Ice, snow fervor invigorates host city of Asian Winter Games

This photo taken on Jan. 23, 2025 shows tourists visiting an ice sculpture of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests against the foreground of ice lanterns at the Harbin Ice-Snow World in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

HARBIN, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Inside a sprawling souvenir shop in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin, the tiger mascots of the upcoming Asian Winter Games -- "Binbin" and "Nini" -- are demonstrating the changing images of the heavily industrial city.

One toy series puts the tigers on board China's first helicopter and satellite, a reference to Harbin's glorious status as an industrialization forerunner in the 20th century, while others feature the two as skaters, skiers and ice sculptures to showcase the city's more recent boom in winter sports and tourism.

Dubbed China's Winterfell by netizens, Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province, has long been seen as an industrial city with frigid, harsh winters. Today, the city buzzes with winter tourists, many of whom have traveled all the way from the tropical south.

Mascots of the 9th Asian Winter Games Harbin 2025 Binbin (L) and Nini are pictured at the 26th Harbin Ice-Snow World in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Feb. 1, 2025. (Xinhua/Wang Song)

Lin Wenxin, a tourist from the southeastern province of Fujian, was awestruck by the glittering structures made of ice blocks in Harbin Ice-Snow World. The otherworldly landscape, filled with towering ice sculptures, has led netizens to compare Harbin to the fictional city of Winterfell from the fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire.

"It's the first time I've seen such a massive amount of ice and snow, and it's stunning," Lin exclaimed in the theme park. Despite her cold hands, she took off her gloves to share photos with her friends on her mobile phone.

As the city's iconic tourist magnet, Harbin Ice-Snow World draws hundreds of thousands of visitors every day. During the eight-day Spring Festival holiday that ended Tuesday, over 610,000 trips were made to the park. Trips on Saturday alone exceeded 100,000, setting a new record for single-day attendance.

The success of the Harbin Ice-Snow World is believed to have been due to the city's profound heritage of ice lantern artistry.

Harbin is located at 45 degrees north latitude, where winter temperatures can drop below minus 30 degrees Celsius. More than 60 years ago, to brighten the frigid winter nights, people filled buckets with water and allowed them to freeze into ice blocks. They then removed the unfrozen water to create a hollow space and placed lamps inside. This is how the first ice lanterns were made.

An aerial drone photo taken on Jan. 31, 2025 shows people visiting Harbin Ice-Snow World in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. During the Spring Festival holiday, many tourist destinations in China have attracted visitors with ice and snow activities. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

Since the latter half of the 20th century, the city has become more significant in its heavy industries, contributing to China's development of helicopters, satellites, and carrier rockets. In recent years, the city, like others in northeast China, has been striving to upgrade its industries and find new growth engines in the service sector.

Against this backdrop, tapping into its ice culture to attract tourists becomes Harbin's one answer to its economic transition. The city shot to nationwide prominence around the start of 2024 for going the extra mile to welcome tourists from South China. Its hosting of the upcoming 9th Asian Winter Games has further cemented its allure as a winter destination.

In Harbin's touristy Central Street, the two tiger mascots and winter sports-themed lights are omnipresent, impressing Thai tourist Shiv Dechasakphan, who was shopping in a retail store featuring official merchandise for Harbin 2025.

"The vibe is amazing -- we can see Games-themed decorations all over the city. I know Harbin is a fantastic place for ice and snow activities," said Shiv Dechasakphan, who previously traveled to ski at the Yabuli ski resort, located 200 kilometers from downtown Harbin. The resort, which will also host the snow events of the Asian Winter Games, welcomed over 1.17 million visitors in 2024.

As the event approached, domestic and international tourists visited the official merchandise store in droves, raising its sales, according to Su Zhe, manager of the store.

An aerial drone photo shows tourists visiting the Harbin Ice-Snow World in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 23, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

The surge in popularity of winter sports in recent years has created business opportunities for not just the tourism industry. Since the start of this snow season, Zhuang Yu, deputy manager of a Harbin-based cableway engineering company, has traveled extensively with co-workers to various cities to install, maintain, and repair cable systems.

As ski resorts proliferate across the country, the company's ski conveyor belts and cableways are experiencing strong sales, with revenue in 2024 projected to increase by about 20 percent compared to the previous year, Zhuang noted. He emphasized that the ongoing enthusiasm for winter sports drives the growth of both upstream and downstream industries and encourages businesses to innovate.

People take photos at the Harbin Ice-Snow World in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 23, 2025. As the 9th Asian Winter Games (AWG) approaching, Harbin, known for its stunning ice sculptures and deep-rooted winter sports culture, is brimming with anticipation. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

Across the country, China is seeking to leverage its vast ice and snow resources to drive economic growth, with the government integrating winter sports and tourism into its national development plans.

The sector has already reached a trillion yuan (one yuan equals about 0.14 U.S. dollars) scale, and the country aims to grow it to 1.2 trillion yuan by 2027 and 1.5 trillion yuan by 2030, according to an official guideline released in 2024.  ■