Expo showcases China’s winter sports strength (4)

A snow and ice sports enthusiast tries skiing at the exhibition center of the World Winter Sports Expo at Shougang Park in Beijing. (People's Daily Online/Li Naiyan)

The World Winter Sports Expo, which runs from Sept. 3 to Sept. 7 in Beijing, is an event dedicated to promoting snow and ice sports, as well as the winter sport industry.

The expo has eight exhibition centers with a total exhibition area of nearly 20,000 square meters. The exhibitions display products and services under 12 themes, including winter sports equipment, snow and ice sports equipment, technologies for winter sports and winter sports culture.

More than 60 percent of the participants are from foreign countries, including Italy, Austria, Japan, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, and Belarus. More than 20 institutions and companies from Italy, a guest of honor at the expo, were present at the event, displaying their winter sports equipment, technologies, and tourism products.

Regions with rich snow and ice resources in China, including those in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces in northeast China, Yulin city in northwest China’s Shaanxi province and Altay in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, also displayed their characteristic winter sports and tourism resources at the expo.

The expo is a gathering where cutting-edge winter sports technology, products and innovative concepts are put on show. With over 20 forums being held, it is also a channel for international communication in the winter sports industry.

A winter sportswear fashion show and a shopping event were also held at the expo, serving as a platform for enterprises to showcase their products and services, as well as for the public to find out more about the winter sports industry.

The expo is also a carnival that seeks to increase public participation in ice and snow sports. Besides the fashion show and the shopping festival, an ice arena was also set up at the expo, allowing parents and their kids to have fun together. Virtual reality (VR) skiing games were also held at the expo.

The expo has boosted connectivity between domestic and foreign winter sports industries, driven the snow and ice economy of Chinese provinces and cities and accelerated their involvement in the new development paradigm featuring dual circulation, in which domestic and overseas markets reinforce each other, according to Gao Yunchao, deputy secretary general of the Beijing Olympic City Development Association.

During the expo, a report on China’s snow and ice industry development in 2021 was released. A selection activity for the best snow sports brand in China and an entrepreneurship competition were also held at the expo. These activities not only brought industry insiders closer to the latest industry trends, but also delivered opportunities for leading brands and enterprises to expand the value of their brands.