5th Jilin Int'l Ice and Snow Industry Expo opens in Changchun

The 5th Jilin International Ice and Snow Industry Expo and the 24th Changchun Ice and Snow Festival opened in Changchun on December 26.

The events, themed "Watch Winter Olympics in Beijing, Experience Ice and Snow in Jilin," were sponsored by the Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and the Changchun city government, under the guidance of the Jilin provincial government, the Development Research Center (DRC) of the State Council and the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Chen Xiaoguang, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), declared the opening of the events. 

Jing Junhai, secretary of the Jilin Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, Hu Heping, Chinese minister of culture and tourism, Ma Jiantang, secretary of the leading Party members' group of the DRC of the State Council, Han Zirong, vice president and secretary general of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and Duan Qiang, chairman of the World Tourism Alliance, delivered speeches at the opening ceremony.

Han Jun, acting governor of Jilin province, presided over the opening ceremony.

Jiang Zelin, chairman of the Jilin Provincial Committee of the CPPCC, and Du Jiang, vice minister of culture and tourism, also attended the opening ceremony.

Hu Heping recognized the role of the expo as a platform for exhibiting and holding exchanges on ice and snow culture, tourism and industry in his remarks at the opening ceremony.

"Since its inception, the expo has attracted many tourists, dealers and media agencies to participate," he said.

He noted that with the approaching of the 2022 Winter Olympics, ice and snow sports and tourism will continue to boom in China and he said that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism will continue to support Jilin and other ice and snow-rich areas to create excellent art and literature works around the themes of Olympics and ice and snow to tell the stories of ice and snow well, promote the ice and snow culture, and improve the quality of ice and snow tourism.

Jing Junhai introduced Jilin's advantages and endeavors in developing the ice and snow industry.

He noted that Jilin is located at a latitude zone boasting primary ice and snow resources and its ice and snow folk customs have a unique charm and its development of ice and snow sports also leads in China.

In recent years, Jilin has been building an ice and snow industry with ice and snow sports, ice and snow tourism and ice and snow culture at the core and has made great endeavors to promote innovation and integration of the ice and snow culture in a bid to turn "cold resources" into a "hot industry," Jing added.

Jing said that Jilin hopes to take the expo as an opportunity to support the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, promote the ice and snow economy and inject new momentum into Jilin's revitalization on all fronts.

Ma Jiantang said in his remarks at the opening ceremony that the ice and snow economy is a key area for expanding domestic demand and a new economic growth point.

He hoped that Jilin will further improve its business environment and infrastructure and accelerate the development of a diversified industrial chain featuring ice and snow tourism and promote high-quality development of the ice and snow economy.

This year, the expo also set up a section for the Jilin Winter Cultural Industry Expo for the first time. The Jilin Winter Cultural Industry Expo was sponsored by the Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and the Art Exhibitions China center and organized by the Jilin Provincial Museum. It is the first provincial-level ice and snow-themed cultural industry expo in China.