A ski resort built in a desert in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region opened on the second day of 2026 and is attracting massive snow sports enthusiasts during the New Year holiday.
Covering an area of 98,000 square meters, the Bailuzhou Desert Ski Resort in Bohu County of Xinjiang features white ski slopes against the rolling sand dunes, allowing skiers to enjoy the sport while also appreciating unique scenery.
"The snow quality here is excellent, the ski runs are quite long, with fascinating landscape," said skiing enthusiast Li Dan.
Bohu County is on the edge of the Ailesun Ula Desert, where snowfall is scarce in winter. Utilizing the slopes formed by the sand dunes, the resort has created artificial snow trails, transforming the dunes into ski slopes.
This unique combination of desert and snow not only provides a unique winter recreational space but also injects new vitality into the development of the local winter tourism industry.
"We now have four ski tracks plus six recreational snow tubing tracks. We will continue to develop more ice-based recreational activities on our ice surface in the future," said Xia Simiao, head of the Bailuzhou Desert Ski Resort.
Desert ski resort opens in Xinjiang
The recent 2026 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) Annual Conference in Beijing has impressed international guests with its focus on deeper integration of technological and industrial innovation, highlighting how China's innovative advances are reshaping daily life.
The five-day forum, themed "Full Integration Between Technological and Industrial Innovation," wrapped up in Chinese capital on Sunday after bringing together more than 1,000 participants from over 100 countries and regions around the world.
More than 560 cutting-edge achievements were unveiled at the event, ranging from embodied intelligent robots and brain-computer interfaces to breakthroughs in quantum applications and 6G research and development.
The venue for the forum also showcased a number of these innovative creations to visitors, who were able to enjoy a fresh cup of coffee prepared by a humanoid barista, as well as be throughly entertained by robots performing dances or even playing piano.
Given the presence of these advanced humanoid robots, international participants shared the common view that innovation is no longer confined to laboratories but is now permeating every aspect of daily life.
"The deepest impression is actually to see how much AI is across everywhere," said Anders Karlsson, vice president of Elsevier, a global leader providing advanced information and decision support to accelerate progress in science and healthcare worldwide.
"The Zhongguancun Forum has become a very international window on innovation. We can find out annually how innovation is driving [and a key] component of growth of this wonderful country," said Vincenzo Lipardi, president and co-founder of SPICI, an Italian company assisting businesses and startups with strategic consulting services.
"As a scientist and as a worker of the United Nations system, I'm really pleased to see integration of science, technology and sustainability," said Shahbaz Khan, director of the UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia.
One of the forum's key themes was around opening up and striving for greater cooperation, which demonstrated to the wider world that China's innovation aims to break down barriers and share opportunities, so as to enable the global community to advance together.
"It's my first time attending the forum. And I'm very surprised that you have a very high level of innovation. China is open to ideas. Openness is the way to make innovations," said Prof. Hussein Sherief, a member of the International Committee for Scientific and Technical Data (CODATA).
Int'l guests hail integration of technology, innovation at Beijing forum
