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
