Northeast China's Heilongjiang spearheads ice-snow tourism boom in China

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

With dramyin lute and cymbals in hand and dressed in colorful traditional costume, 17-year-old Tenzin Norbu is among the proud youngsters in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region who have been helping preserve the centuries-old Tibetan opera, a multifaceted representative of Tibetan art and cultural heritage. Considered a living fossil of Tibetan culture, Tibetan opera is a comprehensive art combining folk songs, dance, storytelling, chant, acrobatics and religious performance. It was included on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.

Tenzin grew up listening to Tibetan opera along with his grandmother. The beat of the drum marked the rhythm of his childhood and quietly planted the seed of a dream.

The teenager leads a youth Tibetan opera troupe and guides his peers onto the very stage they once only dreamed of. He named it "Phudor Youth Tibetan Opera Troupe", because "Phudor" means "dream" in the Tibetan language.

"There are about 24 members in the troupe," said the teenager.

Tenzin once received a very special invitation to perform Tibetan opera for the opening ceremony of an art festival in Lhasa.

Although both their parents and teachers felt it's important for the children to be exposed to traditional culture from a young age, they didn't want it to affect their schoolwork.

The performance they were getting ready for was the first Sweet Tea House Art Festival, the troupe's very first public appearance. It's a rare opportunity for the children -- one too precious for them to pass up. But with their parents growing anxious about preparation for the performance eating into valuable study time, the children opted to rehearse in secret at weekends. Tenzin's family runs a tailor's shop. His father, who is hearing- and speech-impaired, is a superb tailor, while his mother helps him out by dealing with customers. Tenzin enjoyed Tibetan opera with his grandmother during childhood and later learned more about it from his uncle.

"Whenever I'm not feeling good, I'll take out the dramyin lute and the cymbals. When I hear the drumbeat, I get a feeling of elation that's simply indescribable," he said.

When Tenzin finally stepped onto the stage at the festival, he noticed that his parents were not in the audience. "My parents didn't have time to come to see my performance. But they always support me. They work hard every day, also for my sake. So, I'm happy whether they were here or not as long as I can keep performing Tibetan opera," said the youngster, believing that his passion for Tibetan opera will last a lifetime.

Childhood dream takes local boy onto Tibetan opera stage