TAIYUAN - Hotpot lovers now have a cool place to enjoy the popular winter dish - on ice. Traditional Chinese copper hotpot meals are now being served on frozen Laoniuwan, a section of the Yellow River at the juncture of Shanxi province and Inner Mongolia autonomous region in North China.

A maximum of 15 people can sit and dine around the largest pots, which have a diameter of 1.2 meters and a height of 1.5 meters, said Guo Xin, marketing director of Puhui, a tourist company in Pianguan county, Shanxi.

Guo said the temperature has been below -10 C, and the river ice is around 60 centimeters thick, which is safe for the diners.

"It feels cool with the heat in my stomach and the occasional creaking of the ice under my feet," said a tourist surnamed Hao.

Snowmobiles and bumper cars are also available on the ice.

Laoniuwan is a tourist resort that used to be a military and trading town where the Yellow River, China's second longest waterway, met the Great Wall. However, tourists rarely visit during the heart of winter.

"We hope the 'hotpot on ice' project will offer tourists a different experience so that they can feel the charm of our mother river," said Guo.

Xinhua

(China Daily 01/31/2018 page5)