Hot and cold, but mostly cool

And even the coldest season isn't really that cold. Rather, the ski trails are known for being relatively cool at around — 2 C — just brisk enough to feel refreshing but not biting in ways that sting your skin. In other words, Jack Frost is present but muzzled in Guizhou's winter sports spots. And this means visitors don't need to bundle into so many layers that they need to waddle when they walk.

Liupanshui city, near the provincial capital, Guiyang, has adopted the slogan "cool city of China" to convey this sense of relatively moderate temperatures year-round. It lures visitors with a summertime marathon event and with winter sports at such spots as Plum Mountain, which is China's lowest-latitude ski resort, at 26 degrees north.

The roughly 1-square-kilometer winter sports destination offers nearly 2,000 total meters of ski runs of various difficulty levels that can accommodate up to 5,000 guests at a time.

Newbies, finding their snow legs on the bunny hill, wear not only the regular regalia but can also fasten plush pink pandas or green turtles to pad their backsides and knees. These cute accessories come in handy when roughly as many novices fall as ski downhill, not only cushioning their landings but also keeping their lower halves a bit drier.