The Fourth South China Ice and Snow Festival will be held in Jiuzhaigou, a famous scenic area in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, from January to March.

The festival is aimed at promoting winter tourism in Sichuan, said Wang Rongxuan, deputy chief of Sichuan Provincial Tourism Development Leading Group.

Jiuzhaigou, which is often balmy in winter, looms as a hot scenic spot of ice and snow at this time of the year.

Being the only Chinese tourism destination with three internationally acclaimed titles -World Natural Heritage site, World Biosphere Reserve and Green Globe 21 site - Jiuzhaigou is a stunningly beautiful vista at any time of the year.

About 440 kilometers north of Chengdu, capital city of Sichuang Province, the 720-square-kilometre scenic area is spread over a Y-shaped ravine about 30 kilometers long and at elevations of 2,000 to 3,100 meters.

It boasts crystal clear water in its alpine lakes and is rich in various plants and wild animals. During the winter season, which lasts from October to March, Jiuzhaigou looks like a frozen fairyland as its trees and plants are covered with snow. The snow can absolutely dazzle the onlooker. Bitter cold hardens it into ice, transforming trees and plants into "ice flowers" and waterfalls into natural ice carvings.

"Jiuzhaigou has a special charm in winter," said Bian Hu, a photographer in Chengdu who has been to Jiuzhaigou many times in winter. "The ice on the famous Long Lake and Panda Lake in Jiuzhaigou can be 60 meters thick and visitors can frolic on it," he added.

With many topnotch tourism resources known at home and abroad, Sichuan has four of China's 31 sites on the World Heritage List. They are Jiuzhaigou, Huanglong, Mount Emei-Leshan Grand Buddha and Mount Qingcheng-Dujiangyan.

Despite brisk business throughout the rest of the year, Sichuan's tourism market used to be sluggish in winter. To offset the situation, Sichuan started hosting an annual ice and snow festival in 2001, when the First South China Ice and Snow Festival was held in Xiling Snow-Capped Mountain near Chengdu.

Ever since the province has witnessed a sharp rise in tourism earnings in winter.

With the main site of the Fourth South China Ice and Snow Festival in Jiuzhaigou, there are activities in another 29 sites including famous scenic spots such as the Xiling Snow-capped Mountain, Mount E'mei, Conch Gully, Longchi Nature Reserve and Mount Wanwu.

(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2003)