NE China’s Jilin Province popularizes winter sports through multiple years’ of concerted effort

Northeast China’s Jilin Province, which enjoys a perfect natural environment for winter sports, has adopted a range of measures to encourage more people to participate in ice and snow sports.

People ski at the Wanda Changbaishan International Resort. (Photo/Xinhua)

The province has launched a popularization campaign for winter sports among its primary and middle school students. By the end of last year, the province had built 557 schools that are now able to train students in various ice and snow activities, bringing winter sports to more than 4 million students, said Sun Dalong, an official with the Department of Education of Jilin Province.

Meanwhile, the province has offered equipment to some schools to build ice rinks, provided students with opportunities to take free lessons at professional ski resorts, and invited retired winter sports athletes to train students at schools.

The Pingquan primary school in the Nanguan district of Changchun, capital city of Jilin, epitomizes the province’s continuous efforts to create better conditions for students to participate in winter sports.

The tradition of winter sports at the school dates back to the 1980s. Back then, it took the school 20 days to turn its playground into an ice rink in the wintertime. After mobilizing students to bring along ice blocks made at home, these blocks of ice would then be placed together in the school’s playground, while the students’ physical education teachers meanwhile poured water fetched with basins onto the ice blocks to make the ice surface smooth.

Thanks to additional funds and equipment, such as an ice resurfacer provided by the local government, creating an ice rink is now much easier for the school.

Jilin Province has continually advanced the construction of winter sports venues. It has built over 400 public ice rinks every year and currently has 46 ski resorts with the total area for its ski slopes reaching 1,032 hectares.

The province has also rolled out multiple measures to offer diversified ice and snow activities for people according to local conditions. The Jinchang Ski Resort located in the province’s Tonghua city, China’s first alpine ski resort, reopened to the public in December last year after renovations. Moreover, Jilin city in the province is cultivating a complete ice and snow industry chain, while Changchun city hosts the Vasaloppet China Changchun Jingyuetan International Ski Festival every year.

“During this snow season, Jilin Province will hold over 300 ice and snow events and activities and drive more than 10 million people to participate in winter sports,” said an official from the provincial sports bureau.