NANJING: For Wang Lin, a beginner skier, weekends no longer require a flight to the snow-blanketed mountains of northeastern China. Instead, she spends her Saturdays repeatedly falling and getting up on a groomed indoor slope just minutes from her home.
“I don’t have to rush or plan far ahead,” said Wang, who lives in Wuxi, a lakeside city in east China’s Jiangsu Province. “It takes me less than 10 minutes to drive here, and the snow quality feels surprisingly good.”
Though new to skiing, Wang has become a regular at the indoor ski resort in Wuxi’s Binhu District, fitting lessons into fragmented weekend hours – a pattern increasingly common across China’s snow-scarce regions.
Located far from China’s traditional winter sports heartlands, the resort attracts nearly half a million visitors annually. More than 70 percent come from the affluent Yangtze River Delta, generating over 180 million yuan (about 26 million US dollars) in ice-and-snow consumption each year.
Such scenes reflect a broader shift. In 2025, China’s ice-and-snow industry surpassed the 1-trillion-yuan mark for the first time, according to official data. Regions with little or no natural snowfall, including the Yangtze River Delta, are now claiming a growing share of the country’s winter economy.
“I never imagined a snow park near home could be this lively,” said Zhang Juan, a resident of Jiangsu’s Lianyungang, as she held her 5-year-old daughter’s hand at a local snow-play park.
Snowmaking machines hummed steadily, transforming the park into a glittering winter fantasy. Snowmobiles and banana boats roared past, while family attractions, from octopus-shaped rides to tracked vehicles, drew long lines of eager visitors.
Despite lacking northern China’s natural snow advantages, Jiangsu has quietly emerged as a southern hub for ice-and-snow development by capitalizing on policy flexibility, consumption power and location.
To lower barriers for investors, provincial authorities have encouraged reusing idle factories and warehouses, offering flexible land-use models such as long-term leasing, according to the Jiangsu Department of Natural Resources. –Agencies
