Ice and snow are also mountains of gold and silver. In order to drive the development of the entire industry chain of ice and snow culture, ice and snow equipment, and ice and snow tourism, and promote the ice and snow economy as a new growth point, the General Office of the State Council recently officially issued the "Several Opinions on Stimulating the Vitality of Ice and Snow Economy through High quality Development of Ice and Snow Sports" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), which clearly proposes to strengthen the guarantee of ice and snow economic elements and increase financial support. Industry insiders say that this is the first policy proposed to provide financial support for the development of the ice and snow economy, which is of great significance in solving the problems of difficult and expensive financing for ice and snow enterprises. The Opinion proposes to encourage financial institutions to innovate financial products, increase credit allocation to ice and snow enterprises, optimize credit processes such as rating, credit granting, approval, and post loan management, under the premise of legal compliance and controllable risks. Further expand financing channels, support eligible ice and snow enterprises to go public and refinancing, issue bonds, and securitize assets. Encourage places with conditions to effectively reduce the financing costs of ice and snow enterprises through loan interest subsidies, policy guarantees, risk compensation, and other methods. The market size continues to expand. Currently, China's ice and snow industry is in a rapid development stage, with the market size continuing to expand, consumer demand becoming increasingly diversified, and the industrial chain becoming more complete. The Research Report on the Development of China's Ice and Snow Industry (2024) shows that since 2015, the scale of China's ice and snow industry has achieved significant growth, rapidly expanding from an initial 270 billion yuan to 890 billion yuan in 2023. It is expected that the industrial scale will reach 970 billion yuan in 2024, and is expected to exceed the trillion yuan mark by 2025. Driven by the strong demand for ice and snow consumption, hot trends such as "Erbin fever" and "skiing fever" have spread throughout the country, and the development of ice and snow economy has formed a broad consensus in society. The Opinion proposes development goals in stages. By 2027, ice and snow sports facilities will be more complete, service levels will be significantly improved, ice and snow sports will be more widely promoted, and the total scale of ice and snow economy will reach 1.2 trillion yuan. By 2030, the main industrial chain of the ice and snow economy will achieve high-level coordinated and integrated development, and ice and snow consumption will become an important growth point for expanding domestic demand. The total scale of the ice and snow economy will reach 1.5 trillion yuan. In order to truly turn "cold resources" into "hot industries", in recent years, financial institutions have vigorously supported core enterprises in the ice and snow industry and continued to increase credit funding. Heilongjiang, as a province with abundant ice and snow resources, is one of the important birthplaces of the ice and snow economy. At the recent investment and financing docking event for the cultural and tourism industry in Heilongjiang Province, the Department of Culture and Tourism of Heilongjiang Province signed strategic agreements with 12 banking institutions, and 8 banking institutions signed cultural and tourism credit agreements with cultural and tourism enterprises, with a credit amount of 2.13 billion yuan. The main venue and sub venues reached an annual financing intention of over 5 billion yuan. Industry insiders believe that while the ice and snow economy is developing rapidly, it also faces many pain points that urgently need to be resolved. For example, seasonal restrictions result in short operating cycles, low utilization of non snow facilities, overcrowding on weekends and holidays affecting consumer quality and service efficiency, and insufficient collateral leading to financing difficulties. Harbin Polar Museum is the largest polar theme park in China. A few years ago, the epidemic seriously affected the number of tourists visiting, leading to a decline in income. However, fixed expenses such as labor costs, utilities, and animal feed still need to be maintained, which makes the company's funds very tight. After understanding the difficulties and needs of the enterprise, Industrial Bank Harbin Branch conducted in-depth analysis of the actual situation of the enterprise and took the lead in using "biological assets" such as dolphins and beluga whales as credit enhancement measures to grant credit to the Polar Pavilion, fully activating the enterprise's assets and helping the enterprise to obtain financing smoothly. At the same time, considering that the industry to which Harbin Polar Pavilion belongs falls within the scope of approval and authorization of Industrial Bank's head office, Harbin Branch actively utilized the national equipment renewal and renovation loan policy to apply for the independent approval authority of Harbin Polar Pavilion from the head office, and finally successfully approved a fixed asset loan of 30 million yuan and a working capital loan of 10 million yuan through the green channel. The full chain of equipment and equipment is the foundation for carrying out ice and snow sports, and it is also an important component of the ice and snow economy. Ice and snow equipment not only includes equipment for mass sports such as ski goggles, ski suits, ski shoes, but also includes competitive sports equipment, field equipment, etc. Specifically, competitive sports equipment includes high-speed catapult systems for training, snowmobiles for competition, and field equipment such as snow making machines and snow rollers. After years of development, China has