‘Parched’ Chongqing becoming a hotbed for snowbirds

CHONGQING — There’s snow somewhere every month of the year, but what can you expect if you want to ski in Chongqing, China’s so-called “parched city”?

Nantianhu, the city’s largest alpine ski resort, opened to the public right before the Lunar New Year, attracting thousands of interested tourists and locals.

Located three hours’ drive from Chongqing’s main district, the Nantianhu Ski Resort is an artificial snow park that covers 60,000 square meters, with an average altitude of 1,800 meters above sea level.

The resort has professional coaches to teach newcomers to the slopes, said manager He Jie.

Lin Xinyan, 19, came to Nantianhu with her family and had her first taste of skiing.

“My family used to travel to Hainan for the sea and beaches during Spring Festival, but this year we decided to explore something new. Skiing is amazing!” said Lin.

For most southerners in China, winter sports like skiing were previously hard to access. Southern cities seldom see snowfall, and going to northern cities or even abroad to experience skiing was a difficult and costly proposition.

However, since 2015, when Beijing won the bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, China has earmarked the winter sports industry as a significant growth area.

In 2016, a national plan was formulated to build around 800 ski resorts by 2020, which is fundamental to ensuring the country achieves its goal of having 300 million people involved in winter sports.

Ski facilities are increasingly being constructed in China’s southern cities.

In Chongqing, there are six artificial ski resorts, and other cities like Chengdu, Guizhou and Guangzhou are also witnessing a similar boom in winter sports.

He Jie believes that southern cities have a greater market to tap into, with people’s increasing curiosity for skiing and their growing purchasing power.

“Chinese people are increasingly willing to try new things,” said He.

“They will fall in love with skiing. I’m happy to see more and more Chinese people participating in winter sports.”