Saibei Ski Resort (Old Saibei)

History

Saibei Ski Resort - commonly called “Old Saibei” - was the first ski resort in Chongli and is widely described in Chinese official and major-media sources as China’s first privately operated ski resort. Construction began in late 1996 at Xiqueliang (Magpie Ridge), with formal opening on New Year’s Day 1997. Its original proposition was unusually simple: natural snow, wooded mountain terrain, second-hand equipment, improvised birch structures and vehicle uplift. It became a formative venue for Beijing’s first generation of recreational skiers and a catalyst for the later ski-resort cluster that transformed Chongli into a principal Chinese winter-sports destination.

Historical descriptions place Saibei on the north side of Xiqueliang (Magpie Ridge) in the Sitaizui area of Chongli. CCTV’s operating-era profile gave an elevation range of about 1,600-2,000 m, a site area of roughly 10 km² and forest coverage of about 60%. It described an open, relatively gentle mountain landform at the transition between the North China Plain and the Inner Mongolian plateau.

The resort’s early identity was inseparable from natural snow. Historical accounts describe winter as long and cold, with natural-snow skiing commonly available from late November to late March - around 120 days in the resort’s own period marketing. Later regional sources describe Chongli more broadly as having roughly 150 days of snow cover / ski season in favourable years; the difference is a useful reminder that regional climate figures should not be retroactively treated as an Old Saibei operating guarantee.

Old Saibei evolved from a highly informal natural-snow environment into a more conventional ski area. The first winter was closer to guided mountain skiing than a modern groomed resort: trees were cleared to create lines, roots and uneven ground remained, snow was manually redistributed, and riders were returned uphill by horses, farm vehicles or later jeeps. This “wild snow” quality became part of Saibei’s culture and differentiated it from the narrow artificial-snow strips that later appeared closer to Beijing.

By the period represented in CCTV’s tourism profile, Saibei advertised multiple beginner, intermediate and advanced pistes totalling nearly 7 km. It also advertised specialised zones for children, night skiing, ski jumping, large-group skiing, snow tubing, sledding and cross-country skiing. Some routes were described as suitable for higher-level athlete training and competition.

A critical distinction is required between Old Saibei and the neighbouring / successor-era Duolemeidi Mountain Resort. The Italian cooperation introduced modern Leitner infrastructure in the same Xiqueliang area, and Skiresort.com still records lift names containing “Saibei” under Duolemeidi. Those records include a 2006 six-seat detachable chairlift and two 2008 J-bars. They are valuable evidence of the redevelopment lineage, but they are not automatically the technical specifications of the rusting fixed-grip chairlift documented at the abandoned Old Saibei site in 2019. The latter is reported as completed in 2007 and effectively used for only one further winter before closure.

Saibei’s built environment developed incrementally. The first “base lodge” facilities were essentially birch-wood huts built from local materials for equipment storage, warmth and rest. The White Birch Lodge (Baihua Shanzhuang) later became the emblematic accommodation component. Historical tourism material also describes the Snowman building / lodge, four villas and multiple dining areas.

Accommodation: CCTV described accommodation for more than 300 people; peak oral-history accounts describe 250 nominal beds accommodating 350+ guests at peak demand.
Dining: Self-service, a-la-carte, fast-food and “Snow Island” dining facilities; CCTV advertised about 500 dining capacity.
Rental equipment: More than 1,000 sets of imported ski equipment plus children’s equipment and ski clothing in the later operating period.
Ski school / coaching: Elite athletes and veteran coaches were involved. The resort became an early recreational-ski teaching hub for Beijing visitors and local Chongli residents.
Snow / mountain fleet: Snow guns, snowmobiles, snow-moving / grooming equipment and tracked vehicles were listed in operating-era promotional material.
Water: A 2019 field report states Old Saibei never obtained a permanent piped-water connection and trucked water uphill.
Insurance / safety: Historical CCTV material advertised patrol, protected hazard sections and visitor accident insurance; these were period claims, not current certifications.

Saibei emerged at a very specific transition point in Chinese winter sport. Competitive skiing had a much longer history in the northeast: China’s first national ski games were held at Tonghua, Jilin, in 1957. Yet by the mid-1990s, skiing outside the northeast remained obscure to the mass market. Shan Zhaojian - China’s first national ski champion and later a senior ski administrator - advocated finding a mass-participation ski area near Beijing. Chongli’s elevation, winter climate, terrain and proximity to the capital made it strategically unusual.

