There is a western-style hotel with 148 guest rooms, multifunction banquet facilities, meeting rooms with broadband internet access for up to 600, Chinese and western restaurants, a golf range, a health club, a sauna, bowling alleys, a grass-skiing slope, karting and karaoke.

Other attractions include a street with more than 20 shops offering handicrafts, regional specialties, knick-knacks and clothes. The main attractions are the hot spring pools, which will be positioned in a lush, tropical setting to be completed soon.

Forty hot spring pools are already open. Another 100 will open in August.

The resort's key draw - a 3,000 square km winter wonderland - will open on October 1. There will be more than 30 hot spring-fed pools, an ice rink, and indoor skiing on real snow.

'You will be able to see snow falling while soaking in a hot pool,' resort assistant general manager Lu Shengyou said.

If Jiangmen is home to more overseas Chinese than anywhere else in China, Taishan is home to more overseas Chinese than anywhere else in Jiangmen.

Taishan, with a land area of 3,286 square km, is the largest municipality in terms of area, comprising the city itself and a number of townships that are well worth a visit. One of them is Haiqiao Southeast Asian Gardens , inhabited by people who have returned from 13 countries in Southeast Asia. What sets this village apart is that its inhabitants continue to follow the customs of the countries they used to live in.

There are music and dance performances here every Saturday and Sunday at 3pm or by special arrangement (tel: 0750 574 3002).

With a coastline stretching more than 580km, Taishan offers countless beautiful beaches, many of which remain undiscovered.

The newly opened Haijiaocheng Tourist Holiday Centre (tel: 0750 527 9381), at Yutang Bay , is ideal if you want to get off the beaten track. The seafront is lined with low-rise hotels and outdoor restaurants. Enjoying seafood and beer while listening to the waves on a warm summer's evening here is nothing short of bliss.

Taishan has plenty to offer for active holidaymakers. Hikers can enjoy a walk up Beifeng Mountain (tel: 0750 595 0999), while water enthusiasts can enjoy the low-intensity river rafting at the nearby Beifeng Mountain Gorge Rapids (tel: 0750 595 0999). Another of Taishan's key attractions are the Upper and Lower Chuan islands. Both offer sandy beaches and a variety of guesthouses and smallish hotels with simple accommodation.

Upper Chuan Island is the place for history buffs. A Catholic Church built by Francis Xavier dates to 1552.

Lower Chuan Island, with its white sand beaches and palm trees, has been dubbed the Hawaii of the east. Ferries from the Shanzui pier (tel: 0750 538 1839), which can be reached by bus from the Taishan Bus Station, leave several times a day.