Child hockey players from the Elementary School Affiliated to Tsinghua University in Beijing (QIN BIN)

A bright future

Liu Peng, head of both the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) and the SGAS, said in Lausanne on June 9 that Beijing's bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games will boost participation and involvement in winter sports across the country, open a bright future for winter sports in China, Asia and the world, as China has set off on an ambitious "Long March" to get 300 million Chinese people involved in skiing and skating events.

"Winter sports have had a long history, great popularity and bright future in China. The National Winter Games are held in China every four years, and the 13th Winter Games will be staged next year," Liu said.

Liu told IOC members that China has successfully hosted two Asian Winter Games, one Winter Universiade and many international and continental winter sports championships in the past years.

"To enhance the popularity of winter sports, we should enlarge the personnel base first. The most efficient way is to inspire more ordinary people, especially youngsters, to take part in the sports," said Zhu.

Winter sports have been gaining popularity in China since 2002. In the past decade, the number of skating rinks in China increased from 30 to more than 300 and more than 300 skiing resorts were built across the country, attracting approximately 30 million visitors, according to Zhu.

During the Chinese New Year holiday this February, 1.5 million tourists went to Zhangjiakou's skiing resorts, leading to a 25 percent year-on-year increase, according to local statistics.

According to Xiao Huanwei, CEO of the Court Dense International Tourist Resort in Zhangjiakou's Chongli County, his skiing resort has seen a 16 percent increase in the number of young tourists in recent two years. "With such growing speed, the number of people participating in skiing in China will surpass other countries in 2022," Xiao said.

Yu Donglin, General Manager of Wanlong Ski Resort in Chongli, said that his resort has also witnessed a sharp rise in the tourists' number. "In the snow season of 2014-15, an 80 percent year-on-year increase in the number of tourists was recorded, while a 30-percent growth was recorded in 2013-14," Yu said.

Another development is that more southern regions have also taken part in the winter sports. According to Zhu, one third of current ski courts are in south China, and more than 100 skating rinks have been built in the southern regions.

According to Huang Yongping, Director of Shanghai Municipal Physical Culture Bureau, the city currently has 11 skating rinks and five skating clubs, attracting more than 100 former skating athletes to come to Shanghai.

In June, the Government of Hepu County in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region applied to build a skating rink. "Although the small county only has a population of 2 million, they said it's the situation that drove them to consider building the rink because more and more young people in the county have started participating in the skating sport," Zhu said.

"It's a good sign to the country's winter sports because China is still a developing country in the sports," he added.

Zhu took ice hockey as an example to explain the situation. In Sweden, there are 327 indoor skating rinks, with 15,685 male and 3,612 female professionals taking part in ice hockey.

In another winter sport giant Canada, there are 2,450 indoor skating rinks, with more than 90,000 male and 80,000 female professionals taking part in the sport.

Meanwhile, in China, there are only less than 40 standard indoor skating rinks with fewer than 100 male and 100 female professionals taking part in ice hockey.

"I believe greater participation in winter sports on a local level will finally trickle through to national level so that one day we will have a bigger talent pool to select from," Zhu said.