Communist Authorities Dislike Skiing?

Telegraph | News | Beijing's skiers feel heat from communists: "
Beijing's skiers feel heat from communists
By Richard Spencer
(Filed: 23/08/2005)
China's new moneyed classes have found a self-indulgent hobby to help them through the sweltering summer: skiing.
Beijing's cool set has been taking to the slopes on winter weekends for years as whole mountainsides are covered with artificial snow to compensate for a lack of the real stuff.
Now enthusiasts who cannot wait for winter can visit Qiaobo Ski and Snow World which opened this month as temperatures outside nudged 100F.
The capital's first indoor ski resort, named after Ye Qiaobo, China's ice-skating Olympic medal winner, is set in an enormous warehouse-like structure in the entirely flat northern suburbs. For just over £10 an hour, patrons can snowplough their way down one of two slopes then repair for some apres-ski to its bars, massage center or karaoke room.
But a cloud has appeared over Qiaobo's man-made mountain. Communist Party leaders, shocked at the western extravagance that skiing represents, are reported to be considering a ban on further resorts."

Is It About Freedom Or Water?

Or is it about money? The report goes on to say:

"A stern article in the party's mouthpiece, the China Daily, suggested that converting water into snow for the rich was at odds with official policy of conserving it for farmers and industry.
Northern China has a third of the country's population but only six per cent of its water.
While water goes up the snow machines' spouts, the government is spending billions of dollars on a scheme to divert supplies north from the Yangtse.
Offices, hotels and even the Great Hall of the People have been told to save energy by keeping air conditioning to 77F. But inside Qiaobo temperatures are set to 27F. As with everything else in China, the rise of skiing has been rapid. The first resort opened only 10 years ago and the first in the mountains near Beijing in 1999.
There are now said to be more than three million people nationwide who have tried the sport. The really fashionable have taken up snowboarding to stay ahead."

With envoronmental issues such as global warming, is this something for all to consider concerning resource utilization?
Why not encourage the wealthy Chinese to travel to New Zealand and Australia?
Let them visit the southern hemisphere for summer heat relief...
...but at what cost?
This is too technical an issue for many who simply love the freedom of skiing. I guess they can spend billions "on a scheme" to pump water and keep the populous in-country.

Hey, it's summer up north... I keep the AC at 80 F and swim or beach bum if necessary. And I prefer lemon-aide. What's wrong with that?

Gary
Ski Craze