Villagers in N. China profit from 2022 Winter Olympics bid

Which city, Almaty or Beijing, will be picked to host the 2022 Winter Olympics is still a wide open race, but there is already a big winner.

Villagers in Chongli, a small county in Zhangjiakou which will stage some snow events if Beijing wins the 2022 bid, have witnessed and made a profit from a winter sports boom since the Chinese capital announced a joint bid with neighboring Zhangjiakou.

Zhai Yujia, who started to learn skiing six years ago, was offered a job as a ski coach in Genting Ski Resort in 2013.

"Most visitors are beginners, so they need instructions," said Zhai. "We are very busy during winter, especially on holidays.

"During the skiing season, I can earn more than twice," she added.

The 20-year-old Zhai is just one of the hundreds of Chongli residents who jumped on the Winter Olympics bandwagon as the booming ski market has freed them from farming and provides more job positions.

An Bo, who was a lorry driver four years ago, is now a bellboy in Genting Grand Hotel.

"I like my job," said An, adding that more than 20 people from his village now work in the hotel.

"Many of my friends returned home for a job in the skiing season," said An.

According to Chongli county official Xue Liang, the first snowing piste was built in Chongli in 1996. A total of 82 skiing pistes totaling 69 kilometers have been completed over the past decade, and have attracted millions of skiers from Beijing, Shanghai and other parts of China.

"During the past 10 years, skiing has created more than 15,000 direct and indirect jobs in Chongli county," said Xue.

Song Zhiyong, principal of Genting Skiing School, said there are about 100 skiing coaches, 70 percent up from 2010.

"Most of the newly recruited coaches are from Chongli county," said Song. "Many young people from local villages learned skiing and gained skiing coach certificate, trying to have a slice of the cake."

Chongli is about 200km northwest of Beijing. Construction on a high-speed railway line between Beijing and Zhangjiakou is expected to start this year, which will cut the travel time between the two cities from more than three hours to about 50 minutes.

The more convenient transport means a bright future for the local skiing industry, said Xue.

The ski boom in China is an attraction to foreign skiing instructor, too.

"I am planning to work here as an expert in the Genting Skiing Resort after my retirement," said Rosemary Kelly, an AASI/PSIA certified instructor from the United States.

"I will definitely come to China if Beijing wins the bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games."