formed a product system of 15 major categories of ice and snow equipment, basically realizing the entire industry chain of ice and snow equipment from head to toe, from individuals to venues, from competitive competitions to mass sports. The number of enterprises has increased from about 300 in 2015 to around 900 in 2023, and sales revenue has grown from less than 5 billion yuan in 2015 to about 22 billion yuan in 2023. In addition, ice and snow equipment has also shown increasing technological elements in recent years. Hao Lishun, the head of the Equipment Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated at a recent State Council policy briefing that new technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality are becoming powerful engines for promoting the high-quality development of ice and snow equipment, giving birth to many new products and models, and providing ice and snow sports enthusiasts with a better sports experience. For example, VR simulated skiing machines use virtual reality technology to simulate real skiing scenes, allowing them to experience colorful and cool skiing experiences without leaving their homes. The recently released PwC Global Sports Industry Survey (8th issue) China Report shows that China's sports industry not only maintains stable growth in traditional fields, but also demonstrates enormous potential in emerging fields such as virtual sports and outdoor sports. Ice and snow services have always been more warm. With favorable geographical location and climate conditions, the Northeast region has become one of the main development areas for ice and snow sports in China. The 9th Asian Winter Games (hereinafter referred to as the "Asian Winter Games") will be held in Harbin in February next year, and the 15th National Winter Games will also be held in Liaoning in 2028. The preparation and hosting of these two comprehensive winter sports events will once again ignite a wave of ice and snow sports, effectively stimulating the vitality of the ice and snow economy. Financial services are an important support for the development of the ice and snow economy. The reporter learned that in order to welcome the arrival of the Asian Winter Games, the Agricultural Bank of China Harbin Shangzhi Branch has deployed 75 merchant POS machines, 6 deposit and withdrawal all-in-one machines, 4 manual foreign currency exchange points, and opened financial convenience stores around the Yabuli Scenic Area, a ski resort for the Asian Winter Games. Starting from the most commonly used service links such as account services, foreign currency exchange, and "zero wallet" distribution, the Agricultural Bank of China Harbin Branch continuously optimizes the payment environment layout of all business outlets in its jurisdiction. Although ice and snow sports have high appeal and participation, their high risk cannot be ignored. Industry insiders believe that in ice and snow sports, the probability of accidents such as falls, collisions, and equipment damage is not small, and insurance plays a particularly important role in this process. At present, China's insurance industry has made many explorations and practices in safeguarding the ice and snow economy. Developing ice and snow sports insurance is both a responsibility and a business opportunity. To safeguard the "national ice and snow fever", PICC Property&Casualty Insurance has launched products such as "Ice and Snow Travel Insurance", "Domestic Travel Insurance", "Ice and Snow Good Luck Insurance", and Ski Resort Public Liability Insurance, allowing people to enjoy ice and snow sports safely and happily. The relevant person in charge of PICC Property and Casualty Insurance stated that they will continue to innovate ice and snow insurance products and protection services in the future, contributing to accelerating the construction of a modern ice and snow industry system and a trillion dollar ice and snow market with unlimited "heat" power. Not only ice and snow sports, but also ice and snow tourism, with the protection of insurance, has attracted more tourists to embark on ice and snow journeys. In early 2024, PICC Property&Casualty Insurance and Harbin Tourism Bureau jointly launched the "Harbin Ice and Snow Safe Tour" series of insurance coverage, providing insurance protection for out of province tourists during the peak season of ice and snow tourism in the main urban area of Harbin in case of sudden public crowding, trampling, public food safety incidents, and public transportation accidents. At the same time, various financial institutions are also continuously improving their ability to serve the real economy, helping to stimulate the vitality of ice and snow consumption. For example, the Sports Bureau of Heilongjiang Province and the Harbin Branch of Industrial Bank jointly issued "Ice and Snow Sports" credit cards and debit cards to meet the diverse card needs of different ice and snow enthusiasts, promote cultural and tourism consumption, and support the development of the ice and snow economy industry. As of the end of November this year, Industrial Bank Harbin Branch has issued nearly 120000 "Ice and Snow Sports" themed bank cards. Lou Feipeng, a researcher at China Postal Savings Bank, believes that in optimizing payment and settlement services, the banking industry can try to innovate payment and settlement methods based on the payment and settlement needs of the ice and snow economy, such as issuing co branded cards and using specialized products to attract customers to experience relevant payment and settlement services. We should also rely on the development of digital finance, provide online payment and settlement services, and promote the digital and intelligent development of the ice and snow industry. In addition, it is necessary to summarize the pilot experience of digital RMB in the Winter Olympics scenario and actively participate in promoting the promotion and use of digital RMB in the field of ice and snow economy. (New Society)