Photo courtesy to ThePaper

A total of 42 out of 52 major projects for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, including sports venues and affiliated facilities, are under construction, according to Beijing’s Major Projects Construction Headquarters Office.

All the eight new sports venues are being constructed in Beijing. The National Speed Skating Oval has been completed after eight months of construction and construction of the Yanqing National Alpine Ski Center is half-way done. Most of the newly-built venues are significant projects that have never been done in China before, filling many architectural blanks in the country’s sports venue construction.

All the buildings for the Double Olympic cities will be completed by the end of 2019.

Photo courtesy to ThePaper

The landmark of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the National Speed Skating Oval, adopted the world’s largest span of saddle-shape cable net with single-layer.

Meanwhile, five existing Olympic venues are being adapted for the upcoming Winter Olympics. The world’s first ever “water-to-ice” transformation will be conducted in the Beijing National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube, with its swimming pool being converted into a curling venue.

The external glass screen of the wall of the Cube is also being replaced with ice-cube-like glass bricks to better control the indoor temperature and bring in more natural light.

Work to build or convert older buildings will be done after the 52 venue construction and adaptation projects are completed, which is a sustainable operating model that China has contributed to the world with Chinese wisdom.

Photo courtesy to ThePaper

In addition, the world’s first 350 km/h self-driving Fuxing train will link Beijing and Zhangjiakou in Hebei province, the two host cities of the 2022 Winter Olympics, forming a “one-hour traffic circle” that will also improve water and electric transmission facilities along the route.

Moreover, clean energy is increasingly being applied for the upcoming Winter Olympics. For instance, wind power and solar power from Zhangjiakou will be transmitted to Beijing through the newly-built infrastructure.