On December 17, the 18th China·Chongli International Ski Festival grandly opened at Thaiwoo Ski Resort. This winter season, Chongli will host 13 top-tier international professional events over a span of 101 days, including numerous Class A international competitions such as the FIS Freestyle Skiing Moguls World Cup, FIS Snowboard Halfpipe World Cup, FIS Alpine Skiing Far East Cup, and FIS Parallel Giant Slalom World Cup. It will also organize 60 domestic and international mass skiing events, such as the Austrian Masters Cup Ski Race, ISSCC International Children’s Race, China Mass Ski Club League, Sina Cup Alpine Ski Open, GOSKI Ski Exchange Competition, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Mass “Veterans” Alpine Ski Friendship Tournament, Season-End Fun Obstacle Race, Ski Mountaineering Competition, and the Boiling Blood National Ski Season Closing Ceremony. Interspersed among these events will be 52 sub-events across 19 categories of year-end, cultural, performing arts, and entertainment activities, including the Mammoth Ice and Snow Music Festival, Birch Valley Snow Festival, Ice and Snow Sculpture Exhibition, New Year Goods Fair, “Laba” Chongli Folk Culture Festival, and Chongli Temple Fair, running until the closing on March 10, 2019.
After more than 20 years of ski industry development, Chongli has built seven major ski resorts: Wanlong, Thaiwoo, Genting, Great Wall Ridge, Fulong, Dolomiti, and Galaxy, featuring a total of 169 ski runs spanning 162 kilometers, and 67 cable cars and chairlifts covering 44.5 kilometers. In the first 17 ski festivals, Chongli hosted a variety of international and domestic events, including the FIS Freeski Slopestyle World Cup, Aerials World Cup, Banana Open, and Ski Mountaineering World Cup. It has secured the hosting rights for high-level international competitions such as the FIS Alpine Skiing Points Race and Far East Cup for 13 consecutive years, becoming a regional benchmark for China’s ski industry. Beyond ice and snow events, Chongli is committed to transforming from a winter skiing destination to a four-season outdoor hub, organizing events in the summer of 2018 such as the Chongli 168 Ultra Trail Race, Chongli Half Marathon, World Drone Prix China Qualifiers, and National Cup Professional Chess Masters Tournament.
Top-tier events require top-tier facilities, and first-class service earns first-class reputation. With four ski resorts—Wanlong, Thaiwoo, Fulong, and Secret Garden·Genting—ranked among China’s Top 10 Ski Resorts, the Chongli ski area consecutively rated among China’s Top 10 Winter Tourism Destinations for two years, the Ski Festival honored as one of China’s Top 10 Most Influential Ice and Snow Tourism Events, and Chongli District recognized by the General Administration of Sport of China as a National Advanced Mass Sports County and a National Sports Industry Demonstration Base, Chongli is actively enhancing its ice and snow and tourism service infrastructure. Currently, centered around Mazhangzi Village in the core Olympic competition zone, within a 10-kilometer radius, there are over 160 hotels offering 7,207 rooms and 12,867 beds. International premium hotel brands such as Element, InterContinental, Hyatt Place, and Sheraton have successively established a presence in Chongli in recent years. The comprehensive service facilities ensure visitors a comfortable travel experience.
Chongli is entirely surrounded by sections of the Great Wall, with seven generations of the wall meandering and crisscrossing, characterized by “great length, high density, and spanning many dynasties,” making it a “typical microcosm of Chinese Great Wall culture.” Therefore, the 2022 Winter Olympics is also hailed as the “Winter Olympics at the Foot of the Great Wall.” In addition to ice and snow events, this year’s ski festival will also offer visitors a rich array of folk culture activities at the foot of the Great Wall. In late 2018, district cultural units and major ski resorts will organize a variety of Christmas and New Year-themed cultural events, including music festivals, carnivals, snowy night parties, and food streets. Visitors can enjoy rock music festivals, ice and snow performance competitions, ice and snow knowledge contests, snow soccer, snow virtual reality experiences, ice and snow sculpture exhibitions, aurora charm experiences, Penguin Island, fantasy mazes, and ice peak crossings with their families. New Year’s Eve events such as the “Countdown EDM Party” and “Countdown Valentine’s Day” will provide unique celebrations for visitors from Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei. Additionally, Chongli will invite over 10 celebrities from the entertainment and sports industries, including Zhou Rui and Fu Yuanhui, to create an IP for Chongli’s ice and snow tourism industry through a combination of “concerts + ski races.”
During the Spring Festival, Chongli will host a series of “Red-Hot Chinese New Year” events, featuring traditional local folk performances such as Shehuo parades, lantern displays, riddle lantern fairs, and Lantern Festival celebrations, showcasing the traditional cultural heritage of Chongli, which historically served as an important trade route. The Chongli New Year Goods Fair will showcase premium specialty festive products, creating a strong festive atmosphere of “visiting the New Year Market, buying New Year goods, and celebrating the New Year.” The city’s awards plaza will feature a dreamlike light corridor centered around red lanterns, an ice sculpture exhibition of Winter Olympic events themed around Chongli’s mascot, the “Golden Chipmunk,” along with the Dala Culture Festival. Folk performance troupes will present “Dala” shows with fan and dance routines on main streets, accompanied by dragon dances, lion dances, yangko dances, gongs and drums, and colorful processions, while free Laba porridge will be served for visitors to taste and enjoy. To enhance the diversity and appeal of Chongli’s cultural activities, district cultural units have invited renowned troupes to perform classic segments of Jin Opera, Hebei Bangzi, and Erren Tai, and introduced intangible cultural heritage projects such as the Beijing Tianqiao Temple Fair and Ditan Temple Fair, creating a local brand temple fair integrating traditional crafts, performances, snacks, acrobatics, and special skills.
Moving forward, Chongli will vigorously develop a sports and leisure industry led by winter skiing and summer outdoor activities, building a National Sports and Leisure Demonstration Zone to drive regional tourism and related industries. It will earnestly undertake the historical mission of implementing the national sports strategy, establish Chongli as China’s “Ice and Snow Center” and make “Skiing in Chongli” an international brand. At the same time, in contributing to the enhancement of the capital’s functions, Chongli will also strive to become a Capital Water Conservation Functional Area and a Green Ecological Sports and Leisure Destination, actively developing economic growth points such as conferences and exhibitions, creative R&D, medical wellness, and international exchanges.