The city of Changchun has in recent years become the heart and center of the development of X-Country skiing in China, by hosting the Vasaloppet China Week, an ever-growing event jointly organized by Nordic Ways, CSA and the City of Changchun. The first edition was held in 2003 and ever since the number of participants has been growing rapidly. For the 2012 10-year-anniversary thousands of skiers are expected to line up at the start in Jingyuetan Park on 2 January.
Situated in the heart of China’s Northeast, Changchun is the capital city of Jilin Province and the province’s political, economic, scientific and cultural center. It has also in the past years become the center for winter sports, hosting several large events, including World Cup competitions in ice skating, aerial and Cross Country skiing. In 2007, Changchun was the organizer of the Asian Winter Games and the second FIS Sprint World Cup ever to be held in China. Together with neighbouring Jilin City, Changchun will also host the China Winter Games starting immediately after the Vasaloppet China.
How to get to Changchun?
As capital of Jilin Province, Changchun is well-connected in Chinas aviation network. Longjia airport is located some 45km outside the city centre and hosts several daily flights from Beijing and Shanghai, as well as from other cities in northern and central China, such as Dalian and Nanjing. Convenient are the online operators E-Long and Ctrip for flight info and cheap reliable deals.
By train, Changchun is about 6 hours north of Dalian, and roughly the same north-east of Beijing. Harbin (Heilongjiang) and Shenyang (Liaoning) are the closest other provincial capitals.
Theres also long-distance busses from Beijing, which take about 13 hours.
