Beijing's first snow prompts 'white' business opportunities

Beijing saw its first snow Friday, prompting "white" business opportunities on e-commerce platforms over the weekend.

Starting Friday night, online business vendors launched services including snow-writing and snowman-making, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Sunday.

Many of these, however, were removed by late afternoon Saturday, as vendors were worried the "snow services" could not be rendered, because the snow started melting at noon on Saturday.

Writing characters in snow and making snowmen, one vendor said, mainly targets consumers in southern provinces.

"It costs 5 yuan ($0.7) for writing within 10 characters and 0.5 yuan per character over 10," the vendor said.

Words written on snow can be shared with consumers via videos or photos, according to vendors. The whole process of writing can also be recorded to send to buyers. Popular requests include blessings and names of couples.

The price for making a snowman 10 centimeters high, on the other hand, costs 25 yuan.

Famous tourist spots like the Palace Museum or the Temple of Heaven are popular on the "menu" for filming writing characters in snow but special rates need to be discussed.

The capital saw 300,000 tourists over the weekend visiting to enjoy the snow in parks, up 50 percent compared with the week before according to the Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks.

Jingshan Park, on the north of Beijing's central axis, became the most popular spot for tourists to enjoy the scenes, the city's park management authorities said.

The Palace Museum also saw a flock of visitors for sightseeing tours, with its visitor flow reaching a peak of 80,000 people on Saturday.