In this undated file photo taken in October 2019, skiers enjoy the snow at a resort in Chongli district in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province. (WU DIANSEN / CHINA DAILY)

When Zhang Xiaojun was young, he worked at a gold mine digging holes underground, a job others envied because such work could provide a stable income at the time.

Zhang is a villager at Qipanliang village in Chongli district, Zhangjiakou, in Hebei province. The district, which used to be a county, is about 150 kilometers northwest of Beijing.

Since the 1980s, Chongli has developed its economy mainly by relying on locally abundant resources of minerals such as gold, coal and iron.

When Zhang turned 50 this year, he began to worry more about his health.

"After working there for several years, I began to cough a lot. My family said it must have been caused by the pollutants at mines," Zhang recalled.

He said dust accompanied him every day on the job.

"My mask was clean when I started working each day and very dirty when I finished," he said.

Zhang quit the job for his own health.

Chongli wasn't always known for its mines.

The former county - covering about 2,300 square kilometers, more than 80 percent of which is mountain - had no big industries to support its economy, relying only on some traditional agricultural products. But the mountainous terrain and lengthy snow seasons restricted the development of large-scale agriculture.

The situation changed in 1985 when a villager found two pieces of ore with high gold content while he was herding sheep.

The discovery led to a series of geological surveys and explorations by local authorities, who found rich mineral resources in the county.

Since then, mines have sprung up all over the area.

By 2006, Chongli had 10 gold mining companies and 34 iron ore enterprises, which contributed as much as 75 percent of the county's annual revenue, according to the local government.

However, the mining business started to fade about 10 years later when the government realized exploring minerals would not be a sustainable method of development.

During the 2018-19 snow season, Chongli received over 2.8 million tourists and generated about 2 billion yuan (US$292 million) in revenue - up 68 percent and 75 percent, respectively, compared with the 2014-15 snow season

Though the mining industry had greatly contributed to the district's economy, it also brought in high energy consuming and high polluting companies, said Guo Yanwei, deputy head of the district's development and reform bureau.

People's lives improved, but the mountains and vegetation had been destroyed. Moreover, the businesses caused other problems including ground subsidence, slag accumulation and dust pollution.

"If it continued to go like this, what would our future generations rely on? We must transform and make ecology the top priority while finding a high-quality development method," Guo said.

Transformation to snow

After many investigations, Chongli turned a past disadvantage into an advantage－developing winter sports with its abundant snow resources.

The district has a yearly snowfall period of over 150 days, with the deepest snowpacks reaching 1 meter. In 1996, it welcomed Saibei, its first ski resort. Since then, the snow industry has replaced mining to become the pillar of the district's economy.

At the time, most tourists were from neighboring cities, including Beijing, Tianjin and other cities in Hebei.

Fueled by Beijing's successful bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Chongli－which, as a co-host, will hold most of the Games' snow-related events－has developed into one of the country's most popular destinations for skiing.

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The region now boasts seven large-scale ski resorts, with a total of 169 slopes totaling 162 kilometers, according to the district's publicity department.

During the 2018-19 snow season, which spanned from November to April, Chongli received over 2.8 million tourists and generated about 2 billion yuan (US$292 million) in revenue－up 68 percent and 75 percent, respectively, compared with the 2014-15 snow season.

Further, more convenient transportation from Beijing has made tourists more eager to come.

A Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway opened at the end of last year. It only takes one hour to travel from Qinghe Railway Station in Beijing's Haidian district to the Taizicheng Railway Station in Chongli. In the past, the journey could take more than three hours.

This year, the region's ski industry during the 2019-20 snow season was hit by the COVID-19 outbreak. All seven major ski resorts in Chongli suspended operations on Jan 28 and gradually resumed on Feb 26.

"The suspension greatly affected the ski industry and the region's economic development," said Wang Biao, Party secretary of Chongli district. According to the region's statistics bureau, Chongli's GDP for the first three months of the year dropped by 4.1 percent to 587 million yuan.

To help companies get through the difficult period, the local government has rolled out measures including the reduction of taxes.

Life improved

Last year, Chongli was removed from a list of poor areas that were key targets of the country's poverty alleviation work.

The flourishing snow business in the district has played an important role in the effort by creating jobs for locals.

Of its 126,000 residents, nearly 24 percent are involved in work related to the ski industry, including ski instructors, cleaners and equipment leasers.

Additionally, an increasing amount of talent with ties to the industry or with knowledge of management or tourism development are coming into the district.

Cao Wen, a resident of Yaoziwan village, has witnessed the whole process of the snow industry's emergence and has benefited from it. He was one of the earliest instructors that Saibei Ski Resort nurtured in the 1990s.

"At the time, no instructor from outside wanted to come to our poor county, so the ski resort picked up a dozen local young farmers and taught us how to ski," recalled Cao, 57.

After about a month, he became a training partner and then a formal coach.

"Back then, I could earn about 500 yuan a month, a high income at the time in our county," he said.

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With more and more tourists coming to Chongli to ski, Cao saw a business opportunity. He quit his coaching job and opened a family guest-house in his village in 2001.Eight years later, he opened a shop in downtown Chongli leasing ski equipment.

"Most of my family members are together running the shop," Cao said, adding they were earning about 300,000 yuan each year from the leasing business before the COVID-19 outbreak this year.

Now he is planning to do something else since skiers increasingly have started to buy their own equipment. In addition, such leasing shops have increased in the past few years, boosting competition and affecting his business.

"The snow business is developing and also changing, so it's time for me to figure out another way to get my share of the pie," Cao said.