Edited by TANG Zhexiao

The Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games will be the start of a new era for winter sports worldwide, said International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach, ahead of the opening ceremony of Beijing 2022.

PHOTO: XINHUA

China has tried to boost its snow sport economy since winning the 2015 bid to hold the Winter Olympics in Beijing. As of January 2022,  more than 346 million Chinese people have engaged in winter sport，according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China.

As Bach said in the opening ceremony, China is a winter sport country, and the increased physical activity through winter sport is contributing to the health and well-being of the Chinese people.

Many people in Beijing have long enjoyed winter skating on rivers and lakes. Nowadays, young Chinese are expanding their aspirations from basketball, football and gymnastics to sports such as hockey and skiing.

 National Cross-Country Skiing Centre. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

Various programs have been launched to familiarize young generations with winter sports. By the end of 2021, almost 3,000 schools across the country had integrated winter sports into their curriculum, with theory-based classes and practical sessions.

The development of ski resorts and winter sports facilities has also soared over the last few years. In 2014, there were only 460 ski resorts in China. Currently, there are 803 indoor and outdoor ski resorts in China, with ski tracks setting to measure 3,500 kilometers and amount to 100 million square meters.

David Peng, a regular ice skater at Beijing’s Houhai Lake, said hosting the Olympics has improved China's winter sports infrastructure and boosted China's international influence.

Although China is a late comer to the winter sport market, it also has advantages and potential.

According to Little Red Book, a Chinese social media and e-commerce platform, one of the “Top 10 Life Trends in 2022” is skiing tutorials. The search volumes for this term have been more than two times of the number of the course in 2021.

The Chinese winter sports boom has many economic benefits and is directly impacting local residents. One in five residents in Chongli, district of Zhangjiakou City to host to biathlon, ski jumping, cross-country skiing and snowboard and freestyle during the Games, are employed in the snow sports industry.

The official data showed in the last snow season, Chongli received 2.462 million tourists, earning 2.02 billion yuan (about 320 million USD). All 12 poverty-stricken counties and districts in Zhangjiakou have been lifted out of poverty as of June 2021, including 939,000 people in 1,970 villages.

With igniting snow sports boom and fulfilling the goal to engage 300 million people in winter sports, Beijing 2022 will also mean a lot for winter sports beyond China, and change the global landscape of winter sports forever, according to the IOC president.