Founder Guo Jing visited Chongli with Shan and local contacts in 1996. After returning in early winter and seeing more than 10 cm of natural snow at Xiqueliang while Beijing was still comparatively mild, Guo committed private funds. China Ski Association support provided technical expertise and second-hand ski equipment. Within weeks, workers cleared slopes and built local birch shelters. Where snow cover was inadequate, villagers were reportedly paid 0.5 yuan per bag to carry snow onto the 300 m starter piste.

The formal opening on 1 January 1997 is exceptionally well corroborated across independent sources. Early advertising in Beijing used newspapers and pagers. Visitors endured a journey of around seven hours, paid prices that were high relative to contemporary incomes and accepted rudimentary facilities, yet returned because the experience - natural snow, forested terrain, speed and novelty - was unavailable elsewhere near the capital.

Around 2000 Saibei reached its strongest period of popularity. Founder and visitor recollections describe special trains capable of bringing very large groups, base accommodation operating beyond nominal capacity and roads blocked by ski traffic. A 2019 retrospective records 359 people sleeping in a resort with 250 beds during the 2000 Spring Festival period.

The cultural impact was greater than the physical resort. National-level athletes and coaches taught there; local villagers learned skiing and became instructors; Beijing outdoor-sports enthusiasts formed networks; and some visitors later invested in resorts or ski businesses. That is why retrospective accounts repeatedly frame Saibei not merely as a failed resort but as an incubator of China’s emerging commercial ski culture.

A particularly significant chain of influence involved Luo Li, later associated with Wanlong. Historical accounts say he skied at Saibei, disliked the time spent waiting for vehicle uplift, and later used a dedicated vehicle to explore Chongli during the SARS-affected 2003 period. He selected Honghualiang and developed Wanlong - the resort that would then become Saibei’s most consequential local competitor.

The competitive environment changed quickly. In 1999 Shijinglong near Beijing became an early Chinese resort built around artificial snow, improving reliability and accessibility for the capital market. From 2003, Wanlong brought dramatically greater capital investment, purpose-built pistes and modern guest facilities directly into Chongli. The first-mover advantage of Saibei - natural snow and novelty - became insufficient as consumers began to compare lift speed, snow quality, base services and accommodation standards.

In 2006, a major China-Italy project was announced for Xiqueliang. A Hebei Daily report carried by Sina described a planned three-party project between Chongli government, Saibei-related interests and an Italian investor group including Leitner and Dolomiti interests. The published masterplan was ambitious: a first stage of EUR 25 million over five years, 15 pistes exceeding 20 km, six lifts, extensive accommodation and resort services, with an overall proposed investment stated as EUR 100 million.

The partnership unquestionably modernised the technical vocabulary of the site - modern lift engineering, snowmaking and European resort-planning concepts entered the Chongli market. But oral-history sources describe a severe mismatch between the imported operating model and contemporary Chinese consumer behaviour. The founder stated that the Italian side ultimately lost more than RMB 100 million. Whether every figure in these retrospective recollections can be independently audited, the direction of evidence is consistent: the partnership failed to restore Old Saibei to sustainable operation.

The most specific closure chronology located is the 2019 “Once Upon a Time in Sai Bei” field report: it states that the resort formally opened on 1 January 1997 and stopped operating in winter 2008, with no subsequent normal public reopening. It also says the fixed-grip chairlift had been completed in 2007. China ENFI / China Minmetals independently records “Zhangjiakou Saibei Ski Resort II Ropeway” as a 2-person chairlift, 747 m long with 192.5 m vertical rise and 600 p/h capacity, completed in October 2007. Together, these records indicate that the new chair installation was effectively stranded after a very short operating life.

The 2022 Story FM / The World of Chinese oral history is slightly different in wording rather than necessarily contradictory in substance. Founder Guo Jing said that as losses mounted he temporarily closed Old Saibei and only occasionally opened it to sell lift tickets for Dolomiti, a pattern that continued to 2013. The most coherent interpretation is therefore: 2008 = cessation of normal public ski-area operations; 2008-2013 = intermittent ancillary / neighbouring-resort activity; 2013 onward = fully dormant Old Saibei.

