Horse racing is one of the many traditional sports at the ongoing "Nadam" Winter Fair celebrated by the Ewenki ethnic group in Ewenki Autonomous Banner, Inner Mongolia. Yu Changjun / for China Daily

The National Stadium, home to the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympic Games 2008, has been remade into a fairyland of white. Snow sculptures, mini ski slopes and skating rinks in the arena give visitors a different experience of the Bird's Nest. A 20-meter-high snow-covered mountain serves as the backdrop for a stage welcoming interactive shows twice a day and rock concerts during Spring Festival.

A woman and two girls show their excitement on Dec 17 at the newly opened Jurassic Ski Park in Karamay, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Zhou Jianling / for China Daily

But the excitement is not the monopoly of Northern China. Window of the World, a famous tourist site in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, has opened its own ice and snow carnival, a month-long fete that fascinates people in Southern China with a 2,400-square-meter skating rink and a 4,000-square-meter "ski resort". Its non-stop celebrations also include a grand parade of popular cartoon characters and New Year party.