Countdown to Beijing 2022 | Beijing 2022 igniting winter sports enthusiasm in NW China

LANZHOU, China, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- As the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games approaches, enthusiasm for winter sports has exploded in northwest China.

The Baiyin national snow event training base in northwest China's Gansu Province is frequently crowded with youngsters. Over 200 primary school students lined up at the Huada resort to ski as part of their educational excursions.

Under their instructor's guidance, it took Wu Chenghui and his primary school classmates around four hours to learn basic skiing skills.

"I am excited that the Beijing Winter Olympics is about to come. I will watch the skiing competitions on TV," said 12-year-old Wu, who added that he hoped his parents would take him skiing again this winter.

The local government has incorporated the teaching of winter sports into physical education classes in primary and middle schools, and plans to bring winter sports into campuses as a part of educational excursions.

"I hope that more and more children will enjoy winter sports. We all cheer for the Beijing Winter Olympics," said Lu Wen, manager of the Huada resort, adding that more than 2,000 local primary and middle school students have taken part in winter sports at the resort.

This national training base was built by Shandong Huada Construction Group in late 2019, and contains a skier service center with over 100 rooms, a 75,000-square meter ski resort, an indoor training hall and a biathlon field.

The 2020-2021 China cross-country skiing tournaments and championships opened at the base last January. Over 200 athletes and coaches from more than 20 teams across China took part.

Liu Pengfei, head of training and competition department of Gansu Winter Sports Management Center, said that over 50 skiers from the center are currently training at the base.

"The sub-plateau climate here is a key factor in improving skiers' performance," Liu said.

Li Yingtao, deputy chairman of Shandong Huada Construction Group, said that paralympians from China's cross-country skiing and biathlon teams have come to the base to prepare for the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games.

"We will serve paralympians well at the base," Li said.

Ice hockey, skiing and other winter sports continue to be popular on campuses in northwest China's Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai and Xinjiang. With the improvement of facilities for winter sports, northwest China is witnessing more people participating in winter sports.

Since last November, 48-year-old Mei Yufang from Baiyin City has come to the Huada resort many times to ski.

"The resort is close to the urban area, and the infrastructure is good. I choose to ski here to keep fit in the winter," said Mei, adding that the city runs a 30-kilometer public transport route for winter sports.

"We predicted that over 100,000 tourists would come to the resort this winter because of the enthusiasm brought about by the Beijing Olympics," Lu said.