Heilongjiang Ice, Snow and Volcano Tours:

By YU JIE & XU JING

A snow sculpture on Sun Island - Herding Goats.

HEILONGJIANG is China's northernmost province in whose mountainous areas the snowfall is high and sustained. Scenic spots include the Yabuli Ski Resort, Jingbo Lake waterfalls, Yuquan Hunting Ground, Five Linked Lakes, and Mohe, northernmost village in China. Heilongjiang also has primeval forests and unpolluted river systems, all of which make it a fascinating tourist destination.

Ice and Snow Tours

In recent years tourism has become one of Heilongjiang's pillar industries. Special interest tours like the ice and snow tour, border tour, ecological tour and adventure tour, have given Heilongjiang the fastest tourism industry growth of any other province. Ice and snow have been made a tourist resource, and within the broad scope of Heilongjiang tourism ice and snow tours are popular tour items.

Those who come to the provincial capital Harbin are surprised at the number of ice and snow activities in this city. From the Ice and Snow World to the ice lantern exhibition at Zhaolin Park, Harbin ice lantern show is, after 40 years of effort, famous nationwide.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival. China's first regional festival to take ice and snow as its theme, it starts in late December and lasts 60 days. The festival features ice lantern shows, an ice sculpture contest, and a snow sculpture exhibition. Participants in the festival visit the Ice and Snow World, see the snow sculptures on Sun Island, the ice lantern exhibition at Zhaolin Park, the Ice Lantern Stories Park at Nangang, and go skiing at the Yabuli Ski Resort.

Harbin comes up with novelty activities like a ski festival, snow splashing festival and ice lantern show, year after year. At the Snow Splashing Festival, participants wear protective clothing and use dustpans to pour snow over one another.

Harbin pays great attention to tourists from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. Several years ago, fairytale heroine Snow White was made the image ambassador of Harbin tourism. Since establishment of a sister city relationship with Guangzhou, the Snow White tourism promotion group, consisting of young ladies from Harbin, has gone south several times to attract tourists. Tourists from China's southeast coast make up 40 percent of the total.

Ice and Snow Tours have brought prosperity to Heilongjiang's railways, highways and civil aviation. By January 2 this year Heilongjiang had received 500,000 ski tourists -- an increase of 30 percent over the same period last year. Harbin Taiping International Airport handled 1,942 flights and 200,000 passengers in one month, an increase of 13 percent and 25 percent respectively over the same period the previous year.

Heilongjiang ranks first in both the number and scale of ski schools.

The strategy of "rejuvenating Northeast China" has pushed Heilongjiang to the domestic forefront of winter tourism. Ski fever has increased the number of ski schools in Heilongjiang Province to 30.

Volcanic Spectacles

Natural wonders created by volcanic eruptions make Heilongjiang a unique tourist destination. Jingbo Lake is China's largest alpine barrier lake, and is known as the West Lake of the North. This 45-kilometer-long lake was formed by a volcanic eruption over 10,000 years ago, when lava formed a barrier on the Mudan River. The lake covers 90 square kilometers and resembles a mirror, hence its name (jing means mirror and bo means lake).

An underground forest, designated a national nature reserve, is located 50 kilometers northwest of Jingbo Lake. In an area 40 kilometers long by 5 kilometers wide are ten craters, inside which are primeval forests. Opinions vary about their origins. One theory is that over time rocks and volcanic ash inside the craters became fertile soil, and the forest grew from seeds dropped into it by birds. There are also several lava tunnels in the forest to explore.

Another natural wonder caused by volcanic eruptions in Heilongjiang is the Wudalianchi (Five Linked Lakes). Between 1719 and 1721 volcanic eruptions formed barriers on the river and created five linked lakes. The area has retained its complete volcanic landform and is called China's Volcanic Museum. This topographical feature and the area's mineral springs make Wudalianchi a comprehensive scenic area in which to sightsee, convalesce or carry out scientific investigation.

The ice/snow plus volcano tour program has revitalized both Heilongjiang's and Northeast China's tourism industry. In recent years all cities with ice and snow resources have used them actively and effectively to stimulate the local economy. Some represent a challenge to Harbin, their Big Brother in this regard, but following fierce competition in regional tourism there is now closer regional cooperation. A northeast tour is, along with the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Three Gorges, Old Silk Road, Shangri-la Ecological Tour Zone, and Qinghai-Tibet, an unmissable item on any China travel itinerary.