Competitive displacement: modern snowmaking resorts near Beijing reduced Saibei’s unique access to skiable snow.
Local capital escalation: Wanlong and later Chongli projects reset the expected quality of lifts, grooming, accommodation and service.
Infrastructure lag: vehicle uplift remained a major feature into the early 2000s; the later chairlift arrived very late relative to competitors.
Operational constraints: historical field reporting records no permanent piped water to Old Saibei, requiring trucked supply.
Financial burden: the resort reportedly carried nearly RMB 10 million of debt after closure; the Italian partnership generated substantial losses.
Market-model mismatch: the European resort concepts introduced through the partnership did not fully match the expectations and rental-heavy behaviour of the Chinese beginner market at that time.

By 2019, field photography documented empty and deteriorating resort buildings, an unfinished apartment block, an abandoned snow gun, a rusting chairlift terminal, suspended chairs and overgrown former access routes. The report described the old lift as increasingly unusual because modern Chongli resorts had moved to detachable technology.

The 2022 oral history reinforces the same condition close to the Beijing Winter Olympics: tall weeds blocked the route below the former White Birch Lodge, stonework and terraces were deteriorating, and old snowmaking, lift, grooming and mountain-vehicle equipment remained. The founder described Old Saibei as “sleeping,” and expressed a wish to build a monument / museum marking Chongli’s ski origins.

Current online travel listings continue to mark the attraction as permanently closed. This is useful as a present-status indicator but should not replace the stronger historical evidence for the actual closure chronology.

Saibei’s historical importance is best understood as a bridge between China’s state-centred competitive skiing tradition and the later consumer ski-resort economy. China held its first national ski games in 1957 at Tonghua, but the sport remained concentrated in the northeast and oriented heavily toward training and competition. By the mid-1990s, officials and ski veterans were explicitly looking for a mass-participation site near Beijing.

Saibei supplied the first practical demonstration that people from the capital would travel, pay and repeatedly return for recreational skiing. That demand signal mattered. It helped justify later private and institutional investment in Chongli; it provided local residents with new winter employment; and it exposed entrepreneurs to both the possibilities and shortcomings of the first-generation model.

The sequence after Saibei is now central to Chongli’s development narrative: Wanlong (2003), Changchengling (mid-2000s), the Italian-backed Duolemeidi project (2006), later Genting and other large resorts, followed by the 2015 Olympic award and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. By the Olympic period, official sources described Chongli as a major concentration of large ski resorts and more than 160 km of pistes. The contrast is stark: the abandoned valley of Old Saibei sits within the same district whose ski infrastructure and tourism economy it helped initiate.

Its significance is not that it was the largest, highest or most technically advanced resort; it is that it represents the moment China’s recreational ski market moved beyond the northeast and began to organise around the Beijing consumer base. Its physical obsolescence is therefore part of the historical story rather than a contradiction of it.

Founder Guo Jing on post-closure dormancy: “Let Old Saibei sleep for now—it may rise again in the future.”

Lift history:

Earliest operation (1997): no chairlift. Skiers were taken uphill by horse-drawn sleds, agricultural three-wheel vehicles, vans / utility vehicles and later Beijing 212 jeeps. By around 2002: oral history still describes Saibei as lacking chairlift uplift; queuing for vehicle shuttles was sufficiently inconvenient that future Wanlong investor Luo Li arranged a dedicated vehicle for his visits.

Later surface uplift: historical retellings refer to drag / tow uplift being added, although a complete manufacturer, year and line specification has not been located in the sources reviewed.

Lifts

Sources and further reading

• https://www.theworldofchinese.com/2022/02/vanished-mountain-zhangjiakous-first-ski-resort/
• https://www.xgame.org.cn/xfeature/8639.html
• https://www.skiresort.info/ski-resort/duolemeidi-mountain-resort-chongli/ski-lifts/
• http://www.xiongan.gov.cn/2022-01/13/c_1211528040.htm
• http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/html/2017-07/31/content_1794536.htm
• https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/91745626
• https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_16632071
• https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_16573785
• https://www.huxiu.com/article/496702.html
• http://travel.people.com.cn/n/2014/0707/c386367-25249425.html

Location

40.8411, 115.3626