Since the beginning of winter, with several heavy snowfalls quietly arriving, Jiaozi Mountain in Kunming has been cloaked in silver, officially announcing the arrival of the best snow-viewing season.

In recent years, Wumeng Township in Luquan County has leveraged its resource endowments and the natural resource advantages of Jiaozi Mountain to focus on creating a tourism that includes "watching snow in winter, viewing ice in spring, enjoying flowers in summer, and exploring water in autumn". This initiative aims to unleash the "Tourism+" dividend and transform "ice and snow" into "golden mountains and silver mountains", contributing to rural revitalization. Meanwhile, Zhuanlong Town leverages its geographical advantages as a tourism hub at Jiaozi Mountain to fully explore its tourism and cultural resources. It promotes the integrated development of culture and tourism and allows visitors to enjoy snow and ice activities in Kunming.

Play at Jiaozi Mountain, stay and eat in Zhuanlong

Kunming's snow and ice resources are represented by Jiaozi Mountain in Luquan, an ecological tourism area centered around ice and snow landscapes, streams, waterfalls, and seas of rhododendrons. It is a national 4A-level tourist attraction and one of Kunming's few snow tourism destinations.

For those who prefer not to travel long distances and endure travel fatigue, staying a night in Zhuanlong Town before heading to Jiaozi Mountain is a great choice. 

"The cultural tourism industry is an important carrier for promoting economic growth and enriching people's spiritual and cultural lives," said a relevant official from Zhuanlong Town. The town actively promotes red culture and party-building culture in the scenic area, establishing a Party Member Service Station to encourage local party members to participate in volunteer services, providing visitors with consultation and recommendation services, and striving to be a red force in developing regional tourism. 

Whether hiking, trekking, cycling, or camping, visitors in need of assistance can always find enthusiastic and hospitable "red vest" volunteers, ensuring a pleasant travel experience. 

Zhuanlong Town focuses on ecological protection and green development goals, and it is planning to build a green health and wellness town that integrates culture and tourism. It is developing a comprehensive service area that combines leisure and entertainment, aviation research and study, and party member training, with "Big Snow Mountain" and "Big Airplane" becoming well-known tourism IPs, providing tangible support and hardware guarantees for the healthy development of the tourism town, attracting visitors to "play at Jiaozi Mountain and stay and dine in Zhuanlong".

Wumeng Ice and Snow Tourism Releases "Heat Effect"

Jiaozi Mountain belongs to the Wumeng Mountain Range, specifically the Gongwang Mountain sub-range. The scenic area is located in the northeastern corner of Luquan County, within the Wumeng Village Committee. Every year, from late November to March of the following year, there are nearly five months of snow and ice.

Wumeng Township relies on its unique natural resources and adheres to the principles of "activating tourism with snow" and "shaping tourism with sports". It plans to establish the Jiaozi Mountain International Ski Resort, promoting the deep integration of ice and snow tourism with ice and snow sports. The township is actively planning the "Yunnan·Kunming Jiaozi Snow Mountain Outdoor Ice and Snow Carnival" brand event, which will connect a series of ice and snow experiences, including snow viewing on the mountain, snow play in the mountain, and skiing down the mountain, transforming the "cold" resources of ice and snow into a "hot" economy.

Geng Jiaying, a "post-95" college student and village official from Jiaozi Mountain New Village, said, "Jiaozi Mountain New Village used to be an obscure, inconvenient mountain village where it was difficult to enter and exit during the snow. Since we started to 'hold the snow rice bowl', annual incomes have significantly increased. Some villagers operate stalls in the scenic area, earning over 6,000 yuan daily during the peak tourist season. Now we look forward to the snow season arriving early every year."

Wumeng Township focuses on the six elements of "food, accommodation, transportation, travel, entertainment, and shopping", exploring integrated development models such as "ice and snow tourism + snow-themed homestays", "ice and snow tourism + specialty food", and "ice and snow tourism + folk culture". The township is developing projects such as the 4A-level Jiaozi Mountain scenic area, the Jiaozi Snow Mountain Ski Resort, and tourism homestays in Jiaozi Mountain New Village, completing the construction of rural revitalization tourism demonstration projects such as Sunset Square, sightseeing cable cars, rainbow slides, recreational vehicle camps (RV camps). The "ice and snow+" model injects vitality into the rural tourism industry, enhancing the distinctive value of Jiaozi Mountain's ice and snow tourism.

"As a village within the scenic area, Jiaozi Mountain New Village relies on ice and snow resources and geographical advantages to develop a new business model dominated by homestays. In 2022, the entire village's average per capita disposable income exceeded 13,000 yuan. It can be said that ice and snow tourism has promoted income increases for residents," said Xu Baoquan, the Party Secretary of Wumeng Village.

Optimizing the Tourism Environment with Enhanced "Warm Services"

Wumeng Township adopts a model of "government employees + enterprise staff + village officials + traffic guides", combining various forces into "one rope", strengthening the duty and supervision during the peak ice and snow tourism season to maintain order in the scenic area, timely diverting crowds, and providing visitors with a safe, reassuring, and comfortable tourism environment, bringing warmth in the icy landscape through heartfelt service.

In June of this year, a direct service bus from "Kunming to Jiaozi Mountain Scenic Area" was launched at the Kunming International Trade Center, allowing citizens to easily reach Jiaozi Mountain from Kunming. Currently, buses from the Northern Coach Station to Zhuanlong run daily from 6:20 AM to 3:30 PM, with about 10 trips per day, bringing tourists closer to the ice and snow experience.

At the end of this month, the outdoor ski resort at Jiaozi Mountain will also open, inviting you to experience a uniquely romantic ice and snow journey in Spring City, Kunming.

Click here to view the Chinese report

(Editors: Jennifer, Reena)