," said the manager of the ski resort.

There are many places in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have developed the winter sports scene based on their various local characteristics. Urumqi is the most prominent city among them, which it promotes the winter tourism by letting tourists experience nomads' lifestyles in winter, horse racing competitions, hot spring recuperation, and other activities with unique ethnic customs.

The 19th Urumqi Silk Road Snow and Ice Festival was held on December 3, 2021, during which a number of diverse activities including a brilliant New Year concert, snow-themed light show, folk song and dance performances were successively launched to attract more vistors all around the world. 

After all that, there is still no shortage of wonders in Urumqi. Its history associated with the Silk Road has given the city the luxury to integrate the delicacies of various ethnic groups.  Drained of energy after ski sessions and dancing at the festival, visitors can treat themselves to chunks of mutton thread on skewers roasted over charcoal, popularly known as Xinjiang Kebabs. 

For those looking for a heavy meal, a special local rice dish, made with fresh and juicy mutton, carrots, vegetable oil, and eaten with hands, will do the magic.