A forest of Euphrates poplar trees in Inner Mongolia's Ejine Banner was covered by snow on Monday. (Photo: chinadaily.com.cn)

The first snow of 2022 fell at Ejine Banner in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Monday during the Laba Festival — also known as the Rice Porridge Festival.

Located in the western part of the region, Ejine Banner has a population of 35,000 spread over 110,000 square kilometers. It also has one of China's largest natural forest reserves of Euphrates poplar trees (Populus euphratica) — members of the willow family. The other concentration of the species is in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.