Changbai Mountain Snow·Meet at Winter Universiade
Southeast Asia Winter Resort Column (Episode 4)
From the snow-capped summit of Changbai Mountain to the lush tropical Penang, a snow-themed rendezvous across mountains and seas arrived as promised. On October 15, the exchange, forum and promotion seminar "Warm Invitation · Come to Jilin for Snow This Winter" was held in Penang, Malaysia. The Jilin cultural and tourism delegation gathered together with representatives and guests from local cultural and tourism authorities, tourism enterprises, Chinese community organisations and news media to jointly explore new opportunities in the ice-snow cultural tourism market and discuss new paths for mutual visitor exchange and industrial linkage.
Sun Guangzhi, Director-General of Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and Dato' Yeoh Soon Hin, Vice Chairman of Tourism Malaysia and Chairman of Penang Port Commission, attended the event and delivered speeches.
Sun Guangzhi, Director-General of Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, stated in her speech that Penang is known as the "Emerald of the Indian Ocean". Though separated by mountains and seas, Penang and Jilin boast complementary cultural and tourism resources. In 2025, the number of inbound tourists from Malaysia to Jilin rose by 31.5% year on year. Endowed with world-class powder snow resources, a sound ecological environment and diverse cultures, Jilin forms a strong complement to Malaysia’s tropical climate. The province is home to five national-level ski resorts, the highest number nationwide, and also ranks first in China for its top-tier ski facilities and largest reception capacity. This December and next January, Jilin will host the 10th Jilin Ice and Snow Industry Expo and the 33rd FISU World University Winter Games. A wide array of ice-and-snow tourism festivals and events will be rolled out across the province. She sincerely invited friends from all walks of life in Penang to experience a credible, lovable and respectable China, and discover a warm, fascinating and promising Jilin.
Dato' Yeoh Soon Hin, Vice Chairman of Tourism Malaysia and Chairman of the Penang Port Commission, welcomed the Jilin delegation, saying that tourism is a warm bond that connects the hearts of Malaysia and China. Visit Malaysia 2026 will extend to 2027, bringing new opportunities for bilateral cooperation. He noted that Jilin has a unique resource that attracts Malaysian tourists — snow. Family snow play, beginner skiing, snow-viewing photography, and leisure itineraries combining hot springs, cuisine, and cultural experiences are all worth jointly developing by industry players from both sides. He hoped that enterprises from both regions would work together to research routes, jointly promote them, and translate cooperation intentions into practical results.
Changbai Mountain is an ecological barrier of Northeast Asia and a calling card of Jilin Province's tourism. At the event, Changbai Mountain's tourism resources and products were promoted, and ten new internet-famous ways to enjoy the new snow season were launched. On the large screen, Changbai Mountain was covered in swirling snow, forming a striking visual contrast with the lush greenery of Penang outside the venue, drawing gasps of amazement from the audience.
Subsequently, Jilin Province's premium winter ice-and-snow tourism routes were promoted, offering the Penang market a rich and diverse range of ice-and-snow experience products including ice-and-snow sightseeing, folk custom experiences, and wellness vacations, providing Malaysian tourists with varied choices for traveling to Jilin.
Many local travel agents and media representatives took out their phones to photograph the screen materials and carefully noted the key points of the presentation. They expressed that tropical residents have a strong yearning for ice-and-snow experiences, and that Jilin's combination products of ice and snow, hot springs, and folk customs are highly aligned with local market demand.
Culture and tourism enterprises from Jilin and Penang held face-to-face discussions and exchanges. Participating culture and tourism practitioners conducted in-depth discussions on topics such as joint design of cross-border tourism routes, two-way group visitor delivery, joint brand promotion, and inbound tourist service guarantees. All parties fully exchanged views, sparked cooperation ideas, and focused on tapping the development potential of the two-way tourism market.
At the event, tourism enterprises from both regions signed cooperation agreements, officially opening a new chapter of practical culture and tourism cooperation featuring mutual visitor exchange, joint product promotion, and resource sharing.
"Next, we will include Jilin in the winter travel list for Southeast Asian tourists." After the meeting, many local culture and tourism enterprise representatives from Penang proactively approached the Jilin culture and tourism delegation to inquire in detail about inbound travel, product group organization, snow season promotional policies, and other specific matters, expressing strong interest in developing Jilin ice-and-snow themed tourism products.
Photo by Meng Fanying
The Jilin cultural and tourism delegation also held an in-depth small-scale discussion with Wong Hon Wai, Penang State Executive Councillor for Tourism and Creative Economy (State Tourism Minister), and his entourage, focusing on detailed discussions of new opportunities for cultural and tourism cooperation between the two regions. Wong Hon Wai proposed that the two sides could leverage their differentiated resources to build a tourism model featuring two-way mutual visits, with enormous cooperation potential in areas such as cross-border charter flights and visitor exchange.
When tropical expectations meet Jilin's ice and snow, this event was not only a precise promotion of Jilin culture and tourism to the Penang market, but also a pragmatic and efficient exchange and cooperation between culture and tourism colleagues from both regions. In the future, Jilin will continue to deepen regular exchanges with Malaysia, using ice and snow as a bond and culture as a bridge, continuously expanding new space for cross-border culture and tourism cooperation.
（Contributed to the Hong Kong Commercial Daily）
