Ice and snow activities have attracted more visitors across China during the three-day New Year holiday that began on Thursday, with destinations upgrading services and introducing new experiences to boost winter tourism and consumption.
At the Jizhou International Ski Resort in north China's Tianjin, visitor numbers have surged during the holiday. To accommodate demand, the resort has opened 11 ski runs, added new snow-making equipment, upgraded more than 5,000 sets of ski gear, and deployed over 200 professional instructors.
To meet visitors' needs, the resort also has offered two free public classes each day to help beginners master basic skills and safety knowledge. Shuttle bus services have been expanded between nearby hotels and the resort, providing seamless transportation for guests.
"There are shuttle buses from the hotel to the ski resort every 20 minutes, wich I think is a very good service," said Ma Xinping, a tourist.
Hotels in the surrounding area have also benefited from the rising popularity of ice-and-snow tourism.
"Hotel rooms were nearly fully booked during the holiday, and this year's revenue is expected to increase by more than 50 percent compared with previous years," said Zong Qinghe, general manager of the Tianjin Jizhou International Ski Resort.
Meanwhile, Huangshan City in east China's Anhui Province is also tapping into its winter tourism potential by rolling out new ice-and-snow-themed attractions.
At an ice-and-snow entertainment venue in the city's Changyuan Village, snowmaking machines have been operating continuously, creating a winter wonderland where children have been building snowmen, having snowball fights and enjoying snow slides amid laughter and excitement.
"I built a snowman and had a snowball fight here. I'm really happy," said Chen Xiaohan, a tourist.
According to Wang Fei, head of the venue, the whole place is divided into three main zones, including a photo-taking area, a snow-play area and a slide zone. She added that the attraction received nearly 30,000 visits in the first two days of the New Year holiday.
China's ice and snow tourism gains momentum during New Year holiday
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Sunday launched new year military training across all units, with forces from the army, navy, air force, rocket force, and armed police conducting intensive combat-oriented exercises to boost battlefield readiness.
On the first training day, a brigade of the Army's 79th Group Army conducted integrated combat-oriented training at an outdoor training ground. The troops continuously executed over 10 individual and squad training subjects from the training outline, focusing on enhancing their battlefield adaptability and response capabilities.
Naval forces were also active. Along the coast of the Yellow Sea, the Navy's Type 055 guided-missile destroyer Nanchang, in coordination with destroyer Xining, missile frigate Weifang, and other destroyers and frigates, carried out subjects such as naval gunnery landborne and seaborne target practices, and live firing of anti-frogman lethal rounds. They also conducted fleet air defense exercises in coordination with naval aviation, testing the troops' ability to transition from training to combat.
"Now, there is more combat-oriented training that involves the full process and all elements, aligning with future naval warfare. Whether it's basic training or coordinated training, it is no longer single-subject, single-ship, or single-platform. Now it is system-wide linkage, integration of war and training, and multi-subject fusion, testing the combat effectiveness of the ships under complex conditions," said Fang Wanhao, an officer with a destroyer flotilla of the PLA Navy.
The Air Force, involving multiple branches such as aviation, surface-to-air missile, and radar troops, conducted joint training exercises with multiple aircraft types in realistic battlefield environments to hone their combat skills. The Joint Logistics Support Force's motor transport brigade focused on difficult and critical subjects related to transport and support under extreme cold conditions. By fully integrating real combat scenarios and setting up complex emergency situations, the training aimed to enhance the officers' and soldiers' emergency response capabilities in extreme environments.
On the first training day of the new year, officers and soldiers of the People's Armed Police Yunnan Corps conducted specialized, intensive training for subjects including emergency rescue and counter-terrorism capture and annihilation, adhering to a combat-oriented training philosophy.
The Rocket Force deployed its units across multiple routes and positions, setting up formations on various training grounds. They simultaneously conducted combat-oriented training on difficult and critical subjects such as cross-regional maneuver and rapid fire assault, promoting the efficient integration of personnel with weapons and equipment, and the information network system.
"For the new year's training, we will focus on hard and intensive training closely aligned with operational missions. We will strengthen adversarial testing at extreme boundaries and in complex environments, enhance the support of technological means, and forge the superior skills to be one second faster and one move better than the enemy. We will truly achieve readiness at all times and the ability to fight at any moment, ensuring new breakthroughs in improving the level of combat-oriented training readiness," said Li Zhiyong, a PLA Rocket Force officer.
Chinese People's Liberation Army opens 2026 training season to boost combat readiness
