STORY: Ice-and-snow fervor fuels revitalization in northeast China
SHOOTING TIME: Recent footage
DATELINE: Jan. 30, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:47
LOCATION: HARBIN, China
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Harbin
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): LI XIAOQING, Tourist from Hebei Province
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): LIU ZHIMING, Tourist from Hebei Province
4. various of high-tech products

STORYLINE:

Once the nation's heavy-industry heartland, northeast China has in recent years seen a growing winter sports boom and seized opportunities arising from its abundant snowfall.

This winter, Harbin, capital city of Heilongjiang Province, has emerged as a leading winter destination in the country.

Though temperatures plummeted below minus 20 degrees Celsius, thousands of tourists from across the country enjoyed majestic ice sculptures at the Harbin Ice-Snow World, a famed theme park.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Chinese): LI XIAOQING, Tourist from Hebei Province
"On the way here (to Harbin), I saw on Douyin that in Harbin, you can have a princess-like experience, and I wanted to try that. So, I came to this freezing yet beautiful place."

SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): LIU ZHIMING, Tourist from Hebei Province
"People in Harbin are very welcoming. They are straightforward and have the warmth characteristic of folks in the northeast."

During the three-day New Year holiday, the "ice city" of Harbin received more than 3 million visitors, raking in 5.91 billion yuan (about 831 million U.S. dollars) of tourism revenue.

The popularity of Harbin echoes the opinions expressed at the local "two sessions" of the three northeast provinces of China in January. The northeast China consists of the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning.

Local "two sessions," the annual meetings of provincial-level lawmakers and political advisors, discuss local economic and social development during the previous year and also make plans for the year ahead.

According to lawmakers and political advisors at the "two sessions" of the three provinces, the region witnessed improved economic development, accelerated industrial transformation and enhanced innovation capacity in 2023, which instilled confidence and laid the foundation for the full revitalization of northeast China in the new era.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Harbin, China.
(XHTV)