CHANGCHUN, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Wang Fuqing, a 90-year-old man from the northeastern Chinese city of Changchun, could not have imagined that the seedlings planted by him for a water resource in the 1930s could have grown into Asia's top artificial forest.
In a similar way, Gavert Waag, a 70-year-old man from Sweden, could not have imagined that the Vasaloppet International Ski Festival started by him in the 1920s could have promoted the Changchun ice and snow industry's rapid development.
But this both were indeed the case. The Vasaloppet International Ski Festival moved 6,800 kilometers from Mura to Changchun, the capital of Jilin Province.
The decision was made by Waag 17 years ago when he first came to Changchun Jingyuetan and saw the specular man-made forest covering an area of 145 square kilometers.
After being held successfully 17 times in Changchun, Vasaloppet China has developed into a means for Changchun to host ice and snow sports and stimulate economic growth all while enhancing the cultural and economic life of the city.
During the Chinese New Year holiday, the beautiful forest in Jingyuetan attracts a large number of fitness enthusiasts.
"I like running here with such wonderful scenery," said marathon runner Yang Tian.
Running through the forest, Yang came upon a snow sculpture named "set sail."
"At the opening ceremony that year, the Swedish ambassador to China said that a new tradition was born," deputy general manager of Changchun Nordic Ways Ning Jun recalled.
Ning added few people knew cross-country skiing in China before Vasaloppet came to Changchun, which led to many problems at first.
Thanks to the Vasaloppet China, Li Geliang, the Asian cross-country skiing champion, said the skiers from different countries get more opportunities to compete.
"More importantly, it also stimulates people's enthusiasm to participate in skiing," Li said.
In the past 17 years, Vasaloppet China has been gradually expanded. In addition to the FIS's 50-kilometer points competition, the China tour tournament, 25-kilometer blueberry competition and the 2.5-kilometer mass skiing competition have also been added.
More and more college students have begun to attend the festival. Since 2005, the organizers have trained about 600,000 Changchun college students to study cross-country skiing for free.
In addition, Nordic mountain bike, hiking and other brand competitions are coming to China, making Jingyuetan a hot spot during all four seasons.
"Vasaloppet China not only created an internationally famous brand of ice and snow culture, but also became an important platform for Changchun's opening up and economic and trade exchanges and cooperation," Changchun vice mayor Jia Lina said.
This year, Changchun signed 16 international cooperation projects with 300 entrepreneurs from the United States, Sweden and other countries and regions in the fields of scientific and technological innovation, financial services, and cloud data, totaling 42.1 billion yuan in investment.
"What is more marvelous than this man-made forest is that Changchun's Vasa has surpassed Hokkaido and Minnesota in scale, as well as Mura," Waag said.
He believes more and more Chinese will participate in ice and snow sports with the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics just around the corner.
