Word: skis
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...first sign that Lotus Mountain is not Aspen comes from the man skiing down the hill in a pin-striped business suit. Other skiers are dressed in more sporty Gore-Tex outfits, but many share the snow-dusted rear of the man dressed for a day at the office. After all, most of the visitors to this newly built ski resort in China's northeast only began strapping on ski boots in the last couple of years. Few know how to negotiate a gentle slope without a few spills?or realize that the dried squid and sauteed pig kidney...
...With the country celebrating its first-ever gold medal in a snow event at last month's Torino Olympics?courtesy of male aerial skier Han Xiaopeng?skiing has never been so cool in China. A decade ago, there was only one sizeable ski site in the entire country?Yabuli in northeastern Heilongjiang province?and that was built specifically to host the 1996 Asian Winter Games. Today, there are more than 200 resorts nationwide, and the China Ski Association estimates that Chinese ski slopes will record more than 3 million visits this winter. Although the high price of lift tickets...
...Ski Association predicts that 10 million Chinese could be skiing by then, meaning one out of every seven skiers worldwide could be living in China. "Everyone overseas skis, so why can't we?" asks schoolteacher Hang Mei, whose first-time snowplow is so cautious that she slows to a complete halt on the slope. "China is developing very fast, and there isn't anything...
...Ski boots may be an easy sell compared with convincing Chinese to vacation at high-end domestic ski resorts. China's northeast may have plenty of snow, but with average temperatures in the -20°C range, this is hardly balmy country. Chinese tourists with enough cash to dedicate to a luxury sport may prefer to go abroad. "South Korea is only two hours away and has great ski resorts," says Wang Hongbin, publisher of China's first ski magazine, Speed Ski. "People like to boast that they have vacationed overseas, not in some poor village in China's northeast...
...moment, though, even a place like Shanghai, hardly known for glacial temperatures, is cashing in on China's ski boom. The city is home to Asia's largest indoor ski dome, Yinqixing (Seven Silver Stars). With a slope that's just 380 m long, the $36 million facility isn't designed for serious ski bums. The steepest section of the hill is only 17 degrees, the snow feels more like Sno-Cone crystals than real powder and there are no lifts-just an escalator that takes skiers partway up the slope. Still, a Yinqixing spokesman says the facility has recorded...