A local ski area in Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province.
To give you an example of the extent of interest in skiing in China, this is a local hill near Shijiazhuang (population 3.5 million), the capital of Hebei province. At best this region gets a few dustings of snow each winter. However, on a weekday in January, bus loads of novice skiers arrived to attack the hill. There are three side by side straight slopes, each a little higher than the one before it. However the highest is at best 150' of elevation. Each is serviced by 1 or two Poma lifts. There is a chair lift that goes to a higher slope, but it had not been used for some time as the area rarely sees experienced skiers and the cost of covering with snow making would be too expensive and would not sell any additional lift tickets.
There are lots of these ski slopes around the cities in China's north. Most are profitable, and are constantly adding to the numbers of Chinese skiers that will eventually be the base of a significant Chinese ski industry. However, unless you just want to see hordes of Chinese heading straight down ski slopes until they crash and burn, best to avoid these small hills.
