Skiing coaches perform at a ski resort in Hohhot, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on December 19, 2023. Photo: VCG

While the majority of China has been gripped by a severe cold front, cities across the country are in the thick of the winter season, which has fueled the fervor of nationwide participation in winter cultural and sport events, and continued to expand the achievements of efforts to have "300 million people participate in winter sports."

The 10th national public ice and snow season is scheduled to kick off in Beijing in late December as a wide range of events across China are on course to drive the public's participation in winter sports, according to a recent notice released by the General Administration of Sport. 

The new national season, which is set to last till April 2024, is dedicated to expanding the milestone achievement of getting 300 million people engaged in winter sports during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games and injecting fresh impetus into the development of the winter sports industry. 

Winter sports have heated up tourism in China's northeastern provinces. According to data from major online travel platform Ctrip, from November 1 to December 4, searches related to Northeast China trips increased by 98 percent year-on-year and 103 percent compared with the same period in 2019.

Data from another Chinese travel platform, Fliggy, shows that since November, air ticket bookings to Northeast China have increased by more than 1.3 times year-on-year, train ticket bookings have seen an over 2.4 times year-on-year increase, and car rentals have increased by 1.6 times.

In Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, the 25th edition of the Harbin Ice and Snow World, one of the most important parts of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, issued an announcement hours after it opened to the public on Monday, saying the sale of tickets for its opening day had to be halted because the number of reservations reached 40,000, very close to its limit. The ticket sales resumed on Tuesday. 

Wang, a 26-year-old from Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province, is one of the visitors who have enjoyed the ice world, which she described as "truly impressive."

Wang told the Global Times that she was taking a 4-day trip around Harbin to appreciate the ice sculptures. In addition to exploring the Ice and Snow World, Wang had also visited other ice and snow activities, including a local online sensation, a giant snowman, which stands approximately 18 meters tall and was made from around 2,000 cubic meters of snow. She also went skiing at the Yabuli Ski Resort.

"This trip was a fresh experience for me, despite the climate being really cold! The northern scenery is very romantic and beautiful. I would come again if there is a chance," Wang said.

Hulun Buir, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is set to host the 14th National Winter Games of China in February, making it the first major national winter sports event to be held in China after the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

The region's rich ice and snow tourism resources have attracted more than 2.8 million people participating in various events every year.

On Tuesday, the 3rd Ice and Snow Culture Tourism Festival opened in Urumqi, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and is set to last until February 2024. In 2022, the festival received a total of 153,500 visitors, driving tourism consumption to 64.386 million yuan ($9 million).

As an important part of this tourism festival, a youth winter camp has been funded by local authorities, allowing local students to participate in various winter sports to inspire their interest and passion in them, Ma Jing, the deputy director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau of the 12th Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

According to Ma, this year's festival not only includes traditional ice and snow activities and winter camps for young people but also features a food festival and a Spring Festival temple fair. During the festival, various traditional performances such as dragon dances, lion dances, dramas, and acrobatics will be showcased.

According to the 2023 Skiing Trip Trend Report recently released by an online travel platform Tongcheng Travel, the popularity of skiing-related searches increased by 120 percent in the first week of November, while bookings of skiing tickets and related products rose by more than 100 percent monthly. Hotel reservations in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, where the skiing events of the Beijing Winter Olympics were held, have skyrocketed nearly 10 times year-on-year.

Zhang Zheng, a manager at the Thaiwoo Ski Resort in Zhangjiakou, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the number of visitors to the resort has returned to that of the years before COVID-19.

"An average of over 10,000 skiers come to the resort from Beijing during the weekends. The high-speed railway built for the Beijing 2022 Olympics has reduced the time of the trip from Beijing to about 40 minutes," said Zhang. 

The rich Olympic legacy left by the Beijing Games has continued to benefit the public and spur the development of winter sports in China as a series of international events were recently held at the capital's Olympic venues. 

ISU World Cup short track speed skating event and Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final took place in Beijing in early December. Meanwhile, the 2024 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships will be held in Shanghai from January 30 to February 4, 2024.

Li Yang, vice chief of China's winter sports governing body, said that the packed schedule for international winter sports events underlines a growing enthusiasm toward ice and snow sports after the Beijing Games.