Villagers turning their winter wonderland into a year-round resort

Erhe, a village of Shulan city in northeastern China's Jilin province, is pushing forward its tourism development with its famed snowy landscape.

Located at a latitude of 44 degrees 28 times north, the village has up to 1.5 meters of snowfall that can last five and a half months.

"The village is surrounded by mountains and has a unique geographical advantage in developing tourism," said Lu Caishu, Party secretary of the village.

In 2016, Shulan city started to bill the village as a tourism destination and increase the investment to improve its infrastructure and entertainment facilities.

The city government has provided support to villagers, by installing plumbing and building new sewage treatment plants, parking lots and tourist service centers.

"The village is paying more attention to developing its cultural and amusement facilities and it has built a series of distinct tourism attractions, such as the Weihu stockaded village," said Bai Yunfei, chairman of a tourism investment company in Shulan.

Tourism development has improved in recent years and villagers have recognized the development more than before, Lu said.

Wu Qingrong, a 45-year-old local villager, said she has run several businesses including a dairy store, a massage parlor and a restaurant in other locations over the past 20 years.

In 2016, Wu began her tourism business by opening a farmhouse to visitors and became one of the first merchants with the local government's advocates.

Wu said she did not accept the invitation to run a tourism business at the expense of giving up her original business at the beginning, but finally decided to bet on it.

"I was not sure how it would be to develop tourism only based on the snowfall," she said.

Wu said she earned 50,000 yuan ($7,450) during the first snowy season and made more than 100,000 yuan during the second one.

"Snow brings me not only sufficiency in life but also in the spirit," Wu said, adding that thanks to the snow business, her family has become richer.

Sun Linlin is another villager who has developed her home into a farmhouse resort.

In 2016, Sun returned to the village and launched her business, extending 200 square meters of space from her house.

It was the first and largest farmhouse in Erhe, with a total area of 1,000 sq m.

"My life has been better since I opened the farmhouse," she said.

In 2017, she invested more than 2 million yuan to expand the farmhouse.

Currently, the village has 46 farmhouse resorts that can receive 5,000 visits per day.

Since December 2018, the village has received about 140,000 visits and generated 17 million yuan of tourism income. It has also created jobs for 300 locals, according to official data.

The village will improve what it has to offer by hosting more distinct programs including spa hotels to make it a year-round tourist destination, according to its plan.