More people secure jobs thanks to booming snow and ice industry in China

Five years ago, Li Wei, a local farmer in the Yanqing district of Beijing, entered into the business of skiing when the country first set the goal of getting 300 million people involved in ice and snow sports.

This photo taken on Dec. 11, 2019 shows a skier at Genting Snow Park in Chongli. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao)

“Nowadays, I’m a member of a farmers’ skiing team in Yanqing. I’m also a certified ski instructor,” said Li, who works for the Vanke Shijinglong Ski Resort in Yanqing, a competition zone for the Beijing Olympic Winter Games. Before getting engaged in the business, Li had worked for a gas company, having also previously taken up employment as a social worker and a garbage truck driver.

More than 30 members of the farmers’ skiing team that Li belongs to are certified, with these team members having also secured jobs as ski instructors, ski judges or skiers, Li introduced, expressing his confidence for the ice and snow industry looking forwards into the future, which he felt would surely become a popular industry. In the meantime, focusing on mastering relevant skills on the ski hill means that there may be further opportunities to secure employment.

Dong Yanyan, an official with the bureau of human resources and social security in Yanqing district, explained that Yanqing launched a program in 2018 to offer free training for locals to become professional ice-makers, ski instructors, or operators of drones, providing more and more people with chances for better employment while nurturing talents to ensure the successful operations of winter events this year. The program aims to organize training sessions for more than 100,000 people in five years, focusing on creating 83 new jobs for locals.

One year ago, Zhao Bing, a local villager in Yanqing, was a kitchen staff member. When he tried skiing for the first time in his life, Zhao instantly fell in love with the sport. Then he started to learn skiing, beginning with basic movements, and then moved onto mastering various skiing skills and making turns on the snow. It took less than two years before the man was finally able to ski on professional ski tracks.

In 2021, Zhao was certified by ski authorities in both China and Switzerland and obtained a level five ski instructor qualification certified by Chinese ski authorities. In the same year, he became a ski instructor in the Vanke Shijinglong Ski Resort. During this year’s ice and snow season, Zhao expects to earn at least 30,000 yuan ($4,740) from activities associated with the business.

Zhangjiakou city, another competition zone for the Beijing Olympic Winter Games located in north China’s Hebei Province, has also made vigorous efforts to cultivate a comprehensive ice and snow industry chain.

According to incomplete statistics, one out of every five people in Chongli, Zhangjiakou, is currently engaged in ice and snow-related work, and more than 30,000 people are participating in the ice and snow and tourism industries directly or indirectly, said Liu Haifeng, deputy director of the office of the leading group for organizing the Winter Olympic Games in Zhangjiakou.