Ski gear and equipment designed and manufactured domestically have become an increasingly important driving force behind the sustained growth of China's thriving winter sports industry.
A report on China's ice and snow industry shows that the market has reached 970 billion yuan (about 132.89 billion U.S. dollars) this year, and is expected to exceed one trillion yuan by 2025.
After years of development, China is now able to provide 15 major categories of winter sports equipment products that cater to the needs of individuals, business venues, competition events, and mass sports.
Winter sports equipment enterprises in the country have grown from around 300 in 2015 to around 900 in 2023, while their sales revenues also grew from less than five billion yuan in 2015 to around 22 billion yuan in 2023.
Beidahu Ski Resort, located in Jilin City, northeast China's Jilin Province, is one of Asia's largest single-site ski resorts.
In a shop of Chinese ski brand Overide Halo at the resort, store manager Jia Xiaona has been busy organizing goggles, caps and other gear.
She said thanks to the increased popularity of domestic ski gear, the store's turnover this year has increased two to three times over the same period in 2023.
"Ski goggles are one of our star products. They are specifically designed for Asian people. Their three-layer, highly dense sponge better suits Chinese people, which can reduce fogging on the goggles," said Jia.
Winter sport enthusiasts said they love domestically-made gears as they are more stylish, affordable and engaging.
"Domestically-made snowboards have a more fashionable look, and more diverse colors. I now use a domestically-made snowboard. It is about one-third to two-thirds the price of an imported snowboard," said a snowboarder.
"Domestically-made walkie-talkies are designed to be as convenient as mobile phones. We use them to communicate with friends while skiing, which is really fun," said another snowboarder.
In addition to individuals, ski resorts are also turning their attention to domestically-manufactured products, with more and more home-made high mountain cable cars and snowmaking machines being used.
In Beidahu Ski Resort, technicians have been busy checking new ski lifts at a newly-added cableway.
"This is the 10th cableway we built here at Beidahu. Each cable car can accommodate eight people, which means that their unit capacity has been further increased," said Yuan Dehang, a technician of Beijing Materials Handling Research Institute.
Since 2021, Beidahu has been expanding its infrastructure, with the number of ski slopes up from 27 to 74. And the number of cableways have grown from seven to 13, with 85 percent of them being made domestically.
"Its price is about three-fifths of an imported one. And its producer provides timely services," said Liu Xiaoshan, the chairman of Beidahu Ski Resort.
In a ski resort in Zhengzhou City, central China's Henan Province, 40 snowmaking machines are in operation, with more than half of them being domestically produced.
According to senior executives, about 70 percent of the equipment in the ski resort are designed and manufactured domestically.
"Our resort's two ropeways and magic carpet lift are now 100-percent produced domestically. They are priced lower than foreign products. Domestic and foreign machines have different advantages. Foreign snowmaking machines could produce a larger amount of snow, but their snow has a higher level of humidity. Domestic snowmaking machines could produce a smaller amount of snow, but their snow is drier. So we use both kinds of machines," said Chen Zhi, general manager of Henan Songding Ski Tourism Development.
China aims to boost its ice and snow economy as a new growth sector, targeting an economic scale of 1.2 trillion yuan by 2027 and 1.5 trillion yuan by 2030, according to guidelines issued by the General Office of the State Council last month.
Industry experts point out that China's ice and snow industry is entering a stage of rapid development, and the sector should further enhance its overall competitiveness by diversifying products and improving services.
China sees rising demand for domestically-made ski gear, equipment
