However, a strong South Korean team, which holds world records in half of the eight Olympic disciplines and has reaped 15 golds at four World Cup events this season, has made China an underdog in Pyeongchang.
In individual events, men's four-time world champion Wu Dajing is China's most realistic medal hope (in the 500m), while the injury-hampered Fan Kexin, the women's 1,000m silver medalist at the 2014 Sochi Games, has been struggling to regain her pace of late.
In figure skating, world champion pair Han Cong and Sui Wenjing are strongly fancied to get on the podium in Pyeongchang after winning their first worlds in Finland last March.
Meanwhile, China's women's curling team and the mixed combo of Wang Rui and Ba Dexin are expected to bring attention back to the sport, which enjoyed a boom in popularity after the female squad won bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
