China Snow Village Apologizes for Fake Cotton Snow 

People walk along a street in Beijing, China, 16 February 2025. (EPA) 
People walk along a street in Beijing, China, 16 February 2025. (EPA) 
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China Snow Village Apologizes for Fake Cotton Snow 

People walk along a street in Beijing, China, 16 February 2025. (EPA) 
People walk along a street in Beijing, China, 16 February 2025. (EPA) 

A tourist village in China's southwestern province of Sichuan famed for its scenic snow landscape said it was sorry for using cotton wool and soapy water to create fake snow after online criticism from visitors went viral.

In a post on its official Wechat account on February 8, the Chengdu Snow Village project said during the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of January, the weather was warm and the snow village did not take shape as anticipated.

China is facing hotter and longer heat waves and more frequent and unpredictable heavy rain as a result of climate change, the country's weather bureau has warned.

"In order to create a 'snowy' atmosphere the tourist village purchased cotton for the snow...but it did not achieve the expected effect, leaving a very bad impression on tourists who came to visit," the Chengdu Snow Village project said in the statement.

After receiving feedback from the majority of netizens, the tourist area began to clean up all the snow cotton.

The village said it "deeply apologizes" for the changes and that tourists could get a refund. The site has since been closed.

Photos on Wechat showed large cotton wool sheets strewn about the grounds, only partially covering leafy areas. A thick snow layer appeared to blanket the houses in the zone but as you got closer, it was all cotton, said one netizen.

"A snow village without snow," said another user.

"In today's age of well-developed Internet, scenic spots must advertise truthfully and avoid deception or false advertising, otherwise they will only shoot themselves in the foot."



Spain Says April Blackout Was Caused by Grid Failures and Poor Planning, Not a Cyberattack 

This photograph shows a general view of Barcelona at night, partially without electricity, with the Sagrada Familia seen on the right, following a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France, on April 28, 2025. (AFP) 
This photograph shows a general view of Barcelona at night, partially without electricity, with the Sagrada Familia seen on the right, following a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France, on April 28, 2025. (AFP) 
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Spain Says April Blackout Was Caused by Grid Failures and Poor Planning, Not a Cyberattack 

This photograph shows a general view of Barcelona at night, partially without electricity, with the Sagrada Familia seen on the right, following a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France, on April 28, 2025. (AFP) 
This photograph shows a general view of Barcelona at night, partially without electricity, with the Sagrada Familia seen on the right, following a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France, on April 28, 2025. (AFP) 

Spain's government said Tuesday that the massive April power outage across Spain and Portugal that left tens of millions of people disconnected in seconds was caused by technical and planning errors that left the grid unable to handle a surge in voltage.

Ecological Transition Minister Sara Aagesen, who manages the nation's energy policy, told reporters that a voltage surge led to small grid failures, mainly in the south of Spain, which then cascaded to larger ones and brought the system down in the two Iberian Peninsula nations.

She ruled out that the failure was due to a cyberattack.

The outage began shortly after noon on April 28 in Spain and lasted through nightfall, disrupting businesses, transit systems, cellular networks, internet connectivity and other critical infrastructure. Spain lost 15 gigawatts of electricity, or about 60% of its supply. Portugal, whose grid is connected to Spain's, also went down. Only the countries' island territories were spared.

“All of this happened in 12 seconds, with most of the power loss happening in just five seconds,” Aagesen said.

Several technical causes contributed to the event, including “poor planning” by Spain's grid operator Red Eléctrica, which didn’t find a replacement for one power plant that was supposed to help balance power fluctuations, the minister said.

She also said that some power plants that utilities shut off preventively when the disruptions started could have stayed online to help manage the system.

Power was fully restored by the early hours of the following day.

The government's report included analysis from Spain's national security agencies, which concluded, according to the minister, there were no indications of cyber-sabotage by foreign actors.

The government had previously narrowed down the source of the outage to three power plants that tripped in southern Spain.

In the weeks following the blackout, citizens and experts were left wondering what triggered the event in a region not known for power cuts. The outage ignited a fierce debate about whether Spain's high levels of renewable power and not enough energy generated from nuclear or gas-fired power plants had something to do with the grid failing, which the government has repeatedly denied.

Spain is at the forefront of Europe's transition to renewable energy, having generated nearly 57% of its electricity in 2024 from renewable energy sources like wind, hydropower and solar. The country is also phasing out its nuclear plants.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pushed back against such speculation and defended the country's rapid ramping up of renewables. He asked for patience and said that his government would not “deviate a single millimeter” from its energy transition plans, which include a goal of generating 81% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.