A variety of ice and snow-related activities across China are drawing visitors during the Spring Festival holiday, the country's most important traditional festival.
In northeast China's Liaoning Province, the Shenyang Olympic Sports Center has integrated its indoor and outdoor spaces to create a new winter cultural tourism zone covering about 200,000 square meters, where visitors can enjoy ice and snow activities and lantern displays throughout the day.
The Ice and Snow Carnival of Shenyang Olympic Sports Center spans an area equivalent to nearly 30 standard football fields. Its convenient location within the urban area makes it highly popular among visitors.
The carnival features more than 20 ice and snow entertainment activities, catering to visitors of all ages.
Among them, the most popular are the large snow slope and ice slide embedded with fantasy-colored lights. Thrilling yet relaxing, they keep visitors coming back for more.
A Spring Festival lantern show has also debuted here, with 25 large lantern installations illuminating the entire park.
Eight horse lanterns in different poses, designed to celebrate the Year of the Horse, serve as the park's signature display.
The highlight of each evening is the themed parade featuring a 23-meter-long giant Aoyu fish lantern.
Each night, visitors eagerly follow the Aoyu fish parade led by park workers, hoping to receive good luck and auspicious blessings for the New Year.
The Aoyu fish originates from traditional Chinese auspicious culture, symbolizing academic success, career achievement, and the welcoming of good fortune. It perfectly embodies the beautiful aspirations of New Year blessings and the spirit of striving for progress.
In northwest China, at the foot of Liupan Mountain in Jingyuan County, Guyuan City of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, ice and snow tourism has become a favorite among locals and visitors alike.
Visitors can enjoy not only professional skiing but also recreational activities such as snow tubing.
"The ski resort is packed with people. It's very lively," said An Hewei, a skiing enthusiast from Guyuan.
To enhance visitors' experience during the holiday, the ski resort has upgraded its facilities.
"We added two new snow tubing lanes, one S-shaped lane, and one straight slide, bringing the total to six lanes. We coordinated with the local bureau of industry and information technology and commerce, which allocated 310,000 yuan (about 45 thousand U.S. dollars) in consumption vouchers to us. During the Spring Festival, the resort receives an average of over 2,500 visitors per day," said Jin Guangping, head of the ski resort.
The Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese New Year, fell on Tuesday this year, and the official holiday lasts nine days from February 15 to 23. The 2026 Chinese New Year marked the start of the Year of the Horse -- the seventh of the 12 zodiac animals in the Chinese zodiac.
Ice-snow activities nationwide attract tourists during Spring Festival holiday
American singer John Legend expressed his astonishment at the scale and quality of the China Media Group (CMG)'s 2026 Spring Festival Gala and his honor at being a part of the grand television spectacle which has been recognized as the world's most-watched annual TV show.
The hours-long gala was aired on Monday evening on the eve of the Chinese New Year, with a carefully curated line-up of performances, high-tech special effects, and entertaining variety acts guiding viewers towards the new year -- which this year ushered in the Year of the Horse.
As the clock ticked past midnight on Tuesday, Legend took to the stage to perform his chart-topping hit "All of Me", before teaming up with French actress and singer Helene Rolles to deliver a touching rendition of the main theme song of the classic Disney movie "Beauty and the Beast".
In an exclusive interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN), Legend said he was delighted to participate in the TV extravaganza.
"Wow, I've been so amazed by all the other artists that I've seen. The dancers, the singers, the performers. It's such a beautiful, festive show and I'm so honored to be a part of it," said Legend.
While China's Spring Festival is the most cherished time for celebrating family reunions and making people-to-people connections, Legend felt the message of love in his hit song 'All of Me' was especially fitting for the occasion, and shared the story behind how the classic 2013 hit was born.
"These songs are all about love, and I think music is really in a lot of ways about celebrating love and celebrating connection and celebrating our shared humanity. And I think it's a great, great way to bring in the new year here in China. I'm doing 'All of Me' at this performance. And no matter where I perform 'All of Me' around the world, people sing along. People feel connected to the song, people have memories associated with the song, whether it's their wedding or their first date or whatever feelings they have about love and relationships, that song has meant a lot to a lot of people all around the world, and it just shows you that deep down, we're all the same," he said.
"I wrote it right before I got married to my wife and she did cry the first time she heard it, and the first time I sang it in front of an audience was at our wedding. And we filmed the music video that same week in Italy during the week of our wedding. And so it will always be really meaningful to me, but I'm grateful that it's so meaningful to other people as well," he added.
In addition to Legend, Irish pop group Westlife also performed during the gala, as they gave an entertaining version of their iconic ballad, "My Love", while veteran U.S. singer Lionel Ritchie was among the other international stars who appeared in an earlier segment.
The Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, is the most important traditional holiday for the Chinese people, and watching the Spring Festival Gala, also known as "Chunwan", is a cherished part of the celebrations every year in hundreds of millions of Chinese homes.
Since first being broadcast in 1983, the gala has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the most-watched annual television program on the planet.
US singing star John Legend shares honor at being part of 2026 Spring Festival Gala
