The wonderful sight of frost-covered trees and Manchu-style inns have helped people in a small village in Northeast China to get rich quick by developing their ice tourism industry.

Every winter, tourists and photography enthusiasts travel to Hantun village in the city of Jilin in Northeast China's Jilin province to see frost-covered trees - white ice crystals hanging off tree branches.

Hantun village is located on Tree Frost Island, an island in the Songhua River. Tree frost has become a popular attraction in the province in recent years and Hantun is considered one of the best locations to see and photograph.

Every December to February, steam rises above Songhua River and meets the cold air, forming white hoarfrost on the trees alongside the river where Hantun village is located, creating a winter wonderland.

Hu Yan, Party chief of Hantun village, said it was once heavily in debt, but since the tourism industry took off in 2013, it now welcomes 200,000 tourists every year, bringing changes and wealth to the local people.

Guan Xue, a woman from the Manchu ethnic group, runs an inn in Hantun village furnished with traditional style beds, boxes, decorated with old pictures and filled with steaming hot pot foods, all in the Manchu style.

She said the growing number of tourists has helped her business to flourish. Now, everyone in her family has seen their income grow five times to 50,000 yuan ($7,232) annually.

Every year, visitors from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia come to see the tree frost and experience Manchu culture at her house.

Kong Xianglin, another owner of a rural hotel, said: "Winter has been a busy season. Almost every family of the village could make 100,000 yuan."

Party chief Hu Yan said they would widen roads, improve the infrastructure of the village and encourage residents to give their hotels unique characteristics.

Hu said the number of hotels increased to 82 in 2015 from only 13 in 2013. However, only two new hotels opened last year.

"Hotels can already meet the needs of visitors. We expect no internal competition in the long run," he said. "We hope to maintain the good situation and ensure this growth is long term."

Now the village is developing entertainment projects related to ice and snow in cooperation with foreign investors, he said.

"Many tourists have no other entertainment or activities to participate in after seeing the tree frost," said Hu. "We not only want to attract tourists, but also to keep them coming back."

(China Daily 03/14/2017 page18)