The ski resort in Altay, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region attracts tourists from all over China this winter.Photo: VCG

Altay Prefecture, located in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is widely acknowledged as the birthplace of skiing, and can be traced back 12,000 years. 

In 2005, a group of farmers in the Altay region went to hide under a cave to escape the rain and found cave paintings depicting men lining up and stepping on twin snowboards with prey on their backs.

According to archaeologists' analysis, the cave paintings were drawn 12,000 years ago, and even earlier. 

After Beijing's successful bid to host the Winter Olympics, experts from 18 countries including Norway, Russia, Japan and Australia visited Altay to study the "potential origin of skiing activity," after which they jointly issued a declaration on January 18, 2015 recognizing Xinjiang's Altay as the earliest skiing region in the world.

Standing at 45 degrees north latitude, dubbed "the golden snow line," Altay also gained the reputation of being the country's "snow capital" with its incomparably good snow ­quality, long snow period, and mild weather rarely found in other places around the world.

The Jiangjunshan ski resort in Altay Prefecture has attracted many skiers from all over the world for its unique advantages including a close distance (only 1 kilometer) away from the city center and having a snow ­season from November to May.