2022 Winter Olympics: Applicant city Beijing holds a news conference

Beijing is one of the cities hoping to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. At a news conference in Sochi on Saturday, officials of China's Olympic Committee briefed the media about China's plan, design and construction process for the Winter Olympics.

The plan is for Beijing and Zhangjiakou to hold the Olympics together, with the opening ceremony to be held in the National Stadium in Beijing which is commonly knows as "the Bird's Nest". The committee also acknowledged its challenges, including traffic, air pollution, and the building of winter sport facilities. But the Chinese government has made special laws and regulations to solve these problems.

The president of China's Olympic Committee also said they would do everything possible to make sure winter sports becomes an important part of people's life in the country.

"Promoting winter sports in China, and supporting the Olympic movement have always been our guiding principle. We are bidding for the 2022 Olympics in a responsible manner. Regardless of the result, we will carry on. We will go forward, and carry on promoting winter sports. We want to strike a balance between Winter Games and Summer Games," said Yang Shu'an, President of China's Olympic Committee.

"In 2008, Beijing delivered a truly exceptional Olympic Games to the world. So five years later, we launched our bid for the 24th Winter Olympics in 2022. This is an important decision taken by the Municipal authorities of Beijing, and a dream for 25 million residents. The Winter Olympic Games have yet to be hosted in China, the world's most-populated country. By hosting the 2022 Winter Games, we hope to fulfil the dream of hosting both the Summer and Winter Olympics in the same city," said Yang Xiaochao, Beijing vice mayor.