EFFORTS AROUND THE COUNTRY
Committed to this ambitious plan, local governments across the country are going all out in their efforts to push winter sports forward.
Areas boasting both ice and snow, like the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China, took measures to provide a better environment for people to participate in winter sports, making efforts in infrastructure construction to stimulate local people's interest and passion for the pastime.
Zhang Baohua is now a star skier in the Xinjiang Silk Road ski resort. The 76-year-old has enjoyed skiing on the weekends during the snowy season for six years.
He took up skiing after his son bought him a new set of equipment and has turned skiing into his favorite weekend family outing ever since.
Another northwestern part of China, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, has also mapped out a detailed plan to consolidate a mass base of support for winter sports. More skating rinks and ski resorts will be built, more winter sports schools will be established and more courses will be opened.
But the popularity of winter sports in China is not just confined to the colder areas; southern China is also seeing a huge surge in interest as well.
A ski resort named Nan Tianhu opened in Chongqing in January 2018, giving the southwestern municipality a new destination with which to embrace winter sports.
During the trial operation of the Nan Tianhu resort, hundreds of people rushed in to have a taste of skiing. "The peak reached 600 visitors per day, totally beyond our expectations," a director of the resort Zhao Qian said, adding that the lack of snow and ice in the region makes people even more enthusiastic about winter sports.
Guizhou in southwestern China will also build more indoor skating rinks and outdoor ski resorts, according to Song Guoqiang, deputy director of the Guizhou Sports Bureau.
According to official statistics, as of October 2018, more than 800 ski facilities had been built and about 50 million Chinese citizens had skied at least once. In all, about 150 million have participated in winter sports directly or indirectly.
China's first winter Olympic champion Yang Yang, former IOC member and current Chair of the Athletes' Commission for Beijing 2022, believes that mass participation will help spread Olympism and enable China become competitive in international competitions.
"We made a commitment to bring 300 million people into the fold of winter sports in our bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics. We are now on the right path, but the task will take patience, hard work and require the whole society to collaborate," she said.
