In 2016, Beijing and Zhangjiakou jointly won the bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics, which has brought great changes to the economy of Zhangjiakou as well as Hebei province as a whole. 

According to a report by the Zhangjiakou Tourism Division, during the spring festival of 2017, 2.3933 million tourists attended the ice and snow activities there, with a growth rate of 29.4%. The total revenue achieved was RMB 2.03 billion, with a growth rate of 57.1%.

The Zhangjiakou municipal government has announced that within 5 years, starting from 2016, it will work hard to close down and ban all mining enterprises ( enterprises that have obtained mining rights or exploration rights) within the city area, and achieve the objective of establishing “a city without mines” by the end of 2020. Zhangjiakou will promote its industrial transformation in a “premium, intelligent and green” direction.

It plans to build five professional winter sports parks. A few renowned enterprises, such as DNS Investment, MND Group (France) and Hetronic Group (Germany), have already signed contracts with the Zhangjiakou municipal government to cooperate on the construction of the winter sports parks, as well as the R&D and manufacture of winter sports equipment. In the future, there will be a comprehensive industrial chain of winter sports equipment and devices manufactured in Zhangjiakou.

The local employment situation has also improved. There are five ski resorts at Chongli, including Wanlong, Yunding, Changchengling . Taking Wanlong Ski Resort as an example, there are over 500 staff employed during the snow season, with 80% of these local farmers. There are also around 50 professional coaches, most of whom are young locals. Apart from the ski resorts, the local hotels, restaurants and ski equipment stores are all providing very good jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities.

The media reports that a snow industry worth a hundred billion is emerging in Hebei.       

Source: Economic Daily 

Proofread by Sean O Diobhilin