Heilongjiang Province, China's northernmost region, attracts flocks of enthusiasts to its ice rinks and ski fields in winter, leveraging its unique natural resources to fuel its ice and snow economy.
From the operation of training programs to the organization of competitions, the province is seeing a surge in public involvement in ice and snow leisure activities.
In Qitaihe City, a short track speed skating competition took place at a local training center, with a total of 46 young athletes aged between six and 15 participating, many of whom come from all over the country.
"Of the more than 80 gold-medal winning athletes who received training here, 60 percent come from all over the country. In the past five years, they have won over 300 gold medals in national-level competitions," said Zhang Jie, a coach at the training center.
In 2022, the city was awarded the "City of Olympic Champions" by the Chinese Olympic Committee for its contribution to China's achievements in high-level winter sports competition. More than 10 Winter Olympic champions and world champions, including Yang Yang, Wang Meng, Sun Linlin and Fan Kexin, are from Qitaihe.
The city has been stepping up efforts to train winter sports talents by building schools that provide short track speed skating training, setting up a training base for the provincial sports team, as well as holding ice and snow sports events.
Over the past two years, over 370 professional athletes from 18 short track speed skating teams have come to Qitaihe for training.
Qiqihar, known as the "City of Ice Hockey," boasts over 200 outdoor ice rinks and a thriving ice hockey culture.
"I have played ice hockey for about ten years. We play indoor in summer and now there are outdoor rinks in the winter. We enjoy a lot and absolutely love this sport," said Wang Jiechun, an ice hockey enthusiast.
The popularity of ice hockey has also spurred growth in related industries. A local ice skate manufacturer has operated at full capacity to fulfill the orders.
Meanwhile, Hegang -- another city in the northeastern part of Heilongjiang -- has launched a public alpine skiing competition, in anticipation of the upcoming Asian Winter Games scheduled for Feb 7 to 14 in the provincial capital city of Harbin.
Since the ski season started, the city's two major ski resorts have received over 3,000 skier visits, generating over 6.26 million yuan (854,000 U.S. dollars) in revenue for related sectors such as tourism, accommodation, and catering.
A report published on Sunday by China Tourism Academy noted that during the 2024-2025 winter season, the number of visitors engaging in ice and snow leisure tourism in China is projected to reach 520 million, with tourism revenue anticipated to surpass 630 billion yuan (86 billion U.S. dollars).
China has aimed to boost its ice and snow economy as a new growth sector, targeting an economic scale of 1.2 trillion yuan (163.7 billion U.S. dollars) by 2027 and 1.5 trillion yuan (204.7 billion U.S. dollars) by 2030.
Northeast China's Heilongjiang spearheads ice-snow tourism boom in China
A 25 percent import tariff on all foreign-built vehicles entering the United States has raised serious concerns for manufacturers in South Africa.
Automotive giants like Mercedes and BMW have long used South Africa as a base for global exports -- but those plans may be shifting into reverse gear after the U.S. announced the punitive measures.
"If you take, for example, BMW, 97 percent of the X3 that we are producing in Rosslyn is exported out of the country. We only sell 3 percent in South Africa, and there's a huge number of those vehicles that also go into the U.S. So there are companies in South Africa that are purely here not because they are selling vehicles in South Africa; they are here to produce vehicles for the global market, and it's important for them to remain globally competitive," said Mike Mabasa, CEO of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa.
U.S. automaker Ford, which has deep roots in South Africa, is also in the crosshairs.
The company recently invested over 300 million U.S. dollars to upgrade its Silverton plant in Pretoria, South Africa, for the production of the world's only plug-in hybrid Ranger, which has just entered production but could face delays or restrictions.
"If an American citizen wants to buy specifically a Ford Ranger that is a plug-in hybrid, they can only place an order in South Africa, nowhere else in the world. So, that means, obviously, the capacity of Ford to be able to produce those vehicles in big volumes is going to be constrained, because Americans are going be looking at another Ford that is produced in another country, or even in the United States," said Mabasa.
South Africa has long enjoyed duty-free automotive exports to the U.S. under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, but that relationship now hangs in the balance.
A sharp shift in U.S. foreign policy threatens to derail an industry that employs thousands and contributes around 5 percent to the country's economy.
"We produce less than 1 percent of global automotive vehicles, so to say. So, in reality, the impact on us is likely to be more disproportionate than those of our peers that produce at the same level. And the risk is actually created -- a concentration risk -- in countries that have greater capacity and are building more; in those countries will be able to absorb some of this," said Parks Tau, South Africa's minister of trade and industry.
Amid growing concerns about overreliance on the U.S. market, Amith Singh, national manager for manufacturing at Nedbank Commercial Bank, emphasized the importance of tapping into regional trade opportunities.
"I think we need to make better use of some of our local agreements, our African continental agreements. How do we leverage that? How do we partner with the government and private sector to start benefiting the countries and the economies aside from the United States? So, those could be the catalyst to drive our localization projects; it could be what we need to drive the African economy as opposed to being completely reliant on the States (United States)," he said.
South Africa is for now standing firm in its decision not to retaliate against steep U.S. import tariffs, set to take effect in just a few days.
Officials in Pretoria acknowledge the challenges posed by the current U.S. administration but are pursuing a diplomatic approach in hopes of maintaining stable relations and preserving the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
US tariffs rock South Africa’s auto industry
