Tourists flock to Shanxi for winter thrills

There are also dozens of enterprises offering infrastructure and service support to winter sports events nationwide. During the 9th Asian Winter Games, Geely New Energy Commercial Vehicle — based in the Shanxi city of Jinzhong — was an official partner of the event. It offered 350 methanol-electric and hydrogen-electric hybrid cars to the Games to ensure safe and low-carbon transport for the event.

Other service providers from Shanxi to the event, including State Grid Xinzhou Electric Power Supply and Shanxi Mechanization Construction Group, have all served the Games with dedicated efforts.

Shanxi views ice and snow as a precious asset to attract tourists. The tourism administration of the province recently revealed a road map to Shanxi's 38 ice and snow sports venues for tourists to choose from.

Tourism authorities said that Shanxi adopts an "ice and snow plus" approach to its winter tourism development.

For instance, many winter sports venues in Shanxi are adjacent to popular tourism destinations, offering visitors the choices of taking part in sports, sightseeing, enjoying local food and relaxing.

Ice and snow resources are adding to the glamor of tourist destinations in mountainous areas. The Tongtian Gorge Scenic Area in Pingshun county, a part of the Taihang Mountains, for example, has been drawing in a growing number of tourists in recent winters.

People are attracted there because the rimes on the trees and rocks make the gorge a spectacular sight. Rime is a special type of frost — granular tufts of ice that appear only when warm water vapor meets colder air. In the Tongtian Gorge, running streams can produce warmer water vapor and rime can be generated if a cold front comes, according to local residents.

In the scenic area, delicate rimes cover trees with filigree of frost to create breathtaking natural scenery, turning the gorge into a dreamy landscape and attracting tourists to come and take pictures.

Zhang Qi contributed to this story.