Icy cold snap fails to deter hot springs, winter tourists from south

Temperatures at one point plunged to minus 30 C in the province of Jilin this winter, but the cold snap didn't scare away the tourists.

On the contrary, tourism became hot news there as more visitors streamed in from southern China.

At an outdoor hot spring resort in the Changbai Mountains, tourists donned swim suits to enjoy the excitement brought by a huge temperature difference spanning dozens of degrees.

Lin Jianfeng from Hubei province was one of them.

"It's an amazing experience to immerse your body in the warm water while your hair freezes in the cold air," he said.

The spa resort where Lin stayed received more than 1,200 guests every weekend this winter, according to resort staff member Wang Jing.

"The Changbai spas are especially popular with tourists from the south," Wang said.

"For them, it might be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. So, it's a case of the colder the better."

There are about 10 hot spring resorts of a similar size to Wang's in the Changbai area.

In contrast to the Changbai Mountains in Jilin's east, Chagan Lake in the west offers a different thrill.

Despite the biting cold winds, thousands of tourists gathered on the icy lake to take part in the winter fishing.

After a horse winch pulls a net out of an ice hole, visitors can rush to catch the fish as they spill out upon the ice.

Most of the fish are sold onsite. Buyers included tourists and catering businesses.

Sun Shangqi, a visitor from Shanghai, grabbed himself a fish weighing about 10 kilograms. His face was flushed red with the freezing cold, but he didn't want to leave.

"I'd like to buy more for my friends in Shanghai," Sun said, adding that "you never feel the cold in such a boisterous crowd of people."

According to the local tourism authority, the Chagan Lake tourism area received about 20,000 tourists every day on average during the winter fishing season. About 35 tons of fish were sold daily, generating revenue of about 700,000 yuan ($110,000).

As more tourists came to Jilin to play in the ice and snow, some farmers made handsome profits from running family lodgings.

Guan Xue, owner of a rustic inn near the Rime Island in Jilin city, said her family business earned more than 100,000 yuan this winter before the snow season drew to a close.

The city of Jilin is known for the spectacular natural winter phenomenon of rime, the opaque coating of tiny, white, granular ice particles, caused by rapid freezing.

The beautiful frosty scenery, that appeared on both banks of the Songhua River after a sudden temperature drop, attracted swarms of tourists.

Jilin province has seen steady, speedy growth in both tourist numbers and revenues in recent winters.

Statistics from the Jilin tourism authority showed that the province received about 62 million tourists between November 2016 and March 2017. Tourism revenue during the period hit 116 billion yuan, a surge of 27.12 percent on the same period the previous year.