Ski resorts in Jilin, Inner Mongolia offer premium services, discounts

Ski resorts in Jilin Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region are endeavoring to attract nationwide tourists with thoughtful services and substantial price cuts, providing skiers with impressive outdoor sport experience and convenient travels.

Jilin in northeast China is one of China's great ski destinations.

Resorts across the province have improved their facilities, released substantial discounts, and opened dedicated bus lines to welcome the influx of skiers.

In Tonghua City, the local authorities have rolled out many winter cultural tourism products featuring "listening to snowfall, appreciating snowy scenes, playing with snow and skiing."

"This is my first time skiing in a resort in Tonghua. The snow here is of good quality and the skiing experience is impressive," said Xu Chen, a skier from east China's Jiangsu Province.

In north China's Inner Mongolia, resorts welcomed an early ski season as many parts of the region have recently received first snowfalls.

Opening to tourists from Saturday, a resort in Hohhot City attracts skiers with ski vacation packages.

"We took our kids here to experience the culture of the Inner Mongolia and to taste local mutton. We are from Yangzhou City. The ski package costs us about 80 yuan (about 11 U.S. dollars) per person a day," said a tourist surnamed Sun.

In the new ski season, the resort opened guest houses and launched direct bus routes from the downtown areas to the resort to meet diversified needs of tourists.

"Catering services, teahouses and cafes. All services you can ever imagine are available here," said a tourist.

Many resorts in Inner Mongolia have also invited university students from across the country to come for free skiing.

"The accommodation costs 125 yuan a day only. For a university student, skiing is free. The resort offers the ski gear. So, the trip is really cost-effective," said Yang Yunqing, a university student from Beijing.

Ski resorts in Jilin, Inner Mongolia offer premium services, discounts

Grain enterprises across China have purchased 120 million tons of autumn grains recently, according to data from the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration.

Provinces like Henan, Jiangsu, Heilongjiang, and Anhui have set up the minimum purchase price of middle- and late-season rice. Over 200 purchasing spots have been set up in these four provinces to facilitate grain farmers in selling their crops.

Currently the purchase of middle- and late-season indica rice in the southern region stands at around 40 to 50 percent, while in the northeast region, the purchase of japonica rice is around 20 percent. In the north and northeast China, purchase of corn stands at 20 percent to 30 percent, while that of soybeans is around 15 percent in northeastern region.

The average price of middle- and late-season rice is about 2.6 yuan per kilogram. With demand rising for animal feed, prices of corn and soybean are gradually recovering and stabilizing, boosting acquisition interest.

"Currently, the cumulative procurement of middle- and late-season rice at the minimum purchase price has exceeded 1.8 million tons, effectively stabilizing market expectations and ensuring reasonable grain prices," said Luo Shouquan, director of the grain reserve department of the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration.

Autumn grain purchases across China total 120 million tons