A photographic festival was held on the second day of the new year in the Kanasi Nature Reserve, known as the most alluring resort in northwest China's Xinjiang, as the reserve's winter scenery was opened for tourism for the first time.

Kanasi, whose name means "rich, beautiful and mysterious" in Mongolian, boasts pristine lakes, glaciers, forests and grasslands. The Kanasi Lake is also China's deepest alpine lake, reputed for mysterious lake creatures similar to "Nessies" in Scotland.

Chi Chongqing, an official from the Xinjiang regional tourist bureau said that the festival was held to draw photographic fans to catch the beautiful sceneries and cultures and life of locals in Kanasi, which would help promote tourism.

The reserve used to be open for tourism from June to October. Winter season lasts for seven months here, when the lowest temperature can reach 37 degree Celsius below zero.

However, with the convenient air travel directly to Kanansi and better facilitated tourist infrastructures, the reserve now has the condition to receive tourists in winter, said Chi.

Kanasi host 752,000 tourists from home and abroad in 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency January 2, 2009)