Chapter 174 About Ski Town
"Ski resort?" Wang Min didn't expect Lin Ruoyan to mention this.
While Wang Min may have only developed a hotel in Hebei Province, he's actually connected with quite a few industry leaders through it. One of them, apparently from the food industry, was at the hotel for a separate meeting and actually discussed his ambition to operate a ski resort in Beijing. That's quite an impressive crossover.
This guy had visited a few small ski resorts in Beijing and was quite addicted to skiing. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any suitable locations in Beijing for a larger ski resort. The mountains weren't high enough, the weather wasn't cold enough, and the cost of making snow on flat land was prohibitive.
Wang Min even asked people at the time, since it was so difficult, why not go to the three northeastern provinces to build a ski resort, where there are mountains and snow, the land is cheap, and the labor cost is low.
The boss smiled and asked, "You live in Beijing. If you have time to go skiing, would you fly overseas or to the three northeastern provinces?"
"Those who have the money and time to fly will definitely choose more established ski resorts. Flying to the three northeastern provinces takes a while, and there aren't any particularly suitable flights. There might be ski resorts in the area, but you'll have to drive there, and the hotel services aren't as good as those abroad. So why bother?"
The boss nodded and said, "What if there's a place in Beijing where you can ski? You can drive there in two or three hours, which gives you a lot of flexibility."
"There seem to be a few smaller ski resorts in Jing City," Wang Min casually remarked. "Besides, why choose Jing City? There are actually places with mountains and snow in Ji Province to the north of Jing City."
The other party seemed to be thinking about something, and it was said that he had been traveling around several counties in the northern part of Hebei Province, looking for suitable hills to develop a ski resort.
However, without connections in Hebei Province, it's difficult to launch a project. Furthermore, the initial investment in a ski resort is high, and supporting hotel facilities and other facilities also need to keep pace. If there aren't any decent hotels in the area, the investment will increase exponentially.
Looking around, several counties in the north of Hebei Province are poorer than those in the south and east. The climate is cold, agriculture is not developing, and the tourism industry has no characteristics. It cannot compare with the endless grasslands of Inner Mongolia Province.
Wang Min couldn't help but ask, "So, Mr. Lin suggested building a ski resort and a hotel?"
"My suggestion is to consider building a ski town and introducing a complete ski industry. Not only should there be ski resorts, hotels, and apartments, but also factories to manufacture ski equipment, ski resort maintenance, training, and other industries."
Wang Min's spirits perked up. He'd recently read numerous industry planning reports, many of which mentioned skiing. He'd analyzed various industries and narrowed them down to those that were relevant to his current project. If skiing wasn't suitable here, then what about the counties to the north?
For example, in Chongl County, there are huge mountains that are blocked by snow for four or five months a year. In recent years, the only thing that can be done is tree planting and afforestation, and nothing else can be done.
However, it still takes four or five hours to drive from Beijing along the winding mountain road. The only trains seem to be green, and it takes an overnight trip to get there, so transportation is a bit difficult.
Lin Ruoyan carefully recalled the events in the book and forced the system to look through the original book for various information, and finally found one.
According to the original book, Wei Xu filmed a scene at a ski resort in Chongl County. It was his first time skiing, and in order to achieve authenticity, he insisted on not using a body double. He practiced hard for two months in advance and did not complain even though he was covered in bruises.
The heroine of the original book, Li Yiqi, cares about her boyfriend and visits him on set several times. Every time, she takes the trouble to ride the green sleeper overnight, leaving at night, arriving in the early morning, and then rushing to the ski resort.
Although this plot takes place in winter, the relationship between the male and female protagonists heats up rapidly, comparable to the height of summer. After filming was completed, Li Yiqi and Wei Xu would come to the ski resort every winter to relive the romance of the past.
According to the system, the ski resort has not been built yet. Does it have to wait for Wang Min to develop it?
Li Yiqi is now in country Y and will not be back in the short term. Wei Xu may have a lot of scenes to shoot in the next one or two years. Who will the scene at the ski resort take place with, or will it not happen at all?
After Lin Ruoyan and Wang Min finished talking about the ski town, she didn't take it too seriously. After all, she didn't understand ski resort design, and she had so many other projects on hand where she could spend money.
Unexpectedly, a week later, Wang Min came to visit Lin Ruoyan's company in Beijing.
Wang Min also brought a man named Li Li, who said he had selected a mountain in Chongl County, Hebei Province, and planned to open a large ski resort.
With Beijing as the center, within a radius of 300 kilometers, Chongl County is indeed the most suitable place for a ski resort.
There are 12 peaks with an altitude of more than 2,000 meters here. The cold wind from the plateau in Meng Province and the warm and humid air currents from the ocean collide here. It is easy to snow heavily starting from October every year, and the snow on the top of the mountain stays all year round.
The mountainous terrain and cold weather contribute to the region's inconvenient transportation and economic hardship. The only local food crop is buckwheat noodles, which yield around 200 yuan per mu. Many families rely on just five or six mu of meager farmland, leading to extreme poverty.
Wang Min said he and Li Li visited Chongl County and discovered that even in the 21st century, the town had only one main street. At night, it was completely dark, without even a traffic light. Garbage and wastewater dumped along the street formed barriers between the houses and the street, protecting the domesticated pigs from roaming the streets without concern for passing vehicles.
Li Li said: "The mountains are really good. I invited professional ski resort designers from abroad to take a look. They were very happy and felt that these mountains can be used to create a very rich variety of ski slopes, catering to everyone from beginners to advanced skiers. Perhaps this will become the largest ski resort in China.
Unfortunately, there's only one guesthouse in the county town. Even if the ski resort is to be built gradually, supporting facilities must be in place from the beginning. The current guesthouse is really not up to standard."
Li Li was the man who had initially discussed opening a ski resort with Wang Min. His business was in the food industry, but he had fallen in love with skiing and decided to invest in his own venture. However, after calculating the costs, he realized he didn't even have enough money to build a ski resort, let alone a hotel and other amenities.
In addition, the local road traffic is not very good. If we want to attract people from Beijing to go skiing and spend money, transportation is also a problem.
Wang Min heard Lin Ruoyan mention the ski town that day and was very interested in finding out more about it. He found Li Li and talked about the concept of the ski town, which immediately attracted Li Li.
He wanted to take over those mountains, but the concept of a ski resort alone was not enough to impress the county, let alone find support from the prefecture-level city.
The county residents thought it would be better to build a factory and develop some agricultural products in the mountains. This would at least take a few months to complete and immediately solve the problem of employment for the surplus labor force in the villages and towns. They had never even seen anything as high-end as skiing.
Li Li felt angry and amused. These people didn't know that they were guarding a gold mine. They only cared about the short-term benefits and didn't look at the long-term benefits that would come from the construction of the ski resort for decades.
If you add the concept of a ski town to the mix and mention industry, perhaps the province will even include road planning. To achieve prosperity, build roads first. To overcome difficulties and develop the economy of impoverished areas, whether building a factory or a ski resort, building roads is essential. It simply comes down to whether your project is compelling enough to warrant prioritizing road construction.
In the real world, the concept of ski towns and their supporting industries was nothing new; several similar projects had already opened across the country. The ski resorts in Chongl County were even well-known, even linked to the Winter Olympics. Lin Ruoyan's casual description opened up the future landscape for the two men.
The two grew happier as they listened, and sincerely invited Lin Ruoyan to join the project. Lin Ruoyan didn't agree immediately. She needed to review the costs and financials, and ensure that the monthly 100 million yuan wouldn't be overspent on new projects. She wanted to live longer in the book world.
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