Beijing's Shunyi district launches six winter routes featuring parent-child experience, fruit picking, health preservation, shopping and leisure to meet the needs of various visitors.[Photo by Yang Feiyue/China Daily]

Beijing's northwestern suburb draws weekend crowd in search of fun, games and learning during snow season

It doesn't seem so cold in Beijing's northwestern suburban district Shunyi as it did in mid December.

Green, yellow, red, white and black ski costumes spread the white snowfield at the district's Lianhuashan ski resort.

"We've been receiving an influx of guests, who mostly come on weekends since the chill set in," says a resort employee surnamed Xu.

The resort has upgraded all of its ski routes to satisfy the needs of skiers of all levels for the upcoming ski season.

Moreover, Lianhuashan has begun to offer night hours this year, and a children ski education zone has been established.

The resort is just one of many highlights visitors could explore in Shunyi this winter.

For those who don't have time to experience the abundant ice and snow in northern provinces like Heilongjiang and Jilin, or simply cringe at the severely cold temperatures there, Shunyi offers a happy medium.

The district kicked off two months of winter tourism activities on Dec 17, including hot springs and a folk culture park.

More than 600 special gifts with local significance are also being offered to winter vacationers.