'Cold resources' become part of 'hot economy'

LANZHOU — Until a few years ago, Luo Chonggui, a farmer from Gansu province, had little to do during the winter months. However, since 2021, along with many other farmers, he has gained a stable income from the local winter sports industry.

The 52-year-old Luo and many other farmers have been working as snowmakers at a national snow sports training base in Jingtai county, Baiyin city.

At around 8 pm, Luo and his colleagues, wearing hats, headlamps and gloves, head out to work, checking if the water pipes are frozen before opening the snow guns.

"My work has begun," Luo shouted, though his voice was drowned out by the loud roar of the snow guns. With the aid of his headlamp, Luo adjusted the angle of the snow guns based on the wind direction, stepping into the mist and checking the snow quality.

When Luo returned to the small cabin where the snowmakers rest, his hat and eyebrows were covered in thick ice. His orange uniform makes him resemble Santa Claus.

"We will go out every half hour until sunrise to check the snow guns and adjust their angles," Luo said, explaining that sudden changes in wind direction were a concern, as they could easily freeze the snow guns during the night.

Before working at the training base, Luo used to plant corn and potatoes on a small plot of land, and took up odd jobs as a decorator.

"It was a bit far from home," he said.

As a snowmaker, Luo earns over 4,000 yuan ($550) per month without leaving his hometown.

"Over the past few years, Luo and other farmers have gradually mastered the skills of snowmaking, and their incomes are steadily increasing," said Kou Mingfu, Luo's fellow villager and director of the training base.

Kou explained that when they first started snowmaking in late 2021, more than 30 local villagers worked around the clock beside the snow track.

With better equipment and more experience, the snowmaking team has now been reduced to five people operating four snow guns this winter.

"The athletes who attended the Beijing Winter Paralympics praised our snow," Luo recalled.

The national teams for Para Nordic skiing trained here before the Beijing Winter Paralympics started. Luo and his team had paved an 8-meter-wide, 5-kilometer-long cross-country skiing track that met the requirements of various snow sports events.

Zhu Jifei, general manager of the training base, said that over 100 seasonal workers are employed at the training base and ski resort, most of whom are local farmers.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Qinghai province, many ski resorts provide stable employment opportunities for local farmers every winter.

The Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region welcomed 92.5 million domestic and international tourists during the 2023-2024 winter season, increasing tourism revenue more than threefold to 106 billion yuan ($14.6 billion).

Today, over 300 million people participate in winter sports in China, and the once "cold resources" like snow have become part of a "hot economy" in the country's western regions.

"We expect the total number of visitors to our base's ski resort to exceed 200,000 this winter, continuing to drive income growth for local farmers," Zhu said.

Xinhua