Having spent the first day of the Spring Festival holiday at home, He Rui rushed to the ski resort early on the second day and was ready to start the Year of the Rabbit on his snowboard. This enthusiast has mastered the S-turn, and is working on his edging.Since He started skiing two years ago, the 11-year-old has gotten used to getting up early and heading for the Jiulong International Ski Resort in the suburbs of Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province, sometimes even before dawn."People used to stay at home and relax during the Spring Festival holiday. But as our society places greater value on healthy lifestyle, more people are willing to spend their holiday skiing," said Chang Yulin, director of the ski resort. Chang said that the resort received more than 2,000 guests per day recently, including some coming from other provinces.The Spring Festival holiday, when Chinese people traditionally travel home for family reunions, runs from Jan. 21 to 27 this year.For Qiao Jian, a ski-lover from Taiyuan, skiing has become his new habit to celebrate the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year. He has flown with his family to northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, where the ice and snow atmosphere is more developed, for the third consecutive year."In addition to participating in winter sports, we can also visit nearby scenic spots to further appreciate local customs and culture," Qiao said.With high-hanging lanterns and paper-cutting pastings on windows, the Sun Mountain Yabuli resort welcomed visitors from all over the country. According to the resort, some clients even booked five months in advance."We have 17 ski trails of all kinds and different levels here at our resort. With a maximum slope of 40 degrees to a minimum one of six degrees, we can meet the needs of skiers of all levels," said Sun Nianwei, director of the marketing and sales department.At a recent ice and snow tourism forum, Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, pointed out that ice and snow tourism has revitalized traditional folklore and created a number of more modern, dynamic, and fashionable tourism destinations and consumption scenarios.Driven by the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, ice and snow tourism has gradually gained popularity among Chinese people. A report on China's snow and ice tourism development predicts that the number of snow and ice leisure travelers in China is expected to exceed 300 million in the 2022-2023 snow and ice season. The number is expected to reach 520 million in three years, and the related tourism revenue will reach 720 billion yuan (about 106.1 billion U.S. dollars).With 300 million people participating in winter sports, in order to further stimulate people's enthusiasm, the central government has mentioned promoting the ice and snow industry and building ski tourism resorts in several planning documents. Northeast, north, and northwest regions with abundant ice and snow resources have introduced corresponding policies.North China's Hebei Province, one of the host places of the Beijing Winter Olympics, has proposed strengthening the use of Winter Olympics venues, accelerating the improvement of infrastructure and supporting services, and cultivating new consumption growth points in competition performances, venue services, sports training, and sports tourism, among others.As one of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games venues, Genting Snow Park opened the U-shaped field, Moguls, and five other tracks to the public, to meet the desire of snow enthusiasts, while other local ski resorts have launched multiple activities to attract tourists."We hold different theme activities here every day, such as Spring Festival gala, dragon and lion dance, and band performance, so that visitors can both enjoy skiing and have a special Spring Festival holiday," said Ren Xiaoqiang, marketing center manager of a local company.Dai Bin believed that the popularization of winter sports in the country opened a new era for China and even for the world. He suggested cultivating a number of enterprises in the field of ice and snow equipment production, cultural creativity and specialized tourism. 編輯：高佳箴魚
Chinese "slash youth," referring to those refusing to be defined or bound by just one personal identity and choosing multiple careers, has aroused heated discussions on social media platforms, drawing attention to the young generation's diverse pursuits.On Douban, a Chinese social networking platform, the topic "slash life on and off work" has garnered about 11,000 posts and has been viewed over 400 million times.China's young people are keen to share their slash youth stories online, presenting themselves as multiple and sometimes distinct identities, such as a nurse and model, a teacher and stand-up comedian, and an engineer and band player.Xing Eryang, who founded the Douban topic in 2021, is a 31-year-old female resident in Beijing and feels amazed to find her "slash life" echoed by so many peers.After graduating in 2014, Xing landed her job in a public institution. While staying diligent about her daytime work, she is developing her hobbies, including stand-up comedy, vlog making, podcast broadcasting, and the like, into her new careers during after-work time.The "slash life on and off work" has attracted many to share their different lifestyles, which indicates their train of thought facing the unified "examination" called "life" for everyone, according to Xing."I prefer the word 'slash' because a diverse lifestyle is like using a blunt knife to cut our life into halves. Part of us work hard in the daytime while the other part can still chase after truth, goodness, and beauty inside during the me-time, though this part of us may be less sophisticated and sociable," she explained.A 26-year-old female netizen nicknamed "Weiheng" from the southern metropolis of Guangzhou and Tang Yuhan, a 27-year-old man in Xuancheng City, east China's Anhui Province, are participants in the topic, with their stories garnering thousands of likes so far on the internet.The two are both band members in their spare time out of their love for music, though they are thousands of miles away and have different jobs in media and finance. Weiheng is now a vocalist in a post-hardcore band off work, while Tang plays the guitar in a death metal band.They have grown their passion for music since college and didn't abandon their enthusiasm even when entering workplaces. Though they both faced doubts and worries from their family and colleagues at first, they cleaved to their beliefs and won others' respect and understanding."Their reaction showed the mind gap between the young and former generations. Before, my parents used to say, 'music cannot earn you money,' so the band thing was regarded as a waste of time. However, for us young people, we want to pursue whatever we love and are willing to pay for it," said Weiheng.It is not only a mindset U-turn but a reflection of the booming current entertainment sector. "Over the recent years, with livestreaming, game, and entertainment industries having their moment in China, the music industry has also seen a positive growth momentum. Some bands have raked in considerable money through live shows," she added."I'm open to being whatever kind of employee I may become in different settings, but I will always be a guitarist. Every time I am upset by something at work, playing the guitar cures me," said Tang. "Music is like lightning striking my heart and a storm exploding in my mind."The two music fanatics utilize their nighttime to do rehearsals and then perform on holidays and weekends. Now, Weiheng's band "floating soul" has released eight songs and signed a contract with a music agency, ready to launch albums and do a performing tour soon."The 'slash life' mania shows that along with China's economic development, our society is becoming more and more diversified and inclusive, and it welcomes everyone's self-fulfillment," said Shi Yanrong, an associate researcher from the Institute of Japanese Studies, Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences. "Young people no longer have to rely on work and money for their sense of self-worth. They tend to practice 'carpe diem' and create their own identities."The researcher added that against the background that people have multiple interests and are willing to pay for these interests nowadays, the "slash life" of the youth would drive the growth of a new economy, just as animation culture affected the market. 編輯：高佳?
