Artistry on Ice celebrates love on ice

On June 12, Artistry on Ice will come to Beijing for the third time, dazzling audiences with its amazing fashion, entertainment and sport. Under the theme of Red Temptation, people will be able to witness the great visual show that combines elements from both China and the West.

People can also enjoy amazing performances from Olympic gold medalist couple Zhao Hongbo and Shen Xue, who are marking the anniversary of when they first met at the events this June.　

It was in June 20 years ago that they first held hands in the rink and from then on embarked on a journey of love both on and off the ice. "That was in Harbin. The instructor introduced me to four young girls, who performed in front of me, and Shen was chosen," Zhao recalled. He frankly admitted that Shen was not that outstanding at the time. Shen though looked at Zhao with both admiration and respect, since Zhao had won many high profile competitions. He couldn't remember exactly why he chose to skate with Shen back then, but their hands have never separated from each other since.

In order to celebrate the anniversary of their first performance, on top of skating performances, they have created a song called "Twenty Years of Us." One of their fans made a video with a collection of their great performances throughout this time, which they have decided to play during their performance.　

Zhao, the initiator and director of art for Artistry on Ice, also announced that he and Shen will quit professional skating performances after this event and will begin careers training young skaters of the National Youth Team of China.

Upon taking over the position of instructor of the National Youth Team, the pair intends to concentrate their efforts in southern China. Figure skating in China is currently struggling due to not enough people entering the field. There are approximately 100 figure skaters in China right now. Together with Artistry on Ice, Zhao and Shen want to spread this sport to southern cities and towns, with the hope that children in these areas will see the shows and be motivated to strap on the skates in the future.

Artistry on Ice will be launched in Taipei Arena on June 9. Then there is the Beijing leg three days later. After Beijing, it will head to Shenzhen. Finally, the last stop will be at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center (SOSC) in Shanghai on June 17, which will mark a perfect ending to the sensational shows on ice.