Arxan: Inner Mongolia's winter wonderland (1/10)

The beautiful snowscape in Arxan, North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo by Bi Nan /chinadaily.com.cn]

Are you still used to huddling up indoors during the chilly winters? Well now you have another to consider. Pack a few warm outfits, and visit northern China, where you can dive into Mother Nature, as you will constantly remain impressed with what you see.

For our first stop, there's Arxan, a small city located on the Sino-Mongolian border, in the far northeastern corner of Inner Mongolia autonomous region. With only 8,000 residents in its urban district, locals refer to it as China's smallest city.

Arxan means "hot holy water" in the Mongolian language, and is located at the southwest part of the Greater Khingan Range, the country's largest virgin forest.

Nestled at a high latitude, the city has very long winters with hardly a summer season at all. It begins snowing in October, and the snow doesn't begin to melt until May the following year.

Bestowed by nature, Arxan has rich natural resources, such as beautiful snow, hot springs, wetlands, a virgin forest, canyons, along with various rivers and lakes.

Arxan is widely known as having some of the purest land on earth by world tourism experts due to the area's clean air and unspoiled environment. There are over 160 kinds of edible potherbs, featuring unique local delicacies.

Arxan is also called "China's Alps", and attracts a large number of ski lovers from around the world. Except for being the ideal ski resort, there are also many other winter sports you can take part in, like playing football on a snowfield or riding a motorcycle on the snow.