Olympics turn snow into treasure
Print Edition
The residents of Chongli, a previously impoverished district in Zhangjiakou, north China鈥檚 Hebei Province, once dreaded snowy days with a stroke of serendipity.
鈥淭hick snow on the ground made it difficult to push open the door of the house, let alone the biting cold,鈥 said Qian Xuesen, 58, a local resident.
About 220 kilometers from Beijing, Chongli receives an average annual snowfall of 63.5 centimeters, with more than 150 snowy days every year.
In 2015 after the district was announced as one of the venues for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Qian and other residents realized the once troublesome snow has become a treasure.
With construction of the Winter Olympics venue in full swing, the village has been blessed with an unexpected development opportunity.
Isolated by a huge mountain, the Shangwopu Village, where Qian lives, has a population of over 300. 鈥淚 used to live in an adobe house, where winters were tough to endure,鈥 Qian said.
In 2016, the local government decided to relocate villagers as part of its poverty alleviation efforts, as well as to develop the ice and snow tourism sector in the rural area. Within three years, 132 households, including Qian鈥檚, moved into new houses provided free. Green belts flank the hardened roads in this small village.
Apart from improved living conditions, villagers now have more income, thanks to the ice and snow tourism.
Since 2016, Guo Baoying, a 61-year-old villager in Shangwopu, has worked in a snowfield for over five months in the slack farming season every year.
鈥淢y monthly salary has increased from 1,800 yuan (US$270) to 2,600 yuan,鈥 said Guo.
In 2018, the entire village shook off poverty.
The per capita annual income of the village soared from 5,196 yuan in 2013 to 11,526 yuan in 2019.
According to the local government, nearly a quarter of the 126,000 population of the district directly or indirectly serve the snowfields.
鈥淲hen I first came here, there were only three ski resorts, and now the number of large ski resorts in Chongli has surged to seven,鈥 said Gao Peng, deputy secretary of the Zhangjiakou skiing association, who also opened a travel agency in 2014. The travel agency received 150,000 tourists in 2019.
That is almost 30 times the numbers in 2014.
Chongli received 2.81 million tourists, earning 2.05 billion yuan during the snow season from 2018 to 2019, data from the local tourism bureau showed.
Meanwhile, the urban construction of the district has witnessed a great leap.
Ten years ago, there was only one street in Chongli.
But its clean and wide streets are now lined with European-style buildings.
In 2019, Chongli was named one of 52 tourist destinations worth visiting by the New York Times.
As the Winter Olympics approaches, the area is becoming more and more international.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
