Jilin gears up for New Year with wealth of activities offering winter fun

Fishing, hot springs and a giant corn on the cob are just a few of the fun and exciting treats in store for visitors during the chilly season

With New Year's Day right around the corner, Northeast China's Jilin province is hoping to wow winter vacationers with its traditional winter fishing festival, natural hot springs and amazing snow scenery in rural areas.

Winter fishing

The 18th Chagan Lake Winter Fishing Festival will get underway on Dec 28, running through to Feb 28. A total of 19 activities, including a marathon and a dragon boat competition around and on the ice-covered Chagan Lake, will enable visitors to learn about local folk culture and experience winter sports. A giant marketplace will also be set up on the lake for tourists to buy goods for Spring Festival.

In 2018, the 17th Chagan Lake Winter Fishing Festival attracted 130,000 tourists to its opening ceremony. There were more than 1.7 million visits to the festival last year, bringing in tourism revenue of 1.5 billion yuan ($214.04 million).

Chagan Lake is one of the top 10 largest freshwater lakes in China covering more than 500 square kilometers. The name Chagan, Mongolian in origin, means sacred, white or pure. So the lake is sometimes referred to as Holy Water Lake.