HARBIN, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Winter in China's northeastern corner, where snow often lingers into March, has been particularly busy for locals like Fan Zhaoyi running homestay business.
During the past winter, Fan's hometown, Shuangfeng Forest Farm in Heilongjiang Province -- dubbed "Snow Town" for its seven months of snow -- welcomed a record-breaking 1.52 million tourists over its 107-day business season. The scenic wonderland helped create 5,000 local jobs and fueled a surge in sales of regional specialties, from wild mushrooms and black fungus to handmade crafts.
The town's harsh climate once deterred travelers and even loggers, but now attracts throngs of visitors to its snow-blanketed streets.
"Snow used to be too much of a hassle for us," said Fan, who was a forest worker, "now they have truly turned into invaluable assets. I look forward to every snowfall."
Once known for lumber production and heavy industry, Heilongjiang is now at the forefront of China's winter tourism boom, shedding its rust-belt image with glittering winter attractions.
Such an economic transition reflects the philosophy of Chinese President Xi Jinping's winter economy blueprint, which emphasizes tapping into unique regional conditions and resources to drive development.
In March 2016, when taking part in a group discussion with Heilongjiang lawmakers at the annual national legislative session, Xi stressed the importance of leveraging the province's winter resources. "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and so are Heilongjiang's ice and snow," he said.
Since then, Heilongjiang has harnessed its long winters to drive economic revitalization.
During last winter, the world's largest ice and snow theme park, Harbin Ice-Snow World in the province's famed "Ice City," set a single-day visitor record of 120,000 with gala performances and snow-football events.
Across the province, 150 million tourists spent 245.47 billion yuan (about 35.6 billion U.S. dollars) on winter activities, marking year-on-year increases of 10.4 percent in visitor numbers and 15.1 percent in revenue, according to the latest figures.
Xi has highlighted China's ice-and-snow sector as both a major economic driver and an important avenue for promoting public fitness. In 2022, Beijing hosted the Winter Olympics, with an aim to "engage 300 million people in ice-and-snow sports" and promote the leapfrog development of winter sports in the country.
In February last year, Harbin hosted the 9th Asian Winter Games. At the welcome banquet for the opening ceremony, Xi said that from the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing to the Asian Winter Games in Harbin, the passion for ice and snow has swept across the nation, which has also invigorated winter sports around the world.
Under Xi's guidance, the ice-and-snow boom has reached far beyond the Winter Games, capturing the enthusiasm of people nationwide.
In Jilin Province, neighboring Heilongjiang, Asia's largest single ski resort, Beidahu Ski Resort, has welcomed over one million visitors as of March 5 in the latest business season. In northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, students' snow breaks have fueled a wave of family travel, while in warmer Wuhan, where natural snow is rare, skiers flock to indoor facilities.
Such widespread participation has become the strongest driver of China's winter sports development. At the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, Chinese athletes not only competed in record numbers but also delivered their best-ever performance at an overseas Winter Games.
Beyond sports and tourism, Xi has envisaged a broader picture for China's winter industries. During an inspection tour in Heilongjiang in September 2023, he emphasized efforts to develop the ice-and-snow economy as a new growth driver by promoting a full industrial chain for ice-and-snow sports, culture, equipment and tourism.
Local authorities' efforts to advance the ice and snow economy have diversified into industrial and cultural landscapes. Heihe, a city in Heilongjiang, has transformed into a major hub of cold-weather vehicle tests for companies such as Xiaomi and Tesla.
A wide array of high-tech products has been established in the city to validate the performance of new energy vehicles and intelligent connected vehicles in extremely cold conditions, said test driver Wang Junfeng.
"This extremely icy and snowy environment has brought us great jobs," Wang said.
According to guidelines released by the State Council, China aims to grow its ice-and-snow economy to 1.2 trillion yuan by 2027 and 1.5 trillion yuan by 2030.
Andrew Knack, mayor of Edmonton in Canada, who visited Harbin last year and was impressed by how the city developed the ice and snow industry into a sustainable economic driver, said that China's experience is well worth learning from.
Speaking with Xinhua, he noted that in the future, he is willing to work with the Chinese city to develop more platforms for arts and cultural festivals as well as sporting events to fully unleash the vitality of the ice-and-snow economy. ■
