Hong Kong
CNN
—
A local tourist attraction in southwestern China billing itself as a winter wonderland has landed in hot water after visitors seeking the perfect selfie discovered the promised “snow” was actually made of cotton wool and foamy water.
The Chengdu Snow Village project in Sichuan province—famous for spicy food and pandas—had sought to lure in tourists over the Lunar New Year holiday with promotional photos featuring thick layers of snow blanketing the roofs of log cabins.
But many visitors were left angry and disappointed after finding out the advertised “snow” turned out to be large sheets of cotton.
Photos posted online by disgruntled visitors showed wisps of cotton strewn across a greenish-brown field, or caught in the branches of small bushes.
The roof of one structure was blanketed in what looked like bedding material, with staple marks clearly visible.
The Snow Village issued an apology on social media, blaming the unusually warm weather in the region for the fiasco.
“In order to create a ‘snowy’ atmosphere the tourist village purchased cotton for the snow… but it did not achieve the expected effect, leaving a very bad impression on tourists who came to visit,” it said in a statement.
Refunds would be provided to unsatisfied visitors, the post added.
“Following the precedents of previous years, we typically have snow in winter. So we set up this spot for photoshoot in advance to wait for the snow to come,” a staff member told the state-run Global Times. “However, this year, the weather didn’t cooperate, and it didn’t snow.”
Images of the snow village can no longer be seen on their official social media channels. The village has since closed down and market regulation authorities are investigating the tourist attraction for suspected false advertising, Chengdu’s culture and tourism bureau said in a statement.
Last year was the warmest year on record in China, according to a government agency. The average temperature in Chengdu during January is typically anywhere between 37 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit (3 to 10 degrees Celsius).
Across the globe, many tourist attractions that depend on snow have been grappling with rising temperatures brought by climate change.
When Beijing hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics, climate variability forced the Games to be virtually 100% reliant on artificial snow.
This isn’t the first controversy in China over a tourist attraction that turned out to be not quite what was promised in the brochure.
Last year, a video appeared to show that a famous waterfall in a national park may have been artificially supplied by a water pipe.
Park authorities later said the waterfall in north-central Henan province had undergone “a tiny improvement during dry season” to cater for expectant tourists.
And, in the same year, a Chinese zoo admitted that its star attraction, two so-called pandas, were in fact just painted dogs.
